Capacitor-Inspired Metamaterial Inductors

Capacitors and inductors, those familiar basic circuit elements, have very different shapes and structures: Capacitors are made of parallel metallic plates, while inductors are formed from wound metallic wires. Inspired by o00exp00ext00exi00exc00exa00exl $m{{0}{0ex}}e{{0}{0ex}}t{{0}{0ex}}a{{0}{0ex}}t{{0}{0ex}}r{{0}{0ex}}o{{0}{0ex}}n{{0}{0ex}}i{{0}{0ex}}c{{0}{0ex}}s$ (metamaterial-based nanocircuitry for light), the authors propose a parallel-plate structure filled with a negative-permittivity medium that nevertheless behaves as an inductive circuit element, and may exhibit a higher Q factor than conventional inductors, as well as other advantages. This suggests exciting possibilities in the design of low-loss microwave lumped circuits and electrically small antennas with subwavelength dimensions.