Resonating elements longer than the unit cell: A way to make very dense broadband left-handed metamaterials

In this paper a metamaterial based on a resonator longer than the unit cell is introduced. The resonator is just a simple conducting strip bent several times. This strip is closely packed together with identical strips in a cubic lattice whose periodicity is much smaller than the free space wavelength. By following this technique, a broadband left-handed metamaterial has been designed with a 37% relative bandwidth. Besides, there is not a fundamental limitation for the smallness of the unit cell.