Open-Ended Coaxial Line Probes With Negative Permittivity Materials

This work presents analysis of the behavior of open-ended coaxial near-field probes in the presence of ε-negative material. The effect of using negative material layers on the sensitivity is studied. It is shown that optimal conditions related to the thickness and constitutive parameters of the negative medium give rise to significant enhancement in probe sensitivity which allows the probe to have higher material and detection resolutions. The analytical formulation is validated using three-dimensional full-wave simulations of the coaxial probe in the presence of the negative medium.