Unit cell block including dielectric cube wrapped with metallic wire mesh for 3-D isotropic CRLH metamaterials

Simple configuration of a unit cell block including dielectric cube at the center covered with a host medium and metallic wire mesh is proposed to realize the 3-D isotropic CRLH metamaterials. The block can be flexibly stacked to construct an arbitrary shape of 3-D isotropic CRLH metamaterials with a discrete step. Influence of air gaps between adjacent blocks on the dispersion curves is also investigated. A small triangular prism is designed and fabricated to demonstrate a frequency-selective beam scanning with an angle ranging from positive to negative values. The experiment for TM mode propagation in the designed metamaterial lens clearly shows negative to positive refractive indices.