ELECTROMAGNETIC SCATTERING OF THE FIELD OF A METAMATERIAL SLAB ANTENNA BY AN ARBITRARILY POSITIONED CLUSTER OF METALLIC CYLINDERS

The operation of a slab antenna with low-index metamaterial substrate is affected by a cluster of metallic cylinders positioned in the near-field area. A semi-analytical solution of the defined boundary value problem is obtained based on the small size of the rods. Several different configurations are found to possess beneficial features concerning the total radiated power and the angle of directive emission. The deduced diagrams are independently validated and discussed, revealing certain conclusions.