Analysis and design of metamaterial structures using the theory of characteristic modes

Metamaterial inspired concept is a very promising technique to miniaturize antennas suffering from their small electrical sizes while keeping a good radiation efficiency. In this paper, the theory of characteristic modes is used to perform a study of the powers and Q factors of metamaterial inspired antennas, such as the common 2D electric based monopole antenna with a meander line [1]. The aim of this work is to initiate to a new methodology to be used by antenna designers to address the problem of associating metamaterial inclusions to electrically small antennas in order to enhance their performances. It will be able to find the adequate inclusion in order to match an arbitrary shaped antenna in its electrically small regime and keep high overall efficiency. This will require the solving of the eigenvalue problem with further post-processing of the quantities provided by the theory of characteristic modes.