A balanced mixer based on dual-band composite right/left-handed transmission line

This paper proposes a balanced mixer based on dual-band composite right/left-handed (CRLH) transmission line. This metamaterial structure provides low LO leakage and high RF to LO isolation without additional filters for LO and RF path. The balanced mixer consists of a balun and Wilkinson divider with dual-band characteristic of unit-cell which behaves like a CRLH metamaterial. Experimental results are used to verify the proposed metamaterial functions. The balanced mixer design results in an operating frequency of 870 MHz and 1660 MHz with an optimum mixer conversion loss of 15.2 dB at 870 MHz and 21.2 dB at 1660 MHz.