Propagation characteristics of an extremely anisotropic metamaterial loaded helical guide.

In this study, we report slow wave propagation characteristics of an extremely anisotropic metamaterial loaded helical guide (EAMLHG). An analytical expression has been theoretically derived and numerically computed to get exact solutions of all possible guided modes of propagation. Anisotropy is defined in terms of positive longitudinal permittivity (ϵz > 0) and negatives transverse permittivity value (ϵt < 0). The waveguide supports hybrid (HE) mode propagation and possesses characteristics of backward wave (BW) mode, forward wave (FW) mode, zero-group velocity and mode-degeneracy. The large value of effective index of BW mode and mode-degeneracy mechanism leads to slowing and trapping of electromagnetic (EM) wave. Closed-form guided mode energy propagation expressions has been also derived and computed which exhibits zero power flow at mode degeneracy point. A comparative study is also carried out between extremely anisotropic metamaterial helical waveguide (EAMLHG) and conventional extremely anisotropic metamaterial cylindrical guide (EAMCG), which reveals enhanced slow wave behaviour. Engineering feasible design and analysis is also presented by combining alternate disks of silver and glass as an extremely anisotropic medium which exhibits lossy and dispersive properties. This type of waveguide can find applications as a filter, phase shifter, and delay lines in microwave to THz applications and, as an optical buffer in optoelectronics applications.