A Talk On

ELECTROMAGNETIC METAMATERIALS
By Pragnan Chakravorty

Director, CARET
M.Tech (IIT Kharagpur), Member-IEEE(USA), ACM(USA) Member IEEE :Communication. Soc, Microwave Theory and Techniques Soc, Antenna & Wave Propagation. Soc

Clique for Applied Research in Electronic Technology Advaita Corporation

The prefix meta (in Greek) means beyond, and in this sense the name metamaterials signifies systems/materials that are beyond conventional materials. Electromagnetic metamaterials (MTMs) are broadly defined as artificial effectively homogeneous electromagnetic structures with unusual properties not readily available in nature. An effectively homogeneous structure is a structure whose structural average cell size p is much smaller than the guided wavelength g. Therefore, this average cell size should be at least smaller than a quarter of wavelength, p< g/4. We will refer to the condition p = g/4 as the effective homogeneity limit or effective-homogeneity condition1, to ensure that refractive phenomena will dominate over scattering/diffraction phenomena when a wave propagates inside the MTM medium.

The materials which exhibit a simultaneously negative permittivity and permeability are the unusual properties we are talking about. Certainly materials with such properties are not found in nature and therefore has to be artificially engineered. Such class of materials exhibit Negative Refractive Index (NRI) and are also called Left Handed Materials (LHM).

The history of MTMs started in 1967 with the visionary Theoretical work of Russian physicist Viktor Veselago, practicals awaited another 30 years; Inspired by Pendrys work Smith etal demonstrated practical LHM

a. Metamaterial is an artificial material whose permittivity and permeability are both negative. b. Why it is artificial? Such materials possess engineered effective electromagnetic properties resulting from response functions not found in constituent materials and not readily observed in nature.

Positive refraction index

a. Based on definition of J.Pendry 2000

Negative refraction index

First negative-/positive- and positive-/negative- MTM (p g), constituted only by standard metals and dielectrics, proposed by Pendry. (a) Thin-wire (TW)structure exhibiting negative-/positive- if (b) Split-ring resonator (SRR) structure exhibiting positive-/negative-

To obtain negative permittivity medium, thin metallic wires are arranged periodically. Effective permittivity takes negative plasma frequency. Negative and can be achieved simultaneously.

Backward wave Propagation The waves propagate in a backward direction as if going into the source as a result of LHM Inverse Doppler Effect When a receiver moves towards the source, wavefronts and receiver move in opposite directions. Therefore, the frequency seen by the receiver will be higher than the frequency measured by an observer at rest. However, if the medium is a left-handed material, wave propagation is backward, and wavefronts move towards the source. Therefore, both the receiver and the wavefronts move in the same direction, and the frequency measured at the receiver is smaller than the frequency measured by an observer at rest. Backward Cerenkov Radiation Related to Backward wave Propagation of Shock Waves Negative GoosHanchen Shift

RHM

LHM

Nonlinear Optics with Metamaterials Nonlinearity due to metamaterials can result in optical switching, Limiting, memory devices and amplified transmission, Secondary wave generation. Can get rid of adverse effects of material imperfections Super Resolution with Meta-Lenses Unlike conventional lenses constrained by Abes Diffraction limit, Super resolution is possible with LHM Transformation Optics and Electromagnetic Cloak of Invisibility. Can Create Invisibility of Objects RF & Microwave Communication Engineering LHMs finds major application in making compact and more efficient filters diplexers, antennas, sources and host of other wireless communication circuits

Perfect Flat Lens

Electromagnetic Cloaking

Super Resolution due to usage of Evanescent Waves

Complete invisibility due to Electromagnetic Cloaking

Metamaterials with their plethora of applications and astonishing theory are a major area of research both in Physics and Electronics and Telecommunication. It is gaining popularity in Imaging Technologies with super-lensing effects. Photonic crystals with Photonic Band Gap properties(PBG) and Electromagnetic Band Gap structures (EBG) find various application in filters couplers diplexers in both optical and microwave applications. It is just the tip of an iceberg There is still a lot to go into Metamaterials.

REFERENCES 1. V. Veselago. The electrodynamics of substances with simultaneously negative values of and , Soviet Physics Uspekhi, 2. D. R. Smith, W. J. Padilla, D. C. Vier, S. C. Nemat-Nasser, and S. Schultz. Composite medium with simultaneously negative permeability and permittivity, Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 84, no. 18, pp. 3. J. B. Pendry, A. J. Holden, W. J. Stewart, and I. Youngs. Extremely low frequency plasmons in metallic mesostructure, Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 76, no. 25, pp. 47734776, June 1996. 4. J. B. Pendry, A. J. Holden, D. J. Robbins, and W. J. Stewart. Low frequency plasmons in thin-wire structures, J. Phys. Condens. Matter, vol. 10, pp. 47854809, 1998. 5. J. B. Pendry, A. J. Holden, D. J. Robbins, and W. J. Stewart. Magnetism from conductors and enhanced nonlinear phenomena, IEEE Trans. Micr. Theory. Tech., vol. 47, no. 11, pp. 20751084, Nov. 1999. 6.R. A. Shelby, D. R. Smith, and S. Schultz. Experimental verification of a negative index of refraction, Science, vol. 292, pp. 7779, April 2001. 7. Ricardo Marques, Ferran Martin, Mario Sorolla. Metamaterials with Negative Parameters, Wiley-Interscience, 2008

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