Implementation of a dual-band mixer using composite right/left-handed transmission lines

The inclusion of composite right left-handed transmission lines (CRLH TL) in some microwave circuits introduces an additional degree of freedom in their classic behaviour. Some of the recent applications are the design of arbitrary dual-band frequency response devices. In this paper a dual-band operation mixer, based on a classical balanced mixer topology is proposed. The prototype demonstrates the mixer performance for a ratio of 2.5 between the two operation bands (860 MHz and 2,150 MHz). The conversion losses are better than 8.5 dB in both bands.