Amplifying left-handed transmission line media

Using a one-dimensional structure as the basis for our studies, we have demonstrated that the left-handed nonlinear transmission line (LH NLTL) that we developed for slightly different applications can also, under the correct design conditions, be used for parametric amplification, by which energy in a pump wave at one frequency is transferred to energy in a weak signal wave at another frequency. Our approach could be scaled from its current X-band (10 GHz) form into THz, infrared, or ultimately visible form.