A broadband 1:4 series power divider using metamaterial phase-shifting lines

A metamaterial 1:4 series power divider that provides equal power split to all four output ports over a large bandwidth is presented. The divider comprises four nonradiating metamaterial lines in series that can each incur a zero insertion phase over a large bandwidth, while simultaneously maintaining a compact length of λ₀/8. Compared to a series power divider employing conventional one-wavelength long meandered transmission lines to provide in-phase signals at the output ports, the metamaterial divider provides approximately a two-fold increase in the input return loss bandwidth and through power bandwidth to each of the output ports. In addition, the metamaterial divider is more compact, occupying only 2.6% of the area that the transmission line divider occupies. This series divider can be extended to an arbitrary number of output ports and has potential applications in antenna feed networks and power-combining distributed amplifiers.