In this paper, a rat-race hybrid coupler based on an open complementary split ring resonator (OCSRR) is presented. By embedding the OCSRR in the microstrip transmission line, slow-wave effect is introduced to achieve size reduction. The proposed rat-race coupler size is 37% smaller than the conventional rat-race coupler. Besides, the proposed coupler provides better third harmonic suppression up to 35 dB. The simulated results are compared with the measured data and good agreement is reported.

Based on provided convenient design equations for slow wave transmission lines and metamaterial line, a very compact rat-race hybrid coupler is proposed using three slow wave lines and one metamaterial line. At the design frequency of 2 GHz, the size of the proposed coupler is 2.3 cm2.7 cm, which is a 74% reduction compared with the conventional one. Despite the considerable size reduction, the theoretical bandwidths based on | S11|, | S31|, ∠ S21-∠ S31, and ∠ S24-∠ S34, have been improved by 9%, 7%, 31%, and 59%, respectively. The measured performances are in reasonable agreement with the theoretical ones.