Designing directional antenna with magnetic artificial materials

We introduce the application of magnetic artificial materials in the design of directional antenna. Two ways to use magnetic materials to enhance the directional radiation of sources are demonstrated. One way is the left-handed materials (LHMs) and the other is electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structures. In both cases, the radiation of the antenna exhibits good radiation performance but the underlying mechanisms are different. The special advantage of the antenna designed by LHM is its lower radar cross section, whereas the one by magnetic EBG structures is the frequency tunability.