We study experimentally nonlinear tunable magnetic metamaterials operating at microwave frequencies. We fabricate the nonlinear metamaterial composed of double split-ring resonators where a varactor diode is introduced into each resonator so that the magnetic resonance can be tuned dynamically by varying the input power. We demonstrate that at higher powers the transmission of the metamaterial becomes power-dependent and, as a result, such metamaterial can demonstrate various nonlinear properties. In particular, we study experimentally the power-dependent shift of the transmission band and demonstrate nonlinearity-induced enhancement (or suppression) of wave transmission.

(c) 2008 Optical Society of America