Dispersion characteristics of metamaterial loaded helical guide

The dispersion characteristics (ω - β diagram) of metamaterial loaded helical guide is analyzed and presented to understand the slow wave characteristics which finds potential applications in optical switches, memories and microwave photonics. A comparative study has been done against normal helical guide and it is found that unique characteristics of a helical guide to slow down the guided wave is highly boosted-up due to metamaterial insertion. Other modal properties such as presence of two fundamental modes - backward and forward wave and their lower cut-off frequency (LCF) as well as bandwidth spectrum are also revealed.