Nonlocal Microwave Engineering: Constructing Dispersion Relations and Enabling On-Demand Frequency-Momentum Transformations via Time-Switched Long-Distance Interactions

Abstract: Nonlocal metamaterials (MTMs) have recently attracted significant research attention across different areas of wave physics, owing to their ability to translate long-range interactions among meta-atoms into a wide array of wavevector-dependent responses and functionalities. In this work, we introduce nonlocal transmission line metamaterials (TL MTMs) as a versatile platform to investigate and engineer nonlocality in the microwave frequency regime. We first establish a concise theoretical framework for nonlocal TL MTMs based on circuit and network theory, from which we derive the general dispersion relation for TL MTMs having arbitrarily complex nonlocal coupling configurations. Building upon this foundation, we demonstrate how such structures can be used to synthesize nearly arbitrary, even, dispersion functions within their first Brillouin zone, effectively linking nonlocal circuit parameters to prescribed dispersion profiles. Finally, we introduce time-switched nonlocal TL MTMs, a new class of metamaterials with time-varying nonlocality in which the nonlocal branches are dynamically activated as an electromagnetic pulse propagates through the structure. This platform enables complex, nearly arbitrary frequency-momentum transformations on a propagating pulse, as well as the simultaneous excitation of modes with positive, negative, and zero group velocity within the first Brillouin zone. Our results offer new physical insights into the behavior of nonlocal MTMs, a versatile platform to investigate the interplay of frequency dispersion, spatial dispersion and time modulation, and a general theoretical foundation for the design of more advanced nonlocal and time-varying electromagnetic and photonic systems.