Enhancement of ambient energy harvesting using a metamaterial lens

The present work demonstrates enhancement of RF energy harvesting using a metamaterial lens. The lens, designed by the Nanoplasmonics and Metamaterials Research group at RIT, consists of 65 PCB boards stacked together where very thin copper wires etched on the top surface of each board. It has been shown that the lens is capable of focusing a broad beam into an ultra-small spot. In the present work, a Koch 2^nd iteration microstrip fractal patch antenna is used to demonstrate enhanced harvesting using this lens. After extracting the energy, it can be directly converted to dc using a rectifier or be guided to another location. The feasibility of guiding the energy through a grounded dielectric has been demonstrated.