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METAMATERIALS: AN OVERVIEW FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE

by
Richard Allen Dudley
A thesis submitted to the faculty of
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
in partial fulllment of the requirements
for the degree of Master of Science in
Applied Physics
Charlotte
2012
Dr. Michael A. Fiddy
Dr. Donald Jacobs
Dr. Greg Gbur
ii
c 2012
Richard Allen Dudley
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
iii
ABSTRACT
RICHARD ALLEN DUDLEY. Metamaterials: An overview from theory to practice
(Under the direction of DR. MICHAEL A. FIDDY)
A theoretical study of the optical properties of the relatively newly formed genre
of metamaterials is presented. A focus on the limitations of current theoretical expla-
nations for such a materials macroscopic properties as well as the limits such materials
are confronted with using o the shelf modeling software, specically COMSOL
R
Multiphysics. Attention is paid to two specic class of metamaterials, namely form
birefringent structures as well as metallic resonators, which both provide mechanism
for unique material properties not found readily in nature. We also study the prop-
erties of homogeneous composite consisting of metallic akes embedded in a dielectric
substrate, which is shown to have an unusually high index of refraction due to its ex-
tremely high permittivity. Materials with prescribed real parts of the permittivity are
highly valuable for imaging, cloaking and detection technologies. We demonstrate a
theoretical explanation of this unusually high index material using and expansion of the
Lorentz-Drude model. We also demonstrate tunability using several core parameters,
dominated by metal ake size, the dielectric gap thickness and metal ake conduc-
tivity, using COMSOL
R
Multiphysics 4.2s RF module. COMSOL
R
Multiphysics was
also used in verication of our measurement technique for the real material, which was
tested using free space and S-parameter measurements with a HP 8510a vector network
analyzer.
iv
DEDICATION
To my spouse and partner Desiree Tara Self, without whom this process and
this life would be less vibrant, joyful, intriguing and meaningfull. I would not be here
without your challenges and support or your constant love and friendship. Thank you
for never giving up either.
v
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First, I will have to thank my Advisor Professor M.A. Fiddy. This process would
not have been completed in the time frame it was without his constant support and
guiding. Throughout the years I have been at UNC-Charlotte he has been nothing but
the most wonderful inuence on my decision making and has provided much insightful
into the many matters of Optics and Physics, which I have spent my undergraduate and
graduate career striving to better understand. His investment in time and resources,
into my development have aorded me the ability to continue to study and accomplish
the work presented within this body. I would also like to acknowledge the many scien-
tic, political and philosophical discussions at the university and elsewhere that have
made my time at UNC-Charlotte a time of enlightenment and growth.
Secondly, would also like to thank Dr. Robert Ingel, whose persistence, guidance
and assistance in the modeling and experimentation proved to be a practical guide to
all scientic endeavorers. This guide has allowed for the research to never loose focus on
attaining and disseminating useful knowledge to the scientic community as a whole.
Furthermore, I would also like to thank Professor Donald Jacobs and Professor
Greg Gbur whose challenging coursework, thorough and enthusiastic lectures and work
ethic, has inspired me to become a better physicist and mathematician and a more
motivated researcher and teacher.
Additionally I would like to thank my fellow students Jason Case who has assisted
in my development as a student and has refreshed my thirst for academic knowledge
and consistently challenged my understanding.
Finally, I would like to thank my friends and family, who have supported and
allowed me to continue this pursuit. I would also like to acknowledge the thousands
of individuals who have coded for the LaTeX project for free. It is due to their eorts
that we can generate professionally typeset PDFs now.
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES ix
LIST OF TABLES xv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
CHAPTER 1 :INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 The Forerunners 1
1.1.1 Maxwells Equations 3
1.2 Material Properties Overview 5
1.2.1 Permittivity 6
1.2.2 Permeability 7
1.2.3 Metals 9
1.2.4 Drude model 9
1.2.5 Dielectrics 11
1.2.6 Lorentz oscillator model 11
1.2.7 Semi-conductors 15
CHAPTER 2 :THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF METAMATERIALS 17
2.1 History of Negative Index 17
2.1.1 Principle of least action 18
2.1.2 Re-radiation from a negative index material 19
2.1.3 Double negative index material (DNIM) possibilities 21
2.1.4 The perfect lens 24
2.2 The Six Velocities of Light 25
2.2.1 Free space velocities 25
vii
2.2.2 Waves in a medium 28
2.2.3 Super-luminal speeds 30
2.3 Pendrys Perfect Lens Revisited 32
CHAPTER 3 :META-ATOMIC CONSTITUENTS 35
3.1 Overview of Possible Metamaterial Constituents 35
3.2 Metal Resonators 35
3.2.1 Size limitations 36
3.2.2 Geometrical scaling 37
3.2.3 Scaling down 40
3.2.4 Continued scaling possibilities 45
CHAPTER 4 :FORM BIREFRINGENT STRUCTURES 47
4.1 Form-Birefringent Materials 47
4.1.1 Gigantic Anisotropies 50
4.1.2 The Search for Higher Index Materials 53
4.1.3 Tunable Negative Group Delay 57
4.2 FBS Discussion 57
4.3 Measurement Techniques 59
4.4 Experimental Setup 61
4.5 VNA phase change measurement setup 61
4.6 Measurement calculations 61
4.7 Stationary Horns Measurement 62
4.8 Teon
R
Rod Polarization Test 68
4.9 Additional Considerations for Measurement Error 71
4.9.1 Cabling Sensitivity 71
CHAPTER 5 :MODELING TECHNIQUES 76
5.1 Modeling Overview 76
5.1.1 Drude or Drude-Lorentz models 76
viii
5.2 Negative Index Properties and Computational Restrictions 84
5.2.1 What is meant by exactly n = 1 84
5.2.2 Mesh restrictions 88
5.2.3 Restrictions based on conductivity 101
5.2.4 Meta-atomic approximation 102
CHAPTER 6 :NOVEL THEORETICAL TREATMENTS 118
6.1 Return to the Foundations of Material Properties 118
6.1.1 High index materials 118
6.2 Uncovering the Material Properties 121
6.2.1 Understanding why it Works 121
6.3 Magnetic Meta-atoms 129
CHAPTER 7 :DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS 132
7.1 Summary 132
7.2 Conclusions 132
REFERENCES 134
APPENDIX A 137
ix
LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE 1.1 : Sphere of Lorentz local eld. 12
FIGURE 2.1 : Huygens re-radiation 19
FIGURE 2.2 : Ray diagram for simple lens. 22
FIGURE 2.3 : Airy disc 23
FIGURE 2.4 : Demonstration of a double negative index slab lens 25
FIGURE 2.5 : Demonstration of a simple lens using a DNIM 26
FIGURE 2.6 : Wave packet showing a combination of waves 27
FIGURE 2.7 : Brillouins diagram of integration paths 29
FIGURE 2.8 : Brillouins dierentiation of signal and front velocities. 30
FIGURE 2.9 : Brillouins diagram of propagation speed in a medium. 31
FIGURE 2.10 : Negative index lens with plane wave incident. 32
FIGURE 2.11 : Negative index lens with cylindrical scatter 33
FIGURE 2.12 : Cylindrical scatterer 34
FIGURE 3.1 : General schematic for the SRR as proposed by Tretyakov(40) 38
FIGURE 3.2 : This graphs shows a response from the initial reading (40) 41
FIGURE 3.3 : Graph of split ring resonator resonant response 42
FIGURE 3.4 : Plot of the resonant frequency 43
FIGURE 3.5 : Scaling continued 44
FIGURE 3.6 : Scaling factor further reduced 45
FIGURE 3.7 : Backward wave 46
FIGURE 4.1 : Simple M andatori structure 48
FIGURE 4.2 : Schematic of incoming wave onto birefringent layer 49
x
FIGURE 4.3 : Graph of bandwidth vs splitting ratio 51
FIGURE 4.4 : Form birefringent ABS plastic 52
FIGURE 4.5 : Graph of index value for TE, n
x
and TM n
y
53
FIGURE 4.6 : SrTiO3Epoxy 54
FIGURE 4.7 : TiO2Nylon 55
FIGURE 4.8 : Graph of index value for TE, n
x
and TM n
y
56
FIGURE 4.9 : Phase relations of ABS 57
FIGURE 4.10 : Phase relations of Gold Coated ABS 58
FIGURE 4.11 : Phase relations of Ti02 doped polyamides plastic 58
FIGURE 4.12 : Transmission for ABS stack 59
FIGURE 4.13 : Transmission for gold coated ABS stack 60
FIGURE 4.14 : Transmission for Ti02 doped polyamides plastic Stack 60
FIGURE 4.15 : Horn Measurement Reference 62
FIGURE 4.16 : Experimental diagram of volume lled with air 63
FIGURE 4.17 : Reference for two horns initially touching measurement type 65
FIGURE 4.18 : Air as either reference or demonstration 65
FIGURE 4.19 : Measurement for DUT 1 65
FIGURE 4.20 : Air as a reference measurement 66
FIGURE 4.21 : Measurement for DUT 2 66
FIGURE 4.22 : Measurement for DUT 3 66
FIGURE 4.23 : Air as a reference measurement 67
FIGURE 4.24 : Measurement for a DUT 4 67
FIGURE 4.25 : Measurement for a DUT 4 67
FIGURE 4.26 : Teon
R
rod initial 68
FIGURE 4.27 : Teon
R
rod polarization graph 69
FIGURE 4.28 : Teon
R
rod angle measurements 70
FIGURE 4.29 : Metal Horn Graph 70
xi
FIGURE 4.30 : Metal Horn Angle 71
FIGURE 4.31 : Bend Angle Response 1 72
FIGURE 4.32 : Bend Angle Response 2 73
FIGURE 4.33 : Bend Angle 3 74
FIGURE 4.34 : Bend Angle 4 75
FIGURE 5.1 : Lorentz-Drude Refractive Index of Copper 78
FIGURE 5.2 : Loreontz-Drude Refractive Index of Silver 79
FIGURE 5.3 : Cu Lorentz-Drude and Drude Permittivity Comparisons 79
FIGURE 5.4 : Plasma Frequency Responses 80
FIGURE 5.5 : Ag Lorentz-Drude and Drude Permittivity Comparisons 80
FIGURE 5.6 : Plasma frequency Responses 81
FIGURE 5.7 : Conductivity only Response 82
FIGURE 5.8 : Frequency Dependent Model 82
FIGURE 5.9 : Figure text for Fig 5.7 and Fig 5.8 82
FIGURE 5.10 : Frequency Dependent Permittivity SRR 83
FIGURE 5.11 : Non-Frequency Dependent Permittivity SRR 83
FIGURE 5.12 : This image is a simple sweep from 0.801 n 1.201 85
FIGURE 5.13 : The image is a sweep from 0.98001 n 1.20001 86
FIGURE 5.14 : The image is a sweep from 0.999 n 1.002 87
FIGURE 5.15 : Normal Mesh 88
FIGURE 5.16 : Normal Mesh Results 88
FIGURE 5.17 : Fine Mesh 89
FIGURE 5.18 : Fine Mesh Results 89
FIGURE 5.19 : Finer Mesh 90
FIGURE 5.20 : Finer Mesh Results 91
FIGURE 5.21 : Extra Fine Mesh 91
FIGURE 5.22 : Extra Fine Mesh Results 92
xii
FIGURE 5.23 : Extremely Fine Mesh 92
FIGURE 5.24 : Extremely Fine Mesh Results 93
FIGURE 5.25 : Fine Custom Mesh 93
FIGURE 5.26 : Fine Custom Mesh results 94
FIGURE 5.27 : Finer Custom Mesh 94
FIGURE 5.28 : Fine Custom Mesh results 95
FIGURE 5.29 : Finest Custom Mesh 95
FIGURE 5.30 : Finest Custom Mesh results 96
FIGURE 5.31 : Extremely Fine Mesh Results 96
FIGURE 5.32 : Extremely Fine Mesh Results 97
FIGURE 5.33 : Combination Results 1 97
FIGURE 5.34 : Combination Results 2 98
FIGURE 5.35 : Evanescent Amplication 98
FIGURE 5.36 : Evanescent Amplication 99
FIGURE 5.37 : Mesh Renement 1 99
FIGURE 5.38 : Mesh Renement 1 100
FIGURE 5.39 : Mesh Renement 2 100
FIGURE 5.40 : Mesh Renement 2 101
FIGURE 5.41 : Tall Slab1 103
FIGURE 5.42 : Tall Slab 2 103
FIGURE 5.43 : Figure text for Fig 5.41 and Fig 5.42 103
FIGURE 5.44 : Finer Mesh 104
FIGURE 5.45 : Extremely Fine Mesh 104
FIGURE 5.46 : Figure text for Fig 5.42 and Fig 5.45 104
FIGURE 5.47 : Extremely Fine Mesh Revisited 105
FIGURE 5.48 : Tall Slab Extremely Fine Mesh Revisited 105
FIGURE 5.49 : Figure text for Fig 5.47 and Fig 5.48 105
xiii
FIGURE 5.50 : Image Revealed 106
FIGURE 5.51 : Image Revealed 2 106
FIGURE 5.52 : Figure text for Fig 5.50 and Fig 5.51 106
FIGURE 5.53 : Large Scaled Conductivity Sweep 107
FIGURE 5.54 : Narrow Scaled Conductivity Sweep 108
FIGURE 5.55 : Rened Narrow Scaled Conductivity Sweep 109
FIGURE 5.56 : Broken1 110
FIGURE 5.57 : Best Case 1 111
FIGURE 5.58 : Best Case 2 111
FIGURE 5.59 : Figure text for Fig 5.57 and Fig 5.58 111
FIGURE 5.60 : Conductivity restrictions 112
FIGURE 5.61 : Conductivity restrictions 2 112
FIGURE 5.62 : Figure text for Fig 5.60 and Fig 5.61 112
FIGURE 5.63 : Further Conductivity Restrictions 113
FIGURE 5.64 : Further Conductivity Restrictions 2 113
FIGURE 5.65 : Figure text for Fig 5.63 and Fig 5.64 113
FIGURE 5.66 : Broken Slab type 2 114
FIGURE 5.67 : Mesh Size for Following Set of Simulations 115
FIGURE 5.68 : Low Conductivity Comparisons 116
FIGURE 5.69 : Low Conductivity Comparisons 116
FIGURE 5.70 : Super meta-atomic structure 117
FIGURE 6.1 : Gold color coating ABS disc 120
FIGURE 6.2 : SEM Image of metallic ake 121
FIGURE 6.3 : SEM Image of cleaved metallic ake 121
FIGURE 6.4 : Figure text for Fig 6.3 and Fig 6.3 121
FIGURE 6.5 : EDAX for Copper(Magenta) 122
FIGURE 6.6 : EDAX for Carbon(Red) 122
xiv
FIGURE 6.7 : Figure text for Fig 6.6 and Fig 6.6 122
FIGURE 6.8 : Plane wave incident on periodic structure 123
FIGURE 6.9 : Incident wave on periodic structure 124
FIGURE 6.10 : Incident wave on periodic structure 124
FIGURE 6.11 : Figure text for Fig 6.9 and Fig 6.10 124
FIGURE 6.12 : Incident wave on periodic structure 125
FIGURE 6.13 : This is the general schematic for our periodic structure. 125
FIGURE 6.14 : Figure text for Fig 6.12 and Fig 6.13 125
FIGURE 6.15 : Full Dipole Sheet 126
FIGURE 6.16 : Flake Geometry 128
FIGURE 6.17 : Flake PEC Field 129
FIGURE 6.18 : SEM of magnetic particle inclusions in a dielectric substrate 130
FIGURE 6.19 : Diagram of magnetic response. 130
FIGURE 6.20 : Data of magnetic response of FBS disc 131
xv
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE 4.1 : Tabulated data for gold color coated ABS disc. 55
TABLE 4.2 : Teon
R
rod used 64
TABLE 6.1 : Bulk measured gold colored coating 120
xvi
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ABS Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene plastic
DBE Degenerate Band Edge
DNIM Double Negative Index Material
FBS Form Birefringent Structures
LRC, RLC Inductor, Capacitor and Resistor
NIM Negative Index Material
OPL Optical Path Length
PBC Periodic Boundary Condition
PEC Perfect Electric Conductor
SBE Split Band Edge
SRR Split Ring Resonator
SNIM Single Negative Index Material
TM Magnetic Field Aligned
TE Electric Field Aligned
VNA Vector Network Analyzer
CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Forerunners
The history of electromagnetic radiation should be said to start at the exact
moment humans became curious about the world around them. Though the
historical record goes only so far, even the very rst of the known presocratics
philosophers Hesiod acknowledged the dierences between darkness and light.
From Chaos there came into being Erebos(Darkness) and black night
From Night, Aither(bright upper air) and Hemera(Day)
which she conceived and bore after uniting in love with Erebos. (24)
For much of the history that followed, western civilizations knowledge of
electromagnetic radiation was coupled to the ideas presented by Hesiod. Though
studies of reection or refraction of some kind followed with every major
philosopher or scientist since Aristotle, there was a common premise that held back
the theoretical understanding of light. The physical world was made of all the same
kinds of stu, atoms, substance, or matter. This paradox frustrated scientist and
philosophers for millennia, as debates about the origins of the universe collided with
human experience. Even with this barrier much of the knowledge about the nature
of light was discovered. Although possibly suggested rst by Thales of Miletos,
when comparing the attractive nature of amber when rubbed with fur to that of a
lodestone, it was not until over 2000 years later that the links between electricity
and magnetism were formalized. Though we might nd progress slow, we should
remind ourselves that it was not until the voltaic pile around 1800, that a
2
consistent source of current was available. Not long after, in 1820 while using this
type of battery, Hans Christian Oersted noticed that a nearby compass needle
deected by a parallel wire. Almost simultaneously, Ampere presented a detailed
study of this phenomena which relates the closed path integral of the magnetic eld
to the electric current density, which can be formalized to a form similar to(32)
_
C
B dl =
0
_ _
J ndS (1.1)
This lead to the obvious hypothesis that magnetism could, in some way, also create
and electric response. This proved more dicult as source of magnetic current are
limited to say the least, even if there were magnetic monopoles. Faraday was
performing such an experiment when he recognized that by moving a magnet within
a wire loop he was able to create a current. Thus, the changing magnetic ux was
causing an induced electrical current, which can be expressed by
E
mf
=

B
t

(1.2)
Of course these formalisms are missing a few key components, even Faraday realized
that there was a more complicated law of induction at work. The idea of ux was
carried further by Gauss to relate the electric ux through a closed surface due to
electric charge.

E
=
Q
enc

0
(1.3)
which, as far as we know, can be extended to magnetism using the same principle of
superposition with the assumption that there are not any magnetic monopoles

B
= 0 (1.4)
3
It was a considerable feat to realize that the relationship among these equations can
be combined to formulate the fundamentals of electromagnetics. Though we have to
note that Maxwell initially started with over 20 equations to relate these, and it was
in fact Oliver Heaviside that reduced them further to four equations now known as
Maxwells equations. (28)
1.1.1 Maxwells Equations
We now state the current dierential formulation of Maxwells equations
which we intend to use for the remaining derivations within this text.


E( r, t) =
( r, t)

0
(1.5a)


B( r, t) = 0 (1.5b)


H( r, t) =

t

D( r, t) +

J
e
( r, t) (1.5c)


E( r, t) =

B( r, t) (1.5d)
4
where

E( r, t) = electric eld strength (volts/meter)

B( r, t) = magnetic ux density (webers/meter)


2

D( r, t) = electric ux density (amperes/meter)

H( r, t) = magnetic eld strength (coulombs/meter)


2

J
e
( r, t) = electric current density (amperes/meter)
2
p( r, t) = electric eld strength (coulombs/meter)
3
We should also note that this requires the addition of two more equations to
formally complete fundamental derivations.(42)

D( r, t) =
0

E( r, t) +

P( r, t) =
0

E( r, t) =

E( r, t) (1.6)

B( r, t) =
0

H( r, t) +

M( r, t) =
0

H( r, t) =

H( r, t) (1.7)
5
where

P( r, t) = electric polarization vector (coulombs/meter)

M( r, t) = magnetic polarization vector (webers/meter)


2
= permittivity
(amperes seconds)
(volts meters)

0
= permittivity of free space 8.8541878 10
6
(amperes seconds)
(volts meters)

r
= relative permittivity dimensionless
= permeability
(amperes seconds)
(volts meters)

0
= permeability 1.25663706 10
12
(amperes seconds)
(volts meters)

r
= relative permeability dimensionless
(13) The current formulation and understanding of these physical quantities
requires the duality of the wave and particle nature of light, though many of the
derivations are still based on classical approximations. It was Lorentz who removed
the barrier in his 1892 theory of electrons by separating mechanical qualities from
that of light, thus eectively paving the way for the separation of electromagnetic
radiation and its interaction with normal matter (16).
1.2 Material Properties Overview
Originally material interaction with light was studied only in the visible
spectrum because of the human detector. Once the relationships between the
electromotive force and elds were settled, pioneers like Heinrich Hertz quickly
expanded other frequency ranges into the realm of electromagnetic radiation, until
it became clear that both visible light and lower frequencies waves were all part of a
continuum. Traditionally, the index of refraction has served as the gure of merit in
6
which to evaluate the optical properties of a material. However; with our focus on
the comparison and relationship between the magnetic and electric elds in
metamaterials, we will need to consider the fundamental interaction of light with
materials by separating their magnetic and electric responses, namely permittivity
and permeability.
1.2.1 Permittivity
The importance of permittivity to the electromagnetic properties has been the
primary focus of optics for well over a century, since at optical frequencies one
typically assumed there to be little magnetic response. It was re-termed recently
from dielectric constant to relative permittivity (17). It is generally assumed to be
the dominant, if not the only contribution to the index of refraction of a bulk
material at optical frequencies. We will see later how this assumption is
considerably inaccurate for many metamaterials. We can begin by using Amperes
law in dierential form


H( r, t) =

t

D( r, t) +

J
e
( r, t) (1.5c)
In order to make an association at a specic frequency or frequency ranges we will
consider a steady state case. The general form for a harmonic eld with frequency
given as is,

D( r)e
it
_
=

D( r, t) (1.8)
(21) This follows for

E( r, t),

H( r, t),

B( r, t),

J
e
( r, t), p( r, t),

J
m
( r, t) as well. Using
EQ. 1.5c we can easily see,

__


H( r)

t

D( r)

J
e
( r)
_
e
it
_
= 0 (1.9)
7
We can now substitute

t

D( r)e
it
= i

De
it
and


H( r) = i

D( r) +

J
e
( r) (1.10)
By denition in a source free region the free current density

J
e
( r) =
e

E( r), where

e
is the electrical conductivity. We can also dene

D as

D() =
0

E() +
0

e

E(), (1.11)
with
0
equal to the permittivity of free space and
e
as the electrical susceptibility.
We can now fully dene the permittivity through this relationship.
() =
0
(

+
e
()) +
i
e

(1.12)
The complicated nature of () can be seen from EQ. 1.12. We can generally note
that the imaginary part of the electric susceptibility will overlap with the
contributions due to the bulk conductivity of the material. This is primarily
because of this fact that permittivity for metals, semiconductors and dielectrics are
treated from separate theoretical standpoints.
1.2.2 Permeability
As mentioned above, a materials permeability is often ignored in optics. This
is the case often due to many materials having a permeability near unity and thus
are governed solely by their electrical response. We will see that the permeability or
its approximate equivalent circuit counterpart, the inductance, can play a huge role
in nding unique metamaterial properties not readily available in nature. The
permeability is derived in a similar means as the permittivity, however for most
cases the idea of a magnetic conductivity is ignored. We will include it here as a
theoretical possibility, which can be explored for real materials later on. Using
8
Faradays law, with the addition of a magnetic current density term, we have


E( r, t) =

t

B( r, t) +

J
m
( r, t) (1.5d)
As we have stated previously in EQ. 1.8, we would like to move to the frequency
domain, which leads us to some frequency ,

B( r)e
it
_
=

B( r, t) (1.13)
We are again lead to the equation for the real part, this time for Faradays law

__


E( r)

t

B( r)

J
m
( r)
_
e
it
_
= 0 (1.14)
The simple substitution of

t

B( r)e
it
= i

Be
it
leads to


E( r) = i

B( r) +

J
m
( r) (1.15)
By denition in a source free region the free current

J
m
( r) =
m

H( r), where
m
is
now the magnetic conductivity. We can also dene

B as

B() =
0

H() +
0

m

H(), (1.16)
This completes the expression for the permeability as a function of
0
, equal to the
permeability of free space, and
m
which is the magnetic susceptibility.
() =
0
(

+
m
()) +
i
m

(1.17)
Though we may not have an easy identier for what may constitute a magnetic
conductance, we can still see how this is exactly as complicated as the permittivity.
9
We know know the general forms of the permittivity and permeability, relating this
to real materials turns out to be a bit more complex.
1.2.3 Metals
There are a few derivations for the bulk properties of a metal which accurately
describe its interaction with incoming electromagnetic radiation. Almost by
denition the traditional classication of materials ignores permeability. Thus we
will only take a closer look at the permeability when specic materials necessitate
this. We will also intentionally ignore deeper derivations such as quantum
polarization models as they do not apply broadly, but do provide an avenue for
exploration for smaller nanoparticles and are required for several interesting
properties found later. As we have already shown the permittivity is a function of
the susceptibility
e
and the conductivity
e
. We already have some clues from
these denitions that there is a signicant physical variation between these two,
which is determined by whether the charges are bound or free. Remembering that
the relative permittivity is dened through the relationship =
r

0
, we can
separate the relative permittivity into free and bound charges (4).

r
() =
(f)
r
() +
(b)
r
() (1.18)
In doing so we can now analyze some physical models to further rene the
permittivity of free and bound charges.
1.2.4 Drude model
The free electron eects or intraband eects are summarized using the Drude
model, which is based on a simple free electron gas model. (35) We will simply start
with a model based on the classical driven damped spring, as it serves a much more
10
general purpose.
F = F
external
+ F
spring
+ F
damping
We will assume the external electric eld will be the only external force,
m
e

2
x
t
2
= q

E(t) + m
e

2
x + m
e

x
t
(1.19)
where m
e
is the damping coecient and m
e

2
is the associated spring constant.
As we are rst modeling a free electron gas, we are only considering conduction
band electrons. Thus we can allow the spring constant, m
e

2
0. We also can
preform the same operation for x(t) x()e
i
, as we did previously, in EQ. 1.9,
under the assumption that the motion will follow the driving force in some manner
in a steady state case.
m
e
(i)
2
x() = q

E() + m
e
(i) x() (1.20)
We will now dene the electric polarization vector in terms of the dipole moment
created by n dipoles per unit volume

P() = nq x(). Plugging this in for x().

P() =
nq
2
m
e

2
m
e
i

E() (1.21)
Using the plasma frequency at low temperatures,
p
=
_
nq
2

0
_1
2
(38). We make a
further substitution for the electric susceptibility (), which is related to the
electric eld and polarization through the relationship

P() =
0

E(). A full
derivation for the plasma frequency can be found in Appendix A EQ. 7 . We have

e
=
0
nq
2

0
me

2
i
=
0

2
p

2
i
(1.22)
11
which gives a complete solution for the relative permeability from free charges as

(f)
r
() =
r
()

2
p

2
i
0

(1.23)
where
r
() is generally considered to be unity. There are more accurate
derivations as we can add the bound charge or interband contributions to the
relative permittivity, however this provides a good general description of the
permittivity of a metal and will suce for most microwave applications.
1.2.5 Dielectrics
Much like the original driven damp spring example model, a dielectric has a
similar polarization response which follows this example except it has no free
charge. Thus the restoring force or spring force will be relatively large and play a
considerable role. We will also have to take into account the local eld due to the
shift in polarization of nearby molecules, since its magnitude is large enough, on the
order of the individual response of the electric eld, to contribute to nearest
neighbors. Typically this is classifed as the Lorentz oscillator or an adaptation of
the Lorentz-Drude model,
1.2.6 Lorentz oscillator model
Using the original equation for our electron oscillator in an electric eld,
m
e

2
x
t
2
= q

E(t) + m
e

2
x + m
e

x
t
(1.19)
then as before we wish to move to the frequency domain, which gives us
x(t) x()e
i
m
e
(i)
2
x() = q

E() + m
e

2
x() + m
e
(i) x() (1.24)
12
We will use the same identity for the polarization vector

P() = nq x().

P() =
nq
2
m
e

2
+ m
e

2
m
e
i

E() (1.25)
Now we need to look at the polarization vector a little more closely, since previously
we assumed that only external eld contributions were a factor in the case where
charges are free to move. We will redene

E() =

E
External
() +

E
Local
(), where
the local eld contributions are simply due to the nearby electrons displaced from
equilibrium. In this case we need to consider a single molecule in a spherical volume
element, which is surrounded by similar atoms. It is important to note that the
volume is considered large when compared to the volume element of the molecule,
however this volume is still small on the order of the wavelength since we are
assuming a uniformly polarized material. Although we are assuming a uniformly
polarized material, inside this sphere we can assume the eld contributions will add
to zero. (6)
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
-
+
Figure 1.1: Sphere of Lorentz local eld.
Illustration demonstrates the eect of a background eld both in and outside of the
volume we are considering the local eld. We will return to this diagram later as we
discuss some novel metamaterial constituents.
This assumption is based on the fact that P is uniform and therefore is not a
13
function of the position. However; if we assume zero eld inside the sphere and
some mean eld exterior, this creates a discontinuity which is dicult to resolve.
Instead we can look at the complimentary situation concurrently. A situation with
zero eld to the exterior of the sphere and a uniform polarization inside similar to
Fig 1.1 allows us to talk about the potential at the surface of the sphere

Outer
+
Inner
= 0. The potential can be found from the integral.

Outer
=
Inner
= P
_

1
R
dV (1.26)
We also know that E = 0, therefore the electric eld is path independent.
Where
_

1
R
dV
_
1
R
dV , and the value of
_
1
R
dV =
0
, which may be
interpreted as potential of a uniformly charged sphere with charge density = 1.
The components of the eld strength can then be given as

x
=

x
_
P
x

0
x
+ P
y

0
y
+ P
z

0
z
_
=
_
P
x

0
x
2
+ P
y

0
xy
+ P
z

0
xz
_
(1.27)
(6)

y
=

y
_
P
x

0
x
+ P
y

0
y
+ P
z

0
z
_
=
_
P
x

0
yx
+ P
y

0
y
2
+ P
z

0
yz
_

z
=

z
_
P
x

0
x
+ P
y

0
y
+ P
z

0
z
_
=
_
P
x

0
zx
+ P
y

0
zy
+ P
z

0
z
2
_
By symmetry we can see that all cross terms are zero.

0
zx
=

2

0
zy
=

2

0
yx
= 0 (1.28)
14
This leaves only the squared terms which again by symmetry gives

0
x
2
=

2

0
y
2
=

2

0
z
2
(1.29)
which simply results in =
1
3
0

P. We now have our eld in terms of the


polarization vector.

E() =

E
External
() +
1
3
0

P() (1.30)
We can now insert the new value for the electric eld for EQ. 1.19 and we have
m
e
(i)
2
x() = q
_

E() +
1
3
0

P()
_
+ m
e

2
x() + m
e
(i) x() (1.31)
m
e
(i)
2
x()
q
3
0

P() + m
e

2
x() + m
e
(i) x() = q

E() (1.32)
Previously we have used

P() = nq x(), which will come in handy here and leads
to,

P()
nq
_
m
e
(i)
2

nq
2
3
0
+ m
e

2
+ m
e
(i)
_
= q

E() (1.33)
Substitution for the polarization vector leads to,

e
() =
nq
2

0
_
m
e

nq
2
3
0
+ m
e

2
+ m
e
(i)
_ (1.34)
and rearranging for future simplication gives,

e
() =
3nq
2
3
0
m
e
[
2
+
2
+ (i)] nq
2
(1.35)
15
Solving for the permittivity gives us the full relationship.

r
() =
2nq
2
3
0
m(
2

2
+ i)
3
0
m(
2

2
+ i) nq
2
(1.36)
This is a similar result for bound charges and we can see that the only dierence
here is that there is an additional factor for the local eld and there is no necessity
to derive the oscillator restoration force, only to determine the bound charges per
unit.
1.2.7 Semi-conductors
Our discussion of semi-conductors will be brief as we predominately have
found the classication of metals and dielectrics to be the foundations of most of the
materials we investigated in the microwave regime, however, semiconductors oer a
host of unique possibilities especially when entering the near infrared region or more
so as we move towards optical regimes. Initially, one might think that a doped
semi-conductor could simply be modeled as a quasi-metal, having a larger damping
rate . A quick study of conduction in semiconductors shows that this is almost the
case, since electrons have a very long carrier collision time, which leads to a very low
eective damping term much like a metal, albeit 10
8
smaller. However it also turns
out the carrier density is signicantly reduced and thus the combination of the
larger damping term and the smaller density of charge carriers allows this to be
incorporated into the local eld, Lorentz like calculation. Thus we can generally
ignore the bulk fee charges found in the original Drude model. It is also generally
dicult to classify all semiconductors into the same group when it comes to
conduction, as lattice structure and doping play a large role in the conduction bands
and possible carrier densities. It turns out that this can be encapsulated in a
modied Debye relaxation model, which is similar to the Lorentz oscillator model.
The name of this particular modication is called the GavrilyakNegami (30)
16
relaxation curve. It allows for both asymmetrical, , dispersion curves as well as
broadened, , dispersion curves, which range from 0 1 and 0 1.

r
() = () +

(1 + (i
D
)

(1.37)
This, of course, reduces to the Debye relaxation model for = = 1. Here
d
,
dubbed the relaxation dispersion relation in this case, is found using the exponential
increase in polarization given an external eld, or exponential decay from a
polarized state, which is the reciprocal of . We can calculate these for metals
semiconductors and dielectrics alike using

D
=

r
()
4
(1.38)
The values found for the relaxation tend to be near DC and then this is used as the
relaxation constant (8).
CHAPTER 2 : THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF METAMATERIALS
2.1 History of Negative Index
Thus far, we have explored the possible material parameters that inuence
bulk electromagnetic properties which lead to eective parameters for homogenized
media. This description is limited by the initial assumptions that bulk properties
are restricted to a macroscopic eect of the linear addition of atomic properties that
make up the material constituents. There is little attention to resonant features, as
these are usually also areas of high absorption, nonlinear eects, which are inherent
in all materials, as well as no geometrical treatment except the dipole classication
of individual atoms. This changed with the review of a paper published in 1968 by
Victor Vesalago (15), where he described what would happen if a material had both
simultaneously a negative permeability as well as a negative permittivity. In the 2-D
case if we choose an arbitrary propagation direction, since k =

c

, a negative
leads to an imaginary k value. We have known

= n, thus using the properties
of () > 0 and () > 0, then

> 0 and

> 0, thus we can argue that


is negative if both and are negative(19)(15). In this case a ray would reect on
the same side of the normal as the incident ray(15).
Sir John Pendry, upon reviewing this, rst proposed a design for a
magnetically negative metamaterial, which lead the way for a practical material
having negative permeability and permittivity. (19) Pendry later theorized that
there was a way to make these types of materials using metal wires embedded in a
dielectric. This idea turned into the rst swiss-roll design, which had almost
immediate practical applications to enhance MRI resolution. Pendry realized that
18
typical diraction resolutions limits which constrain imaging in every regime, could
be overcome with ease if metamaterials were possible, given an index of n = 1
(23). We have studied the requirements a material that would have both a negative
permeability and negative permittivity and will address these particular material
possibilities in the following sections.
2.1.1 Principle of least action
First we should determine whether if a solution with negative refraction is in
fact a possible path of action. Originally, Fermats principle of least time was
considered a formal approach, but with a negative index the idea of least time was
not applicable. This was because the direction of the path was not considered with
a negative index material. Further consideration lead to the fact that both
Feynmans derivation of least action for quantum mechanical situations and the
more applicable formulation of Formats principle of least time are suggested as
equivalent mechanical descriptions that both allow negative index as a possibility.
This observation paved the way for a theoretical description of a negative index
dipole sheet to be made, along the same lines of argument in which a positive index
dipole sheet was described.
The intent to show that spherically re-radiated waves interfere and
approximate a new wave front with a retarded velocity when compared to the
incoming eld, based on the rate of re-radiation has to be looked at more closely to
understand physically when a negative index might occur. It is because this picture
does not provide an intuitive idea for a phase advance, which we would expect from
a material with a negative index, that we need to look closer at what occurs near or
at resonances in a material. When each of the point sources near a resonance
re-radiate, the scattered eld can be phase advanced if the re-radiation is phase
advanced as well.
19
Figure 2.1: Huygens re-radiation - Illustration of refractive index due to superposi-
tion of smaller re-radiating point sources or Huygens Principle. (31).
2.1.2 Re-radiation from a negative index material
As a simplistic approach the used by David W. Ward is to consider a plane
wave from a source incident on a material and then again on a detector. (12) With
a negative index material the detector would detect a phase advance when
compared to that of no material being present. We can look at a polarized
monochromatic plane wave of the form in vacuum incident on a plane of material of
thickness d. We can then describe the wave at the detector as,
E
d
z
= E
0
e

c
0
d(n1)
e
i(t
x
c
0
)
(2.1)
This is an approximation assuming that the transport mean free path, or the length
at which the direction of propagation becomes completely randomized is large when
compared to the mean free path, thus the scattered amplitude is neglected.
Feynman rewrote this by expanding e

c
0
d(n1)
, showing that the equation can be
20
broken into the incident eld without the material and a response term (34).
E
d
z
E
0
e
i(t
x
c
0
)
i

c
0
E
0
d(n 1)e
i(t
x
c
0
)
(2.2)
This is also reminiscent of the Born approximation applied to the
Lippmann-Schwinger equation(29), which we know is similarly the linear
superposition of the Greens function and the perturbation caused by the medium.
We again follow Wards suggestion to imagine both a sheet of electric and magnetic
dipoles, which can simultaneously exhibit a Lorentz electric dipole resonance,
discussed in Section 1.2.6. We can also imagine a similar equation for the magnetic
susceptibility. Much like the electric susceptibility term the magnetic susceptibility
is given in terms of a Bloch resonance in a static background magnetic eld. Since a
resonance is induce during a locally static magnetic eld, the magnetic susceptibility
has the same features as the electric susceptibility.

0
2

0
T
2
1 + (
0
)
2
T
2
2
[(
0
) T
2
+ i] (2.3)
With the knowledge that n = 1 +
1
2
(
e
+
m
) this will lead us to the equation for
the detected wave from the sheet of dipoles as
E
s
z
= E
0
i

2c
d(

)e
i(t
x
c
0
)
(2.4)
The resulting re-radiated eld from the superposition of a double dipole sheet is
E
s
z
=
id
2c
(

)e
i(t
x
c
0
)
(2.5)
Ward(12) further shows that this can be expanded to a layered double dipole sheet,
where the phase propagation due to the microscopic susceptibilities allow
21
propagation for simultaneous values of negative permittivities and permeabilities. A
consideration of negative phase due to the condition that
+
2
< 1 demonstrates
that energy conservation, or power conservation holds in this case because the group
velocity is this region is actually positive, even while the phase velocity is
negative(12). As we are comfortable that such material properties might be
possible, we should investigate the advantages of such a material in the rst place.
2.1.3 Double negative index material (DNIM) possibilities
As we used in the Ward demonstration of a dipole sheet o show the possibility
of a DNIM, we can look at the far eld of a single scattering object. Using far eld
contributions, the optical resolution limit is set by the maximum value of for a
simple lens diagram as shown below in Fig 2.2. As a most simplistic model, we can
begin by looking for solutions to the equation of a directional point source, pointing
towards a lens of arbitrary height.
E
s
e
(ikzcos+ikxsinit)
(2.6)
In this case we can see that in order to obtain the highest spacial resolution we can
simplify the dispersion through k

c
=
2

. Then as 90
o
, we expect that

x

2
k
=
2c

= in order for any noticeable contribution to the image plane from


and addition
x
. A much more accurate derivation follows from Fraunhofer
diraction, which is considered in the far eld as well. Using a circular aperture of
radius r, we can describe the diraction from a source which lies displaced from the
origin, along the line of propagation P
s
. Using a formulation devised from Sharma
(36), we can express the spatial frequencies u and v as their polar equivalents.
u =
r

cos

0
= cos

(2.7)
22

`

Image
`
Object
x
z

`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`

>
>
>
>
>
>
>

>
>
>
>
>
>
>

Figure 2.2: Ray diagram for simple lens.


This serves to illustrate the resolution limits set by the converging rays at the image
plane.
v =
r

sin

0
= sin

(2.8)
The solutions to the Fourier transform for
F(,

) =
_

0
_
2
0
t(r, )e
i2(urcos+vrsin)
rdrd are not based on which reduces
to an integral that can be categorized as a Bessel function.
F() =
_
a
0
rdr
__
2
0
t(r, )e
i2rcos
d
_
(2.9)
Bessel functions have a recursion relation that allows us to integrate for a rst order
(5)
_ _

x
[x
p
J
p
(x)] = x
p
J
p1
(x)
_
= x

J
1
(x

) =
_
x

0
xJ
0
(x)dx (2.10)
This leads to our solution for F() = F(0)
J
1
(2a)
2a
. Plugging =
r

0
back into the
equation allows us to nd the rst minimum at the rst zero of
J
1
(2a) = J
1
(1.22). If two dierent sources were created by two points, they
would be indistinguishable because of the principle of linear superposition. Thus
23
this directly relates to the diraction limit of optics
2r

= 1.22

a
R

0
(2.11)
We can imagine several possible techniques to decompose the superposition of two
Figure 2.3: Airy disc - Fraunhofer diraction from a circular aperture of radius
5.0cm at 10[GHz].
such simple functions, however this limit has remained signicant because of several
other limiting factors due to refraction based optics. We must note however, that
recent work has shown that in special cases, specically biological ones, quantum
dots can be injected or attached to attain resolution limits of

30
(20). This seems
to beg the question how does a DNIM allow for resolution beyond a normal material
lens.
24
2.1.4 The perfect lens
We can rst see a very intriguing dierence in the near eld of a DNIM.
Looking at the wave vector k of a plane wave much like the one described Fig 2.2,
we know k
z
=
_
k
2
x

c
_
2
, thus if k
2
x
<
_

c
_
2
, k
z
This implies that these near
eld waves, also called evanescent waves, exponentially decay. We also notice that
because of the exponential decay our source must be relatively close in order to
capture these high spatial frequency waves. We can quickly notice that if we intend
to amplify these waves in the medium, instead of allowing them to be exponentially
suppressed it requires an < 0 and a < 0(33). We already know that we can
model a set of successive dipole sheets as a DNIM according to the work done by
Ward(12). We know that for and of the same sign we have a real k value, thus
with k =

c

= n

c
, we are allowed by Maxwells equations to have a negative
value for n. There seems to be no principle restricting us from a DNIM, except the
real material! Snells law states that n =
sin(
1
)
sin(
2
)
and is no dierent because of the
negative index material except the aforementioned refraction on the same side of the
normal. This leads to new simplistic imaging designs like that of Fig 2.4.
This fact alone is not enough to improve the resolution limit of a lens. The
amplication of evanescent waves is the key to the increased resolution limit of a
DNIM. We can look a a low loss dielectric with = 1 + i. This leads to an
approximated transmission
T
p

e
kxd

2
+ e
2kxd
(2.12)
(11). We can look at the limit as losses approach zero,
lim
0
T
p
= lim
0
e
kxd

2
+ e
2kxd
= e
kxd
(2.13)
25
Negative
Space

`
`
`
`
`
>
>
>
>
>

.
.
.
..
-
-
-
--

`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
. -
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

`
`
`
`
`
>
>
>
>
>

.
.
.
..
-
-
-
-- ~ ~
Object Image
Air
n=1
NIM
n=-1
Figure 2.4: Demonstration of a double negative index slab lens
with index of n = 1This is the Perfect Lens as stated by Pendry, which creates a
space(equal to the volume of the DNIM lens and and equal volume of air or
vacuum) that appears to the detector not to exist, at least spatially.
However, amplication does not occur if k
x
>
ln
d

pl
=
2
kmax

2d
|ln|
. We can
compare this to the limit of our simplistic normal lens
x
and our new

pl

2d
|ln|
. It is quite interesting to note that now the resolution limit is no longer a
function of the wavelength, but instead a function of the distance from the object to
the lens face. Of course we will hope for a near lossless case, and in this limit we
expect our resolution limit .
2.2 The Six Velocities of Light
Since metamaterials are specically designed with the manipulation of both
the group velocity v
g
and the phase velocity v
p
, a closer look into these phenomena
and others surrounding electromagnetic radiation is fundamental to insuring no non
physical results appear from our theoretical explanations.
2.2.1 Free space velocities
Following the notations used by Brillouin (7) we know,
c =

0
(2.14)
26
Evanescent
Magnitude
~ ~
Object Image
Air
n=1
NIM
n=-1
Figure 2.5: Demonstration of a simple lens using a DNIM
with index of n = 1. In this case the bottom curve(red) represents the amplitude
of the evanescent component of the wave.
where
0
and
0
are the permittivity and permeability of free space as dened
immediately following EQ. 1.5 . It is important to note that, though it may seem
possible initially through metamaterial designs, based on special relativity,
information in a wave cannot travel faster through space than this value. The speed
at which the phase of a specic frequency
0
travels through space is dened as the
phase velocity.
W = v
p
=

k
(2.15)
In free space this is simply v
p
= c. This velocity can be thought of as the motion of
elementary wavelets in the carrier. The group velocity v
g
is dened as the speed at
which a packet or collection of larger disturbances travel through space. In free
space the group velocity is not dependent upon the collection of frequencies that
make up the wave packet, since
U = v
g
=

k
(2.16)
27
where is and individual frequency with k =
2

, with k called the wave number


and is the wavelength of the individual frequency. The group can be thought of as
the modulation impressed on the carrier and is the result of a building up of some of
the groups of individual wavelets into a large amplitude which moves along with
velocity v
g
.

Group
-
-
-
-
-
-
--

Modulation
Figure 2.6: Wave packet showing a combination of waves
resulting in an envelope modulation. These individual waves, each moving at their
own v
p
, of a carrier are causing the larger modulation, which move at v
g
. This was
taken from Brillouin (7). We note the change in terminology from, the combination
of individual wavelets resulting in a larger carrier modulation used by Brillouin, to
the above.
We can now dene the signal velocity, which governs the transfer of
information through a medium. Signal velocity, S, can be dened as the moment
when forced oscillations of the characteristic frequency of the incoming wave become
detectable in a medium. Generally speaking the signal velocity refers to the moment
when oscillations are on the order of magnitude of the input signal, but this does
not always need to be the case, as in the case of a lossy material. In free space, once
again
S = c = v
p
(2.17)
Energy velocity can be dened depending on the medium. In a non-dispersive
medium, or a medium which has absorption far from the from the frequency of the
28
incoming signal, it can be dened as the group velocity. However, in a dispersive
medium the energy velocity has to be dened as the ratio of the Poynting vector to
the energy density.
We can now dene the last primary velocity which is the front velocity. The
front velocity, or the velocity of the wavefront, is dened as the speed at which the
smallest and most minute disturbance of the eld propagates through a medium.
Since the energies at the wavefront are so small this makes them undetectable, thus
representing a rather theoretical space where the wave exist. In Brillouins (7)
derivation the wave requires a nite beginning and end, otherwise most of the
previous denitions become meaningless since the wave would otherwise exist
everywhere throughout space. In this case the front velocity also has a counterpart
called the end velocity, which is created by the beginning of a new wave of opposite
phase but equal shape and amplitude.Through destructive interference, these
amplitudes cancel, thus equivalently destroying all oscillations in the carrier. Both
of these are physically needed and they set limits on the other velocities.
2.2.2 Waves in a medium
The value of c was dened in vacuum and it does not change in a medium.It is
v
p
that is a function of or k and which is dependent upon the type of medium.
Lord Rayleigh used ocean waves as an example, using

2
y
t
2
+ K
2
b
2
4
y
x
4
= 0 as the wave
equation for surface waves in deep ocean water.(7). With a phase velocity dened as
W =
2

Kb = Kbk = B
n
= B

k
n
U = W(1 n) then from EQ. 2.16 we can
now show that v
g
= c. With electromagnetic waves phase velocity is constrained by
the reaction of local oscillators. In typical metals we consider this to be made up of
electron, which usually have a characteristic plasma frequency in the UV range. In
the case that the phase velocity is near a local oscillators characteristic frequency,
the phase velocity is now a function of the local oscillators in the medium thus
v
p
v
p
(k, , t) with k =
2

as the wave number, as the density of oscillators and


29
T, which is temperature. We can now also look at the group velocity in a medium.
v
g
=

k
=
kv
p
k
= v
p
+ k
v
p
k
(2.18)
Demonstration of dierences in signal, group and phase velocities can be shown
through the dierent paths of integration of two wave of opposite phase but equal
amplitude one beginning at time t = 0 the other at time t = T = n with equal to
a single period
f(t) =
1

dn
n
2

_
2

_
2
_
e
in(tT)
e
int
_
(2.19)
The most complicated velocity to predict in a dispersive medium is the signal
Figure 2.7: Brillouins diagram of integration paths - This picture is an extraction
from Wave Propagation and Group Velocity (7) and is a representation of the
dierent results of taking dierent paths of integration from EQ. 2.19. represents
c/W where W = phase velocity , 2em represents c/U where U = Group velocity ,
represents c/S where S = signal velocity , -- represents c/U
1
whereU
1
= energy
velocity
30
velocity. This requires rigorous work to dene the time and space between the
wavefront and the onset of the rst forced oscillations after the forerunners. Since
the forerunners exist before the forced oscillations they do not have the
characteristic frequency of the signal and in a dispersive medium actually follow two
dierent paths.
Figure 2.8: Brillouins dierentiation of signal and front velocities. - This picture is
taken from Wave Propagation and Group Velocity (7). This is a schematic of wave
propagation in a medium, where the signal velocity can be dierentiated by the rst
two groups of forerunners through its characteristic frequency and magnitude.
2.2.3 Super-luminal speeds
The initial interest in meta-materials was to create phase velocities or group
velocities not found in nature. There is no restriction on v
p
or v
g
in a dispersive
medium, but this still does not imply that the signal velocity is greater than c. This
important consequence also shows some of the theoretical limits of our previous
derivations as we have, for the most part, neglected the time evolution of the wave
and considered only steady state solutions.
31
Figure 2.9: Brillouins diagram of propagation speed in a medium. - This picture
is taken from Wave Propagation and Group Velocity (7). This is a demonstration
of the propagation speeds of the phase and wavefront, or c as a function of distance
in a medium.
32
Figure 2.10: Negative index lens with plane wave incident.
Uses COMSOL R Multiphysics 4.1a RF module
2.3 Pendrys Perfect Lens Revisited
33
Figure 2.11: Negative index lens with cylindrical scatter
and plane wave incident using COMSOL R Multiphysics 4.1a RF module
34
Figure 2.12: Cylindrical scatterer
and plane wave incident using COMSOL R Multiphysics 4.1a RF module
CHAPTER 3 : Meta-Atomic Constituents
3.1 Overview of Possible Metamaterial Constituents
There has been much focus on metallic like resonators or metal lattices as a
primary way to induce both electrical and magnetic resonances. This has been the
predominate focus of authors such as Pendry (19) and Kong (2) for almost a
decade. The strengths of these types of resonators also lead to their inherent
diculties, predominately conductivity, which inherently contains a mechanism for
resonance as well as losses. Despite this fact, the ease of design due to modern
circuit theory as well as the ability to produce inductance, or a magnetic response,
has lead these materials to be some of the most useful metamaterials to date.
3.2 Metal Resonators
Split Ring Resonators (SRR), U-shaped or S-shaped resonators are the most
popular choices for early metamaterial designs due to their known LRC Circuit
equivalences. These structures typically are sized on the order of or preferably
smaller than the wavelength at which they resonate. Most groups work with these
materials because of the induced magnetic response near or at resonances which in
most cases can become the dominant feature in the eect of the SRR on wave
propagation in the bulk material. Current SRRs are focused on a bulk material
response and are designed to push the barrier for metamaterials farther into the
optical regime.
36
3.2.1 Size limitations
There are fundamental limits to this simple scaling down of SRRs. As these
get physically smaller and smaller and so does their eective operational
wavelength. The rst issue is based on the frequency dependence of metallic
conductivity. or the frequency dependence of the electrical susceptibility. We will
show in section 5.1 that the standard, in the microwave regime, of approximating a
metal as a simple electron gas with conductivity as its governing factor does not
apply in the regime where dimensions become small and where plasmonics eects
can dominate. There is another limiting factor that was not normally considered.
Once we scale down this eective LRC circuit, the magnetic energy used to draw a
current through the circuit also decreases. Initially we have a simple relationship
where U

1
2
LI
2
. As this approaches smaller and smaller sizes, it begins to infringe
upon the metals natural kinetic inductance (43), where
1
2
Nmv
2
=
1
2
L
kin
I
2
(3.1)
but this does not depend on the size of the SRR. We know with a LRC equivalent
circuit the resonant frequency based on the inductive and capacitive properties is

LC
=
1

L
tot
C
(3.2)
where L
tot
= L + L
kin
, thus the resonance is dominated by the kinetic term at small
frequencies.
Additional limitations arise when thinking of practical applications, as we can
envision trying to create the perfect lens Fig 2.5, and we would need this to be a
omni-directional negative index material. We could imagine using a biaxial or
uniaxial metamaterial for many purposes, but this would not display the
37
characteristics of the perfect lens that was rst suggested. There is also a question
of how we expect evanescent waves to couple into the material. If the predominate
eect is a resonance created in the SRR, and the SRR are on the order of the
wavelength this seems to indicate that the highest spatial response will also be on
the order of the wavelength. We have been looking for practical solutions in the
microwave regime currently, thus we can take these limitations and redirect our
study towards reducing the size of the SRRs in order to address both of these
concerns.
Realization of sub- wavelength,

50
, SRRs will allow for bulk material
properties to resemble those of the individual resonators or have less predictable
eective index values, depending on the eective coupling with their neighbors.
Given suciently small resonators we can randomize the orientations and embed
these in a substrate of our choice and create this type of omni-directional
metamaterial and this has been shown with frequency selective surfaces (18).
3.2.2 Geometrical scaling
We will assume we are generally outside the region in which kenetic
inductance plays a role as we intend this structure for the microwave regime, nearly
10
5
orders larger. We can begin with a simple model for a standard type of SRR.
Using the Drude model of a material we previously dened however in this case we
would like the addition of the intraband transition, which after some simplication
takes the form (40)
=
0
_

2
p

2
_
(3.3)
Where
r
is the relative permittivity due to the intraband transitions. Making the
general assumption that the current density is uniform across the cross section of
38
the SRR, we can then relate this to the external eld
J
e
= j
0
_

2
p

2
_
E (3.4)
The relationship between the total current passing through the cross section and the
voltage along the SRR perimeter can be found using the current amplitude
I = j
e
wh (3.5)
where j
e
= |J| and a voltage
V = E(l
eff
) (3.6)
where l
eff
=
_

2
_
l, due to simple circular resonator approximation, with length l
equal to the physical length of the SRR.

l
2

w
Figure 3.1: General schematic for the SRR as proposed by Tretyakov(40)
It should be noted that this is of no relation to the previous notation and simply
signies the gap distance between the arms of the split ring resonator.
39
Simple substitution leads to
I =
_
j

r
wh
l
eff
+

0
wh
jl
eff
_
V (3.7)
Simply identifying units we can pull out an additional capacitance
C
add
=

0

r
wh
l
eff
(3.8)
and an inductance
L
add
=
l
eff

0
wh
2
p
(3.9)
which leads to the equation for the current as a function of the LRC equivalents
I =
_
jC
add
+
1
jL
add
_
V (3.10)
This leads to a resonant frequency
0
=
1

(L+L
add
)(C+C
add
)
(40) from the equivalent
circuit model. Simplifying the geometric model of an SRR, the inductance can be
approximated as
L
0
l
4
lv
8l
w + h
(3.11)
while the capacitance is written as
C
0
wh

(3.12)
A further approximation could be made for a round loop inductor L =
0
aln
8a
r
0
,
where the loop radius is a =
l
4
and the equivalent wire radius r
h+w
4
(39). This
40
leads to a resonant frequency,

0
=
1
_
_
1 +
_

2
_ _
l

_
_

0
_
wh
2
_
ln
_
8l
w+h
_
+
1

2
p
_
(3.13)
Typically the goal has been to reduce the denominator in order to increase the
resonant frequency in order to make SRRs eective in the optical regime.With this
is mind the typical graph has shown something on the order of terahertz as a
limiting factor. This is due to the fact that even if all geometric terms go to zero,
(40)

0

1
_
_
1 +
_

2
_ _
l

_
_
1

2
p
_
(3.14)
then we can also say that
_
l

_
max
1, since the largest values for will always be
less than l is our simple model. This limiting case indicates, without the
introduction of losses in the metal, at the resonant frequency approaches the order
of the plasma frequency as the SRR size approaches zero.

0

_
2
1 +
_1
2
(
p
) (3.15)
This general trend can be seen in Fig 3.2, as the plasma frequency used here
was
p
= 2.17 10
15
Hz.
3.2.3 Scaling down
Ideally we would like to shrink the size of the SRR while maintaining the
resonant frequency. With the advantages of shrinking the size of the SRR discussed
above, we move towards modeling the initial SRR in order to investigate what eect
changes to the shape or material composition might have to the resonate frequency.
Using the LRC equivalent circuit model we examined we will look at the trends for
41
varying several variables, such as permittivity of the metal, the scaling factor,
dened as , and the gap distance .
We need to guage the contributions of the individual parameters mentioned.
Fist we will take l = l
i
, h = h
i
, w = w
i
and =
i
. There should be no reason
this model can not be scaled from the initial terahertz region to the microwave,
[GHz] region, since this is our region of interest. Figure 3.3 shows the resonant
frequency f
0
as a function of
1

.
The attempt to show that scaling can bring the resonant frequency to the
1
Figure 3.2: This graphs shows a response from the initial reading (40)
, where the resonant frequency can be seen to converge to near the plasma
frequency, even at size near the wavelength
42
y = 0.4389 10
14
x + 797.36
1
Figure 3.3: Graph of split ring resonator resonant response
Frequency f
0
versus the inverse of the scaling factor
1

is shown.
microwave range shows an approximate value of = 6.39 10
4
for the scaling
factor. Figure 3.3 also shows that the geometric scaling can easily be applied in the
GHz frequency range. The cost of testing equipment, availability of materials and
military applicability are driving factors to rst show proof of concept of a
metamaterials properties in the microwave regime before developing them for higher
frequencies. In this case we are looking for a resonant frequency near or at 10[GHz].
We can now solve our equation for the given resonant frequencyf
0
= 10
10
Hz to
arrive at scaling factor of = 6.39 10
4
. We can now move to trying to reduce the
scaling factor while manipulating other variables in order to reduce the overall size
43
of the SRR. We will rst look at the gap between the SRR ends , from gure 3.1.
First we will take a look at at the current scale factor = 6.39 10
4
. We will now
dene = (
i
) as an intent to scale the gap distance, , while keeping the
remaining dimensions constant. The gure 3.4 demonstrates that it is possible to
Scale Factor= 6.39 10
4
Figure 3.4: Plot of the resonant frequency
,when compared to the independent scaling of the gap distance at scale factor
= 6.39 10
4
move the resonant frequency by simply adjusting the gap between then ends of the
SRR. We can now begin to change the scale factor and see if we can compensate
with the scaling of the gap length . Figure 3.5, is our rst guess at rescaling both
the scale factor and the gap size. The gure above is a rst step in proof of concept,
44
Scale Factor= 6.39 10
3
Figure 3.5: Scaling continued
By decreasing the initial scale factor to = 6.39 10
3
since we have now scaled our original SRR by a factor of 10
1
. We have shown that
it is possible to compensate for the osets in scaling by rescaling the gap distance
by a scale factor of 10
2
. Unfortunately this does not come near our initial goal
of a size reduction to

50
. Thus we can try once again to see if further rescaling can
be done by simply adjusting the gap size.
45
FIG. 3.6 is the nal attempt we present here to use the separation between
the ends as a means of rescaling the SRR. We further reduce the scaling factor of
the SRR. With a scaling factor of = 6.39 10
2
we are nearing our goal of

50
. This
however pushes the scaling factor of the gap another two orders of magnitude to
= 10
4
. With such a small scaling factor the gap distance is approaching normal
limits in manufacturing 10

8m = 10nm.
Scale Factor= 6.39 10
2
Figure 3.6: Scaling factor further reduced
to = 6.39 10
2
the gap size has to decrease by a factor of = 10
4
.
3.2.4 Continued scaling possibilities
Since the entire SRR model was introduced as a metal conductor in air, it is
possible to immerse this into a dielectric and through modication of the dielectric
46
Figure 3.7: Backward wave
When a negative index metamaterial is realized, then because the phase and group
velocites have opposite sign we observe a so-called backward wave. In one of the
metamaterial structures we have studied, based on a meandering line or S-structure,
we can see this phenomenae
properties, expect that new resonances might be found. An initial attempt was
made to simply increase the permittivity of the surrounding medium from
r
= 1 to

r
= 4. The intention being that this would possibly quadruple the resonant
frequency, since the resonator would essentially see a new shorter eective
wavelength
n
ew = /4 equal to 1/4 the original wavelength. This, in retrospect,
was naive attempt since the wave, upon exiting the dielectric, would simply return
to the original dimensions, thus removing any eect we might hope to have.
CHAPTER 4 : FORM BIREFRINGENT STRUCTURES
4.1 Form-Birefringent Materials
Unlike resonators where much of the focus lies in the possibility of creating a
negative phase velocity from simultaneously having both negative permittivity and
negative permeability, form-birefringent material structures can attempt to exploit
the group velocity to create a negative group velocity as well as other interesting
unique properties. It is due to this group velocity manipulation that birefringent
materials have the possibility of being narrow band lters, producing large eld
enhancements and even being negative group index materials.
In 2003 a group headed by A. M andatori published a paper looking at a 1D
system consisting of alternating dielectric layers. Each layer consisted of an
anisotropic material. By alternating specic anisotropy the group showed that it
was possible to create a negative group index through an anomalous phase shift
these structures. The simplest version of the M andatori structure is shown in Fig
4.1 (1) (26)
Although it was shown that a birefringent material could produce a negative
group index, this was using structures with high anisotropies. With normal
materials this index contrast is relatively low. Naturally occurring anisotropies
occur in materials such as quartz with
n
n
= 0.6% and LiNbO
3
with
n
n
= 3.8% ,
which are not high enough to achieve noticeable results with the anomalous phase
behavior. (1).
The published M andatori stack experiment showed instead of a large stack, a
simplistic single layer stack like that in Fig 4.1 could be modeled more easily. Given
48
Figure 4.1: Simple M andatori structure
This consisting of a single anisotropic layer, which combined with a transmitted
linearly polarized wave and a received linearly polarized wave, ccontrols one period
of variable path length(26).
the initial direction of the Poynting vector, or the direction of travel of a polarized
plane wave as z, the birefringent layers are aligned such that for n
x
and n
y
and have
nx
ny
> 1. With a given thickness d along the direction of propagation for the
birefringent layer, this then implies a splitting ratio
=
|E
x
|
|E
y
|
(4.1)
which is determined by the angle between the electric eld alignment of the
polarizer or horn and the x direction of the birefringent material. This then leads to
a center operating frequency of

m
= m
c
dn
(4.2)
where m is and integer greater than zero, c is the speed of light and n = n
x
n
y
.
49
Figure 4.2: Schematic of incoming wave onto birefringent layer
Also Shows with exit polarization change.(1)
This leads to the group index of refraction at the center frequency
m
as
n
g
= n
y
_
1
n
(1 )n
y
_
(4.3)
We can also dene the frequency range, or bandwidth, of the anomalous behavior as,
=
2c arccos
dn
(4.4)
where the transmission can also be shown to be
T = (1 )
2
(4.5)
Using the equations above it is easy to see that standard materials, which
have a birefringence n 0.1%, would require a splitting ratio of almost 1 in order
to have a negative index, which leads to transmission loss of the order 40dB.
Though a few materials exhibit birefringence in the range of .6% n 4% (13),
50
we intend on attaining a much higher value, as a n = n = 100%, with a
transmission throughput of around 25%, would be useful in many applications.
4.1.1 Gigantic Anisotropies
The large birefringence needed for the above applications for negative group
delays or eective negative index can be attained using form birefringence in
appropriately doped host polymeric materials. Low cost materials such as plastics
or other easily produced materials can be formed with slits, columns or other
patterned structures to induce form birefringence. The birefringence due to simply
lines or slits can easily be calculated using the eective index n
eff
of the original
material and the lling ratio r, where r 1. We can calculate the index along the
polarized plane wave electric eld oscillations(TE),
n
x
=
_
rn
2
eff
+ 1 r (4.6)
Likewise, we can calculate the index along the polarized plane wave magnetic
eld oscillations(TM)
n
y
=
_
r
n
2
eff
+ 1 r
_

1
2
(4.7)
A quick guess might lead one to speculate that a maximum contrast would be
found at a ll percent of r = .5 and this is the case. For r = .5,
_
n
n
x
_
=
1
4
_
n
1
n
_
2
(4.8)
With materials that are readily available index contrast of greater than 20%
are possible. Initial attempts to create such a material were done with a Stratasys
FDM Titan rapid prototyping machine at Western Carolina. The eective index of
ABS plastic is 1.57 at 10GHz (25).
51
Figure 4.3: Graph of bandwidth vs splitting ratio
This demonstrates the large variability dependent upon the rotation angle of the
form birefringent disc
Initially discs were manufactured with a n 0.14 which leads to an index
contrast of
n
nx
=
0.14
1.31
= 11%. However in order to move the center frequency
m
2
given in EQ. 4.2 to 10[GHz] the thickness of the disc has to be d 9 10
2
m or
9.0cm.
Although not initially problematic, this stack of ABS discs is only for the
simplistic Mandatori structure, which requires only one period. The initial
conception of the M andatori stack was motivated by exploiting the large eld
enhancement that occurs near band edges, spcically at regions the degenerate band
edge or split band edge regions. The regions have eld enhancements proportional
to the fourth power of the number of periods, which consist of alternating
birefringent discs. In order to realize these eld enhancements in a real material, a
52
Figure 4.4: Form birefringent ABS plastic
Made at Western Carolina University by a Stratasys FDM Titan rapid prototyping
machine, with .5mm and larger slits.
higher
n
nx
needed to be realized. Since the losses of the material would increase in a
real experiment or material considerably over a greater length, lower losses were also
required. This is not due to the intrinsic losses in the material, but rather the
stringent requirements for each period to be nearly geometrically identical.
Estimates suggest that anything above 0.1% disorder will make drastic changes to
the eld enhancement and concerns are known (14), but exact numbers are not yet
published.
53
Figure 4.5: Graph of index value for TE, n
x
and TM n
y
This is for a form birefringent disc of ABS plastics with n
eff
= 1.57 as seen in
4.4(26).
4.1.2 The Search for Higher Index Materials
At microwave frequencies, specically at X-band, materials with an index
above 2 are not dicult to nd, but are usually expensive and hard to machine,
thus the search was limited to readily available inexpensive materials. The form of
the ABS disc was still perfectly useful and thus was used as the test subjects for all
kinds of ABS dopants and coatings.
With one of the highest permittivities of easily obtainable materials, SrTiO
3
was high on the list of dopants to test as a suitable rapidly manufacturable form
54
birefringent metamaterial. However dopant particle sizes were limited and this lead
to the use of an epoxy based host, which allowed for a very low mass fraction of
SrTiO
3
to be successfully mixed. Because of the fast drying of the epoxy that was
chosen inhomogeneity of dopant particles was an issue as well. Particle
dispersement in the host polymer became a larger and larger problem as the mass
fraction increased. This is the cause of the noticeable dip in the increasing index for
the highest mass fraction sample, as surface defects and air pockets in the host
lowered the eective index.
Figure 4.6: SrTiO3Epoxy - Graph for SrTiO
3
doped epoxy formed disc
An investigation into easily accessible dopants lead to a few very widely used
materials. One example is rutile TiO
2
, which is available in almost any size due to
its widespread use and its listed permittivity. Its permittivity is listed as

11
=
22
= 86(13), though this is only listed for 10[kHz]. In the microwave regime
we know it has a
r
20. Mixing the TiO
2
into host materials was successful on
many fronts, several photopolymers were used as well as a polyamides plastic host.
We were able to place a higher mass fraction in the polyamides plastic host
r
= 2,
because of the technique used to form the disc, injection molding, which allowed a
much more viscus material to form and did not cause the anticipated issue problems
55
found with the photopolymers.
Figure 4.7: TiO2Nylon - Graph for TiO
2
doped polyamides plastic
Though these discs denitely provided a high N, it was easy to see they had
reached their limit and we needed an approach which would lead us to a much
larger index.
Through some intuition and sheer luck a specic coating was found that
increased the index signicantly with additional layers. These gold colored ABS
discs were initially tested to have an increased
n
nx
35%.
After 30 coats, TE index values approached n
x
4.0 5.0
Gold ABS Index Comparison
Disc Index Index n
Number TM(n
y
) TE(n
x
)
1 1.406 4.508 3.102
2 1.378 4.479 3.101
3 1.476 4.750 3.275
4 1.453 4.812 3.359
5 1.508 4.830 3.322
6 1.448 4.039 2.591
.
Table 4.1: Tabulated data for gold color coated ABS disc.
With such a high index testing became dicult since we were using only an
56
Figure 4.8: Graph of index value for TE, n
x
and TM n
y
This is for a form birefringent disc of 6 coats of gold colored coating ABS plastic.
approximate plane wave and Fresnel reection at the boundary became an issue.
Since the ratio of the transmitted wave along n
x
compared to n
y
was aected by
this as well, readings became even more dicult at angles with lower transmission
coecients. Nevertheless, the benet of such discs is still apparent since with a
n = 3.3 to nd a center frequency near 10GHz a stack of thickness of only
5.0 10
3
m or 5.0mm thick was needed to observe a phase advance. Though
transmission is still theoretically possibly near a resonance, this was largely ignored
for our initial experiments.
57
4.1.3 Tunable Negative Group Delay
The next phase in using these stacks was to show a tunable negative group
delay around the calculated center frequency. This was done using the eective
delay detected by a VNA as the disc was rotated to change the splitting ratio and
thus the eective index given by equation EQ. 4.3. The rst attempt was made
using the original ABS disc with low n, shown in Fig. 4.12 and Fig. 4.9. Further
experimental data are provided with other types of form birefringent disc. Gold
painted discs are shown with a stack thickness of d = 2.5cm and a n = 0.6 in Fig
4.10 and Fig 4.13. Investigation led to the production of TiO
2
doped polymer discs
with .5mm slits water machined into them. Advantages of these disc were a higher
anisotropy, n = 1.2 and low losses compared to other materials with a similar n.
A stack of these discs was even shorter with a d = 1.29cm, but it turns out there
were still issues with measurements due to losses Fig 4.11 and Fig 4.14.
Figure 4.9: Phase relations of ABS - Graph of phase response at diering angles
versus frequency of the d = 9.0cm stack of ABS disc.
4.2 FBS Discussion
Fig 4.9 to Fig4.10 are a demonstration of the ability to control the relative
phase delay of a form birefringent structure through mechanical rotation. The plots
also verify the relations stated in EQ. 4.2 through EQ. 4.6. The last plots in each
58
Figure 4.10: Phase relations of Gold Coated ABS - Graph of phase response at
diering angles versus frequency of the d = 2.5cm stack of gold painted ABS disc.
Figure 4.11: Phase relations of Ti02 doped polyamides plastic - Graph of phase
response at diering angles versus frequency of a d = 1.29cm stack of TiO
2
doped
polyamides plastic disc.
59
group Fig 4.11 and Fig 4.14, showed some additional unexplained data points, that
needed to be looked at. It turns out this was not the rst case of irregularities such
as this tended to be the case for very high loss materials, or those with higher
reection coecients. Additional restraints on test equipment, such as reduction is
cross sectional area for testing caused additional transmission drops and this began
to eect the reliability of our test set. This general line of questioning has recently
caused an complete revision of our test setup in order to better prepare for
materials with higher losses that would normally be expected.
4.3 Measurement Techniques
relative index measurements
Figure 4.12: Transmission for ABS stack - Graph of transmission versus frequency
at varying angles of the d = 9.0cm stack of ABS disc.
60
Figure 4.13: Transmission for gold coated ABS stack - Graph of transmission versus
frequency at varying angles of the d = 2.5cm stack of gold painted ABS disc.
Figure 4.14: Transmission for Ti02 doped polyamides plastic Stack - Graph of
transmission versus frequency at varying angles of a d = 1.29cm stack of TiO
2
doped
polymer disc. The odd data spike is noted and will be discussed later in the measure-
ment techniques section.
61
4.4 Experimental Setup
Typically our experimental results are veried by a time domain technique as
well as a S-parameter technique. As we attempt to investigate what could be
materials with and index n < 1 we need to be clear what kinds of results we expect
and also acknowledge any aws inherent to the types of data we are collecting.
4.5 VNA phase change measurement setup
The current VNA test setup uses the incident wave amplitude to derive the
phase of the received wave and compares this to the transmitted wave received with
a material in place in order to derive the phase change. An HP 8150A Test Set is
used in conjunction with a set of free space rectangular horn antennae. Both cabling
and horns are optimized for performance from 8.2-12.4[GHz]. Once the equipment
is set up, the initial phase can be changed by an electronic delay that merely osets
the output driving frequency, thus with the current setup the initial phase can be
set to anything we choose 180
o
180
o
. With careful observation this allows
any material that has a relative phase shift of less than 360
o
to be calculated with
condence. Relative phase shift is an important distinction as we are typically
comparing this shift to that of air or approximately vacuum.
4.6 Measurement calculations
The calculation of phase shift can be done with two dierent methods. With a
gantry system, a transmitter and detector/receiver can be placed against each other
as in Fig 4.17. This will dene the reference phase for this system. Then they can
be separated to the exact thickness (d) of the DUT as in Fig 4.22 in order for a
second measurement to be taken. In this case the calculation of the index of the
DUT is n =
c
v
, with c as the speed of the EM wave in vacuum, v as the speed of the
EM wave in the medium. Using v = f
c
f
This leads to =
d
N
, where is the
wavelength is the medium, d is the thickness of the medium and N is the number of
oscillations.
c
f
d
N
. The number of oscillation can be calculated from the phase
62
Figure 4.15: Horn Measurement Reference - Reference for two horns initially touch-
ing measurement
change where N =

360
o
The nal calculation for the index becomes
n =
c
f d 360
o
(4.9)
4.7 Stationary Horns Measurement
In this case the horns will already be separated by some distance d. As in Fis
4.23, the reference already has a phase delay associated with the volume of air with
thickness d. This will dene our reference phase for this system. In this case, we
take into account the phase delay created by the existing volume of air. Using EQ.
4.9 we already know the associated phase delay
1 =

air
c
f d 360
o
(4.10)
Replacing the entire volume of air with a DUT with measured phase delay of

DUT
we end up with
n =
(
air
+
DUT
)c
fd360
o
We can then manipulate this equation to
63
Figure 4.16: Experimental diagram of volume lled with air - Reference measure-
ment for DUT with stationary horns
n =

air
c
fd360
o
+

DUT
c
fd360
o
,
since the rst contribution is EQ. 4.10, this leads to
n = 1 +

DUT
c
f d 360
o
(4.11)
This is the equation we have used consistently since October 2008 for
calculations to determine the eective refractive index from the VNA. If d is found
in cm this equation is simplied further as
n = 1 +
3.010
8
1010
9
d(cm)10
2
n = 1 +
3.0
360
o
d(cm)
(4.12)
64
The following pages contain a set of illustrations meant to clarify the
measurement system and explore the possibilities for various phase changes and
example possible negative index material measurements.
This is used as an example because of a continuing debate on the ability of
scattering parameters to accurately describe the phase response near a resonant
peak. Since the structure specically is engineered to behave this way near the
measured frequency, a more through investigation into the physical interpretation of
all constituent variables in the scattering parameter matrix and approximations
made internally with out VNA must be looked at. We also have some limitations
with the free space horns which required modication in this particular experiment.
The cross sectional area of the horns was much greater than that of the stack of Ss
thus the predominant signal detected was that which simply propagated by the
material. Since the VNA processes the total received signal, the magnitude of the
unaected wave alters the outcome quite signicantly and it approximates a black
box with a mix of air and material as a uniform 1-D scatterer. This problem is what
led to the motivation to use a dielectric wave guide. Though losses were greater in
the dielectric waveguide, the transmitted wave was passed solely through the
intended material thus measurement accuracy was increased greatly.
Results
Phase Thickness
Material Advance Index (cm)
2-S 243.06
o
0.138 2.351
4-S 590.47
o
0.045 4.707
6-S 962.25
o
0.121 7.154
Table 4.2: Teon
R
rod used
Complete phase wraps were inserted 4-S( 1 wrap) and 6-S(2-wraps) structure.
Because of high losses, the results for the 6-S structure have up to 50
o
of variation.
65
Figure 4.17: Reference for two horns initially touching measurement type
Figure 4.18: Air as either reference or demonstration
This displayes the separation of horns from Fig 4.17
Figure 4.19: Measurement for DUT 1
This is to help demonstrate dierent possibilities for phase delay of normal material
66
Figure 4.20: Air as a reference measurement
Figure 4.21: Measurement for DUT 2
This is to help demonstrate dierent possibilities for phase de-
lay of normal material. In this case the measured phase delay
would be X, as the reference would already have a delay of 2X.
Figure 4.22: Measurement for DUT 3
This is to help demonstrate dierent possibilities for phase delay of normal material.
Again this situation would have a measured delay of 2X as the reference value already
contained the additional 2X phase delay.
67
Figure 4.23: Air as a reference measurement
Figure 4.24: Measurement for a DUT 4
This shows a phase advance. In this case the measured phase
would be -2X as the reference already contained 2X phase delay
Figure 4.25: Measurement for a DUT 4
Again, this shows a phase advance. In this case the measurement would be -4X as
the reference contained a +2X
68
Figure 4.26: Teon
R
rod initial - A solid Teon
R
rod was used to test the polar-
ization of the exit wave
4.8 Teon
R
Rod Polarization Test
We have had several questions about how well the Teon
R
rod maintains the
waves polarization. Below is comparison data between our initial rectangular horns
and the Teon
R
rod, both of which are rotated through 180
o
to test transmission
polarization. The setup in Figure 4.27 has the waveguide adapters at a 20
o
angle
and has no transmission (implies transmission magnitude is equal to the power with
no waveguides present) without the Teon
R
rod.
69
Figure 4.27: Teon
R
rod polarization graph - Graph of Transmission loss as the
receiving waveguide adapter is rotated 180
o
Although initial transmission power is greater with the rectangular horns,
both show the same general prole. The prole of the horns also demonstrate a
slight hump, which is a know eect of this shape, which is avoided with the use of
the dielectric waveguide.
70
Figure 4.28: Teon
R
rod angle measurements - Illustration of how the angle was
measured, which results in approx 0.5
o
error
Figure 4.29: Metal Horn Graph - Graph of transmission loss as the receiving horn
and waveguide adapter are rotated 180
o
71
Figure 4.30: Metal Horn Angle - Illustration of how the angle was measured, which
results in approx 0.5
o
error
4.9 Additional Considerations for Measurement Error
4.9.1 Cabling Sensitivity
Variability in measurements was noticed when preforming the initial Teon
R
rod test. Rotating the horn 180
0
did not have the desired and expected result for
either the horns or the rod. The peak Transmission power was not realized at 0
o
and 180
o
. This was because of a slight bend in the cable. For this particular set of
data this was not very important, but for scattering parameter measurements it
would ruin the measurements system. Provided are some images to show how
sensitive the test set is and why calibrations must be performed regularly.
We have also recorded how simple orientation of the experimenters body
makes a signicant , though < 2
o
change as well. All of the variations can be
eliminated if the system becomes automated. This suggested setting up Labview
R
and using the 8512 test set with external calibration provided free through NIST
and a possible automated mechanism for placing the DUT in and out of the eld.
72
Figure 4.31: Bend Angle Response 1 - This image illustrates the greater bend angle
that caused 1.5dB change in transmission
73
Figure 4.32: Bend Angle Response 2 - This image is used as the reference for the
image above the change in angle
74
For further discussions on s-parameter measurements. (10)
Figure 4.33: Bend Angle 3 - Demonstration of diculty detecting the cable bend
dierence, as this is the greater bend
75
Figure 4.34: Bend Angle 4 - This image is used as the reference, again, to show
diculties if we are constantly moving cabling.
CHAPTER 5 : Modeling Techniques
5.1 Modeling Overview
Over the course of several years we have conducted a large number of
numerical experiments using several dierent o-the-shelf softwares as well as
creating code on our own. Currently, and for most of the nite element simulations
shown below, COMSOL R 4.1a was used on the Mosaic Linux Redhat provided
through the William States Lee College of Engineering here at UNC-Charlotte. In
conjunction with Matlab R Comsol R 4.1a has provided valuable insight into the
physical expectations of not only a negative index lens, but a plethora of insight
into FBS structure as well as scattering parameter calculations and more. We will
attempt to demonstrate some of the various limitations to the theories, assumptions
and even the software itself in this section.
5.1.1 Drude or Drude-Lorentz models
By default, COMSOL R uses the bulk conductivity as an approximation for
metallic response when using the RF package(9). We need to take a look at the
limits of this assumption as we simulate a wide range of devices and materials for
optical to microwave regimes. As before we broke up the bound and free charges,
however we never looked at the resultant combination for metals. Making a slight
notation change when compared to 1.23 and a dimensionless weight factor f
i
, the
free electron eects or intraband eects are summarized using the Drude model,

(f)
r
() = ()
f
o

2
p
( i
0
)
(5.1)
77
The eects of the interband charges, can be summed up exactly the same as the
Lorentz oscillator model but with a dimensionless weight factor to represent the
density of electrons with this lifetime plasma frequency etc...

(b)
r
() =
k

j=1
f
j

2
p
_

2
j

2
_
i
j
(5.2)
We know at long wavelengths that the contributions from interband transition
states will be small, but where does the simplistic Drude model break down and
require this more complicated structure? We already have an idea as the plasma
frequency of the free electron model gives us a regime in which we expect a resonant
feature to occur. Thus at least in this area any other contributions, no matter how
small can have signicant impact on the response of the metal. We can take a quick
look at this if we simply compare the values for a frequency range of given
metals.Using a previously developed Matlab code Drude-Lorentz and
Debye-Lorentz models for the dielectric constant of metals and water (41), which
contains experimental values for several noble metals for f
j
,
j
and
j
from the
work of Aleksander D. Rakic (4).
78
Figure 5.1: Lorentz-Drude Refractive Index of Copper - . Demonstrates the dras-
tic uctuation near the plasma frequencies associated with both the intraband and
interband free electron charges.
79
Figure 5.2: Loreontz-Drude Refractive Index of Silver - . Demonstrates the dras-
tic uctuation near the plasma frequencies associated with both the intraband and
interband free electron charges.
Figure 5.3: Cu Lorentz-Drude and Drude Permittivity Comparisons - . There is little
dierence to be seen at this scale, which highlights why it is of little consequence for
most cases to include interband transition eects
80
Figure 5.4: Plasma Frequency Responses - Loretz-Drude and Drude Comparisons.
A close up view around the plasma frequencies illustrates the major dierence if
working within this regime.
Figure 5.5: Ag Lorentz-Drude and Drude Permittivity Comparisons - . Little dif-
ference can be seen at this scale, which highlights why it is of little consequence for
most cases to include interband transition eects
81
Figure 5.6: Plasma frequency Responses - Lorentz-Drude and Drude Comparisons.
A close up view around the plasma frequencies illustrates the major dierence if
working within this regime.
82
Much of our modeling has been to assist or illustrate principles, but modeling
can only solve the equations we provide. We can see that for simple metallic
scatterers there is hardly and detectable dierence at all even when approaching the
optical regime.
Figure 5.7: Conductivity only Response Figure 5.8: Frequency Dependent Model
Figure 5.9: Figure text for Fig 5.7 and Fig 5.8
Comparisons between gures in order to demonstrate the slight dierences created
through a frequency dependent model which includes interband contributions to the
conductivity.
The two illustrations of the SRRs one with a frequency dependent model the
other using bulk conductivity shows large dierence due to the interband
contributions compared to the Drude model. We highlight this dierence specically
to demonstrate the diculty when simulating, in this case, not only near a resonant
geometrical feature, but a material resonance as well. It turns out we can see clearly
that this dierence will even aect the far eld scattering pattern signicantly.
83
Figure 5.10: Frequency Dependent Permittivity SRR - Frequency dependent split
ring resonator with scattered eld shown. When compared to Fig 5.11, we can clearly
see a signicant change in the eld distribution.
Figure 5.11: Non-Frequency Dependent Permittivity SRR - As we compare this
image to the previous 5.10 we can see that when working in or near a resonance, even
the smallest dierence are magnied.
84
5.2 Negative Index Properties and Computational Restrictions
We have looked at the plasmon resonances but we have never discussed where
these eects really play a large role, namely on the surface of several types of
materials. The set up to excite surface plasmons does not require that we have and
specic structure, only a boundary with an alternating , or possibly .
k() =

c
_

1

1
+
2

2
(5.3)
Given the correct conditions, which will easily be satised in any orientation
of the metal sphere, a surface plasmon resonance can occur and cause a greatly
enhanced scattered eld. However the focus of this section is to point out that if by
chance we have
1

1
=
2

2
our k vector will tend to , which usually causes
problems for any solver, as even a high spatial cuto will then arbitrarily be loosing
information, where the real material may not. We will see that this applies rather
well to our next section on reviewing the limits of Pendrys Perfect lens
5.2.1 What is meant by exactly n = 1
We begin by examining again what is meant by the perfect lens. We should
already expect that attaining Pendrys exact n = 1 will be nearly impossible, but
what if we inch ever so close, will this lead us to anything signicant? In all of the
following simulations a pair of in phase dipoles emit 10[GHz]
85
Figure 5.12: This image is a simple sweep from 0.801 n 1.201
This contains point sources at 0.2m apart which is 2/3. Initially the intent was to
simply show the eect of a varying Index, where index=Ep in this case. It
immediately became apparent that though the far eld image was reproduced at the
expected image planes, the image was not super-resolved except for the case of the
index almost exactly atn 1. This rst section was done with no losses or
conductivity of 0. It was also noted that the evanescent build up due to coupling
between faces was also absent from most of the simulations, which corresponded
with a result from Pendry (23) which stated that the modes of the evanescent eld
are also dependent on this thickness and for perfect imaging the lens needs to be
some m|n| thick.
86
Figure 5.13: The image is a sweep from 0.98001 n 1.20001
The sweep was further narrowed in order to verify how close to the perfect lens with
regard to index values one needs to be to have some super-resolution. This sweep
illustrates that there is a build up of evanescent waves close to and index of -1, but
that it is non-uniform, which brings light to the complication of coupling evanescent
modes that occur within the lens faces. For the majority of the sweep the
magnitude of the evanescent waves is greater on the incident face, which indicates
that the exit face has some fundamental limits to the coupling across the slab.
According to Pendry this has to do with coupling across the face, where |nd| =
allows for perfect coupling.
87
Figure 5.14: The image is a sweep from 0.999 n 1.002
Though it may seem unlikely, it was impossible not to try a further renement of a
how close to negative 1 sweep. The results of this emphasized how dicult it
would be to ever make a material with these near perfect conditions. This
simulation was limited by mesh and a nite size slab and because of the boundary
conditions all information above this height was lost. The mesh size was restricted
to the nest mesh COMSOL default allowed which in this case allowed for mesh
elements around 0.024m in size. This leads to the two following sets of simulations,
which are regarding the restrictions of the accuracy of the simulations due to mesh
quality and the slab height..
88
5.2.2 Mesh restrictions
Figure 5.15: Normal Mesh - Mesh for the Following Simulation
The images here the illustrate the resolution limits placed on the simulation
by using a versus coarse mesh, or normal by COMSOLs standards. The artifacts
of the mesh are easily seen as even the general eld has what appear to the eye as
discontinuities. The image resolutions were set to the nest COMSOL has available
to ensure that no artifacts of image regeneration were responsible for the granulated
looking form of the solution.
Figure 5.16: Normal Mesh Results - Index of n = 1.0001
89
Figure 5.17: Fine Mesh - Mesh for the Following Simulation
The images above and below illustrate the resolution limits placed on the
simulation by using a mesh called ne. This mesh still has similarities to the
pixelated image from the previous mesh, but we can at least begin to see a uniformly
expanding wave from the point sources. The strange elds at the boundaries of the
slab illustrate the abrupt changes the evanescent elds are experiencing. It is
obvious that we are still seeing artifacts of the mesh, which most likely is partly
causing our inability to resolve the two point sources in the image plane.
Figure 5.18: Fine Mesh Results - Index of n = 1.0001
90
Figure 5.19: Finer Mesh - Mesh for the Following Simulation
It appears that we are getting cleaner far elds but so far this is doing nothing
for our resolution of the two point sources. In this case the mesh is set to ner
which results in a mesh of about 0.088m, which is only about the distance from our
point sources. It appears as if there is a slight dierence in the image plane, and
this is the rst sign of a possible subwavelength resolution. Although this might
seem intuitive, we can specify that the equations across a domain, from mesh
boundaries are higher order equations. Ina situation such as this, where we have
innitely small point sources and care about resolving them to that limit, a higher
order quadratic might be a better choice vs the default, but we will not explore this
here. We are content to note that once near the subwavlength limit the information
appears to be transmitted proportional to the mesh size.
91
Figure 5.20: Finer Mesh Results - Index of n = 1.0001
Figure 5.21: Extra Fine Mesh - Mesh for the Following Simulation
The images here are beginning to demonstrate the coupling of evanescent
waves that we would expect from a near perfect DNIM lens. We can denitely see
two specic areas of eld concentration where the image plane would be, but we do
not have a image nearly as strong or well dened as the original sources. We
continued the mesh renement further beyond extra ne to see how much further
the image can be improved with the mesh or if other limitations are causing
restricting our resolution.
92
Figure 5.22: Extra Fine Mesh Results - Index of n = 1.0001
Figure 5.23: Extremely Fine Mesh - Mesh for the Following Simulation
It appears as though the mesh is no longer the restriction to the resolution of
the image at this mesh density. As before we can see two clearly localized points in
the image plane, but they have increased in intensity relative to the surrounding
eld. Changes in the evanescent elds can be seen and are most likely a result of
high order eects from coupling from the faces.
93
Figure 5.24: Extremely Fine Mesh Results - Index of n = 1.0001
Figure 5.25: Fine Custom Mesh - Mesh for the Following Simulation
Decreasing the mesh size further to a restriction of 0.02m seems to make little
dierence once again on the image plane. There does seem to be some localization
of the eld, but cut line plots show this is not any dierent from the previous plot.
We repeated a few more renements just to be sure!
94
Figure 5.26: Fine Custom Mesh results - Index of n = 1.0001
Figure 5.27: Finer Custom Mesh - Mesh for the Following Simulation
The mesh is now set to .01m and can barely be seen from the image. Yet
again, the image plane sees no improvements, but the evanescent eld has change
structure yet again. We might begin to consider that since an innite number of
modes might be available that this will be the case for an up to an innite mesh.
Further results will show that only a limited number of modes are coupling into the
structure because of several dierent factors, thus the evanescent eld pattern is still
changing due to information loss from the near eld of the point sources.
95
Figure 5.28: Fine Custom Mesh results - Index of n = 1.0001
Figure 5.29: Finest Custom Mesh - Mesh for the Following Simulation
At a mesh size of .005m it seems as though our solution has converged. Both
the evanescent eld and the image plane have stabilized and we know that the
restrictions to the image are due to other factors at this point. We next have to
check where our restriction to the index has actually restricted our mesh
consideration
96
Figure 5.30: Finest Custom Mesh results - Index of n = 1.0001
Figure 5.31: Extremely Fine Mesh Results - n = 1.0001
Here is a comparison of the extremely ne mesh with our original n = 1.001
(top) and a mush less perfect index of n = 1.01(bottom). It is apparent that the
change in index has completely removed any added benets of the ner mesh.
97
Figure 5.32: Extremely Fine Mesh Results - n = 1.01
Figure 5.33: Combination Results 1 - Combination Results 1
A change towards the perfect negative 1 index to 1.000001 makes quite an
enormous dierence as the image plane is now practically drowned out by the
evanescent eld. It is tough to discern whether subwavelegth resolution is possible
in this case, but we could always use a hyperlens at the image plane to capture and
propagate the total elds and hopefully calculate the evanescent elds due to our
sources.
98
Figure 5.34: Combination Results 2 - Combination Results 2
Figure 5.35: Evanescent Amplication - n = 1.001
These images are for a mesh of 0.02m. It was not noted in the images above
but the scale change can easily be seen here. The image with an index of
n = 1.001(top) has a eld enhancement of about 1/100 that of the eld shown on
the index of 1.000001(below). Again the evanescent eld strength is so high that it
overshadows the image plane. One would think this would be a valid way to test for
the perfect lens, and also a good problem to have since it implies that you at least
have a larger information in the image plane.
99
Figure 5.36: Evanescent Amplication - n = 1.000001
Figure 5.37: Mesh Renement 1 - n = 1.001
Decreasing the mesh further reiterates the fact that the accuracy of the
perfect lens has to be beyond .01 in order to see the subwavelength transfer or
information. Mesh size here equals 0.01m
100
Figure 5.38: Mesh Renement 1 - n = 1.000001
Figure 5.39: Mesh Renement 2 - n = 1.001
Decreasing the mesh further again still shows no eect in the simulation,
which at least helps forward the idea that at a mesh of around 1/10th the point
source separation distance we have reached a point where we are comfortable with
the results. So we have successfully decided on a mesh density that provides
accuracy for a point source to provide enough information to the matrix to transfer
this to an image plane, which is on the order of 1/10th the feature size we wish to
resolve. Now we move onto the question of slab height and conductivity
101
Figure 5.40: Mesh Renement 2 - n = 1.000001
5.2.3 Restrictions based on conductivity
102
5.2.4 Meta-atomic approximation
Simulations on broken(=segmented) structures become dicult as evanescent
coupling between partitions becomes more complicated. Due to processing limits
and restrictions on the size we have already noticed from our height considerations,
two slabs are used as a demonstration of the eect of parameters imposed by
dierent periodic arrays of a negative index material. The rst slab is a periodic
array of 19cm blocks with 1 cm gaps between 40 tall and 3 wide. The initial mesh
density did not show any results when compared to the original slab, thus
renements were needed. The dierence here is that the initial mesh outside of the
block was on the order of the original 8m tall slab, but the mesh size within the slab
itself was on the order of 20 times smaller. Solutions for this block were relatively
easy to nd as long as the mesh density was relatively low on the outside of the
slab. Once the mesh was increased on the outside solutions began to stop
converging because of the many boundaries with -1 to 1 index values. To
compensate for this conductivity was added, but as we know this reduced the
possibility for the transfer of high spatial frequency information to the image plane.
Note: this restriction lead to sweeps to having to be done from higher values of
conductivity similar to those sweeps previously showed down to relatively low values
around 10
25
[S/m]. These solutions only converged because the initial condition
was set as the result from the previous solution, thus any interruption in simulations
or any attempt to overstep the progression from high values of conductivity to lower
conductivity cause the simulation to have to be restarted.
103
Figure 5.41: Tall Slab1 Figure 5.42: Tall Slab 2
Figure 5.43: Figure text for Fig 5.41 and Fig 5.42
Using a taller slab should capture more evanescent waves and in this simulation, since
the scattered eld o the boundaries was pointed outward from the domain of interest,
this can be done by simple increasing the total domain height. We can already see
an improvement even with the ner mesh used on the left. We must also not that
ner is a relative term to COMSOL, in such that because of the height increase
by a factor of 2, the mesh size is also increased by a factor of 2. Thus we have an
increase image plane with a decrease in mesh size, which was well below our previous
observed threshold. The image to the right was done with a extremely ne mesh,
which, again, was twice as large as the previous extremely ne mesh used before. The
results demonstrate the great eect the height has on capturing the evanescent eld.
104
Figure 5.44: Finer Mesh Figure 5.45: Extremely Fine Mesh
Figure 5.46: Figure text for Fig 5.42 and Fig 5.45
Here we have encountered once again, a mesh artifact with the ner mesh used on
the left. This mesh is now a factor of 4 times larger than our original slab, thus
an image is barely even transferred and the objects are barely rendered either. The
image on the right shows the power of the height of the slab, as the extremely ne
mesh has been used, and even though it has 4 times the mesh size has resolved the two
points and has enhanced evanescent elds almost to the point of the more perfect
negative slab simulations. We will increase the mesh more to see how much of an
improvement can be gained by the height.
105
Figure 5.47: Extremely Fine Mesh Revis-
ited
Figure 5.48: Tall Slab Extremely Fine
Mesh Revisited
Figure 5.49: Figure text for Fig 5.47 and Fig 5.48
As the mesh is decreased to the original extremely ne mesh size, or 0.025m, we can
further see the symmetry and even greater resolution in the image plane. With such
a long distance over which to absorb the energy the evanescent eld doesnt build up
quite as high and we can still see the object plane clearly. It should be noted that
there is a slight shift in the object plane, but this is to be expected, as we have chosen
an index slightly below that of -1.
106
Figure 5.50: Image Revealed Figure 5.51: Image Revealed 2
Figure 5.52: Figure text for Fig 5.50 and Fig 5.51
In order to illustrate how well our point sources are imaged, the color range was
restricted. We can still see that the magnitude of the image is less that the magnitude
of the objects, but only by 20%. We now know what cases allow for maximum transfer
to the image plane and can now look at a less perfect lens to see what limits it holds
as well.
107
Figure 5.53: Large Scaled Conductivity Sweep
We have considered only the loss-less case of a negative lens so far. We consider
losses and where they apply restrictions on our attempt to attain sub-wavelength
imaging. The broad sweep below is a demonstration of losses from a bad
semi-conductor to a regular dielectric. We can see that at even small values of
conductivity the losses quickly drown out any transfer of evanescent waves, even in
the case of a perfect -1 Index slab. We observe that around 10

-5 S/m a threshold
occurs where propagation is viable. We will look closer near this threshold to see if
anything noteworthy occurs The image below is a simple sweep from 1 to 10
30
[S/m]
108
Figure 5.54: Narrow Scaled Conductivity Sweep
In order to understand where the threshold for the transfer of evanescent waves lies
a smaller sweep was done to demonstrate this. The image shows that at around
10
3
we can already see an image, though not super-resolved at all. The huge build
up at 10

4 calls for further investigation as it drops o after this value, though this
could simply be related so some sort of symmetry in the evanescent elds due to a
cuto of higher order modes. This image is a simple sweep from 1 to 10
5
[S/m]
109
Figure 5.55: Rened Narrow Scaled Conductivity Sweep
A more rened image was used in this animation to get a better idea of the
threshold for subwavelength resolution. Somewhere near 10

-4 we can see that two


peaks start to appear on the image plane. We now have some guidance for the
necessary conductivity to at least transfer enough information to the image plane
for subwavelength resolution. We can now look at a periodic lens structure itself.
The image below is a simple sweep from 10
3.5
[S/m] to 10
5
[S/m]
110
Figure 5.56: Broken1 - 1st Broken slab type
111
Figure 5.57: Best Case 1 Figure 5.58: Best Case 2
Figure 5.59: Figure text for Fig 5.57 and Fig 5.58
The images here represent the best resolution possible at the moment, due to re-
strictions on solutions since further solutions with a more rened mesh would not
converge without the addition of conductivity sweeps. These images were taken with
mesh sizes of 0.02m(left) and 0.01m(right). With the previous continuous slabs these
showed very good resolutions of two distinct points, but do not in the case shown
here. We require smaller mesh sizes in order to see if the resolution limit is due to
the slabs or the mesh
112
Figure 5.60: Conductivity restrictions Figure 5.61: Conductivity restrictions 2
Figure 5.62: Figure text for Fig 5.60 and Fig 5.61
We can see that the addition of conductivity has not resulted in a further decrease
in our solutions resolution. With the increase in mesh density we have overcome
the limits placed on the image by the conductivity increase almost immediately. The
images below represent the maximum mesh density with no conductivity(left) and a
mesh density of 5 times this(left) with a conductivity of 10
6
113
Figure 5.63: Further Conductivity Re-
strictions
Figure 5.64: Further Conductivity Re-
strictions 2
Figure 5.65: Figure text for Fig 5.63 and Fig 5.64
We can begin to see an image with a conductivity of 10
10
(left). Further attempts
lead to results, but the le size causes an error which has taken more than a few
weeks to resolve, thus we were unable to improve at this point further on the image
quality. The mesh to the right shows how dense the mesh is to obtain this image, as
this is a single corner of a segment of the structure, and is also a reection on the
diculty we may have at obtaining three dimensional images.
114
Figure 5.66: Broken Slab type 2 - Second Type of Broken slab to investigate possible
meta-atomic restrictions to information transfer across the DNIM slab
The set up here ?? represents a perfect negative one periodic slab with 28 cm
with a 2 cm gap periods of 2 X 26. The same limits from the previous slides showed
up in this setup, with the gap distance being the restricting element in both since
the mesh is generated based on the smallest features. Ironically, with a smaller
mesh compared to the size of the building blocks to this lens solutions did not
converge for even larger meshes than the previous. This seems to follow the logic
that the ner mesh allowed for higher order modes to be produced on the edges of
the blocks, which is what is the restricting feature of the solution. The same
method was employed to obtain solution with larger meshes.
115
Figure 5.67: Mesh Size for Following Set of Simulations -
The image on top was a result at 10
7
[S/m] and the image on bottom with
10
15
[S/m]. T illustrate how little eect this had on the overall image plane. We
can barely begin to make out some non-uniformity in the image plane that may be
the beginning of a subwavelength image. The mesh shown below is the mesh used
for these simulations.
116
Figure 5.68: Low Conductivity Comparisons - 10
7
[S/m]
Figure 5.69: Low Conductivity Comparisons - 10
15
[S/m]
117
The obvious next step is to further reduce the size of the constituent elements
and check and see whether this can again increase the ease with which a
subwavelength image can be formed. The image below is a 4 cm block with 1 cm
gap, which is 160 12 periods. Initial results are that this structure does in fact
have the capabilities to resolve the subwavlength scale features into an image, but
the computational time was > 3 days for even the worst mesh possible! We seem to
have reach a computational limit, and so we sought another simplication in order
to better understand possible meta-atomic constituents
Figure 5.70: Super meta-atomic structure - Structure consist of 12 rows and 160
columns
CHAPTER 6 : NOVEL THEORETICAL TREATMENTS
6.1 Return to the Foundations of Material Properties
We have summarized as an overview the treatment of several metamaterial
designs that focus on expanding the group or phase velocities to new ranges namely
v
g
< 0 or v
p
< 0. These materials are based on creating structures that we are
calling meta-atoms, which are small enough to allow for a homogeneous bulk
material response at a specied wavelength. As the highly sought after perfect lens
is laid out before us, we should reect to make sure our new perspectives on
manipulating what we expect from traditional material properties cannot benet us
in some other way. We can take a look at the four generalize quadrants of materials
and notice a unusual fact, almost all real materials lie relatively close to the lines
where either = 1 or = 1
6.1.1 High index materials
It seems as though we might be missing opportunities when it comes to
determining what could be a good candidate for a high index material. Though as
we have stated, we might have come across such a material when attempting to nd
o the shelf products to dope our ABS disc with in order to increase their n, we
take a closer look at the possible index values of this type of metamaterial. We
already have the formulation from Section 4.1. We will modify this since we are
generally concerned with only the permittivity of this particular material as it
showed no magnetic response. We also know that the permittivity of the ABS
plastic is extremely small when compared to our new gold colored coating. We will
119
`

r
> 0

r
> 0

r
< 0

r
> 0

r
> 0

r
< 0

r
< 0

r
< 0

r
1
1
Normal Dielectrics
Metals
?Metamaterials? Metmaterials
?Metmaterials?
n < 1
assume the ABS is acting merely as a scaold and only provides structure, thus the
material is the only FBS involved (25)

0
TE
= f
s
+ (1 f)
0
(6.1)
Using this equation and generalizing our coat thickness, then after 30 coats our
thickness is 0.089cm, where we have an average delay of 50 10

12s or equivalently
a phase delay of 170
o
. This gives an eective index of n 17 or
T
E
0
= 289. This
120
is huge compared to normal materials in the microwave regime, though some such
materials do exist. If we insert this value in to exploit form birefringence, assuming
a 50% ll factor and the lling material as air,
0
= 1, this leads to an expected
permittivity for the base coating of
s
= 577 or an index of n 24. . A quick
Figure 6.1: Gold color coating ABS disc - This is our gold colored coated ABS disc
being measure between two rectangular transmission and receiving horns
Measured Index Values for
30 Layers
Index Minimum Index maximum Average Value
0.56mm 0.38mm
15.364 22.642 19.108
Table 6.1: Bulk measured gold colored coating
using time domain methods. Signicant but linear variations from a 6cm6cm
square.
literature search will enlighten us into the potential similarities with Cube and H or
I shaped high permittivity or high index metallic metamaterial constituent
structures with an intention to achieve exactly what we have found o the
shelf.(3)(37)
6.2 Uncovering the Material Properties
121
While we might be enthusiastic about the revelation, our primary goal
remains to understand the mechanism by which this readily available coating
material exhibits a normally dicult to create high index value. We can take a look
under the SEM and EDAX to gain a better understanding of what size particles are
involved and exactly what their chemical makeup is. We already have some insight
as to the mechanism given the work of authors like Fan (37) who have focused on
the coupling ability of very small gaps between nearest neighbor capacitances.
Figure 6.2: SEM Image of metallic ake
Structure embedded in some dielectric
substrate.
Figure 6.3: SEM Image of cleaved
metallic ake
Structure embedded in some
dielectric substrate.
Figure 6.4: Figure text for Fig 6.3 and Fig 6.3
Though the material is not yet known, we can tell by the size, 30m that it is well
below what we would consider a diraction eect of any kind.
6.2.1 Understanding why it Works
Since our material that exhibits some unique properties, we should return to
the basics to fully understand what other possibilities might be responsible for our
measured observations. All of the models we have looked at involved an assumption
of a homogeneous structure, thus we can look at size considerations rst as we know
much about size requirements for a homogeneous medium. In order to move away
from diraction eects and towards real bulk material properties we discuss a
relatively simple technique used to discover the limits of the size of meta-atoms by
122
Figure 6.5: EDAX for Cop-
per(Magenta)
Signature on metallic ake structure.
Figure 6.6: EDAX for Carbon(Red)
Signature on metallic ake structure.
Figure 6.7: Figure text for Fig 6.6 and Fig 6.6
Flake EDAX copper and carbon signatures. We can now see the material is exactly
what other have been working to create as a copper ake embedded in a dielectric
substrate.
way of periodic structures.
As a rst approximation we can look at the eects of a plane wave incident
onto a periodic structure. This simplication allows for both a qualitative and
quantitative look at some of the relationship of the size of a periodic structure and
its eect on an incoming plane wave. We will rst assume a lossless medium in
order to better grasp the eects of the periodicity on the incoming wave. A simple
qualitative assessment of the wave amplitude inside the periodic structure will
illuminate whether the wave is experiencing a homogeneous material since reections
at the boundaries will indicate whether or not the material is seen as homogeneous.
We can estimate the maximum thickness of a layer, to provide a homogeneous
response through a simple Matlab
R
code dubbed PlanewaveGUI,(22) which solves
an incident plane wave electromagnetic eld onto a stack of periodic elements.
123
]

r
2

r
2

r
1

r
1

k
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Period

d
1

d
2
Period
Figure 6.8: Plane wave incident on periodic structure
This is the general schematic for our periodic structure. With an arbitrary choice of
the permittivities,
r
1
or
r
2
, we adjust the resulting path length that the incident
wave experiences, thus further constraining out physical dimensions for each period
As a quick check we can see that the optical path length for the structure in
both cases, given by OPL = n
1
d
1
+ n
2
d
2
, where the periods are d = 0.04m is
OPL = 1.1
.5
(.04) + 3.4
.5
(.04) 0.1m,. At 1[GHz] = 0.3m and with
1[GHz] 0.5m . This essential leads us to the approximation that for OPL

4
we can assume a homogeneous response for a periodic structure. This quickly gets
us into trouble if we consider a object scattering into our periodic structure, much
like if we were attempting to use it as a lens of some sort. As shown in Fig. 6.13 We
now have a even more restrictive case for the thickness of our periods if we ever
intend to use a material o axis at all, since OPL
n
=
OPL
i
cos
, which implies as
90
o
then OPL . Unfortunately this doesnt help much because this would
be the case for everything except an innite slab of material. We can look to some
other clues to see what we might expect from the dimensionality of a meta atomic
constituent. Since we are leaning towards including metals, as we already know the
124
Figure 6.9: Incident wave on periodic
structure
Which consisting of alternate layers of

1
= 1.1 and
2
= 3.4
Figure 6.10: Incident wave on periodic
structure
Which consisting of alternate layers of

1
= 1.1 and
2
= 3.4
Figure 6.11: Figure text for Fig 6.9 and Fig 6.10
The change from a an inhomogeneous response to a homogeneous one is due to the
fact that the OPL

4
for a period.
constituents of our high index coating, we can use the skin depth to limit the
thickness of the metal based meta-atom we would use.
=
_
2

(6.2)
which results in a skin depth of 0.6510

6m at 10[GHz] or

10
4
. This restriction
may put some perspective on why we dont nd metallic constituents very often, as
fabrication techniques are quite capable to design something on this scale, but the
cost associated with trying to create a large enough sample is considerable. Once
again this ts with our newly discovered high index coating, as the copper ake
inclusions are < 35m in diameter, and only about 1 micron in thickness. Since no
objections come to mind, we will now look at a more formal way of dening the
additional eective index seen in this coating.
We should return rst to the idea of the dierence between metals and
dielectrics, where bound and free charges play the divisive role in deciding which
125
Figure 6.12: Incident wave on periodic
structure
Which consisting of alternate layers of

1
= 1.1 and
2
= 3.4
]

r
2

r
2

r
1

r
1

`
`
`
`

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Period
d
1
d
2
Figure 6.13: This is the general
schematic for our periodic structure.
If we now consider directionality, we
will adjust the resulting path length
that the incident wave experiences, thus
further constraining out physical
dimensions for each period
Figure 6.14: Figure text for Fig 6.12 and Fig 6.13
As we attempt to collect more information from the scatterer our new OPL
n
=
OPL
i
cos
belongs to which category. What separates the free charge from the bound is simply
where the boundary lies for the charge to stop. We can see that a metal does not
have to be an innite sheet in order to have free charge but the electron transport
does have to be of some order of the wavelength in order to ow as if it were a free
charge. It seems then very clear that our metallic akes, which from the SEM do
not touch at all, and though we have tested metallic inclusions or akes that do
make contact with one another , they exhibit no enhanced response. Thus we can
model our metal ake as a dipole response to the electric eld, exactly as we did for
a dielectric with the Lorentz local eld
126
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+

Figure 6.15: Full Dipole Sheet


Which allows for coupling between adjacent meta-Atoms an exact analog to the
Lorentz local eld for atomic dipoles
We will start with the result of the contributions of the background eld of a
volume surrounding the particle or our meta-atom. In this case me must take a
closer look at the polarization vector as it holds the fundamental physical insight
127
into what is happening with these akes.

E() =

E
External
() +
1
3
0

P() (1.30)
Since the polarization vector is in fact merely the polarization density, we can
compare what this means to standard atoms, versus our new Meta atom. With a
standard atom we expect that the dipole shift will stay within the inter-atomic
distance of the lattice of the solid. This means for every atom there is a dipole
response which is contained within its own inter-atomic distance. If we were to ask
the question what is the magnitude of the polarization for an individual dipole, we
have,

P
i
() = nq x
i
() (6.3)
We can then add up all of the polarization vectors of all the dipoles that would take
up the same linear space as our meta-atom and we can maximize this for a static
background eld or at some
0
while every dipole is extended exactly to its
maximum contribution, the inter-atomic distance dened as a.
N

P
i
(
0
) = nq x
i
(
0
)|
x
i
=a
= Nnqa (6.4)
This will represent the polarization per meta-atomic linear volume and we can
compare this to the polarization of a maximally poled meta-atom of length Na a,
which will also contain Nn free charge which would simultaneously be displaced at
this maximum. We will assume N large for this case thus our length Na a Na,
thus

P
i
(
0
) = Nnq(Na) (6.5)
128
Comparing these two quantities w can see that the magnitude of polarization vector
for the meta-atom P
MetaAtom
= NP
Individual
. As our akes are a few microns in
size, N 10
26
, thus we expect a huge polarization. Of course we recognize that this
is an extreme simplication, as the spacing between adjacent meta-atoms will be
large on the order of the spacing of actual atoms, this will reduce the eective
coupling between elements and will reduce the total polarizability of the medium.
Work has already been done to show the proportionality of this eect based on the
gap distance between adjacent elements.(3)(37).
We can now take a look at some proposed simulations to parameterize this
material with the intent to improve its response.
Figure 6.16: Flake Geometry - Proposed Flake Geometry for COMSOL
R
Multi-
physics simulations. Flakes vary in size from 5m to 30m
129
Figure 6.17: Flake PEC Field - Proposed Flake Geometry for COMSOL
R
Multi-
physics simulations. Flakes vary in size from 5m to 30m
6.3 Magnetic Meta-atoms
Along the same like we can envision a magnetic meta-atom, in this case we do
not expect magnetic charges to ow, but as most magnetic materials are metals, the
previous formulation provides for a highly reactive magnetic response, without the
bulk conductivity usually associated with a metal. Again we are able to nd such a
material readily available as shown in Fig 6.18. We can now imagine that with such
a coating we can tune the response of the material by use of a background magnetic
eld to induce a response in the Fe
3
O
4
inclusions. Though initial test were done
with only a 0.04Tesla background eld we were able to completely reorient the
ordinary axis of the FBS coated disc!
130
Figure 6.18: SEM of magnetic particle inclusions in a dielectric substrate - 10-20
micron Fe
3
O
4
inclusions which are listed as large volume fraction of this material and
EDAX veries iron signature.
Figure 6.19: Diagram of magnetic response. - of FBS disc with magnetically
responsive coating. With a background magnetic eld, the permeability increase
changes the dominant axis to which an incoming electromagnetic wave responds.
131
Figure 6.20: Data of magnetic response of FBS disc - . The data shown here not
only shows a large material index, and in general a tunable index through the use of
a relatively low background magnetic eld, it demonstrates that for this particular
application we have been able to reorient the ordinary axis of the material to align
with the direction of the incident B-eld
CHAPTER 7 : DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
7.1 Summary
We have looked at a wide range of materials which all fall into the category of
metamaterials. We have looked at their possible applications for imaging with
subwavelength resolution, eld enhancements, large index materials and tunable
index structures. It is easy to extrapolate some more exotic uses of materials with
negative index values, using them as broad band visible cloaks, which may one day
be possible, or event cloaks, which may already have been demonstrated (27). We
have outlined the material necessities for constituent materials to create such
materials. At the moment restrictions to losses and limits to our models and
knowledge of the parameters needed to manipulate index values successfully
continue to be outstanding challenges. While we have demonstrated that both form
birefringent structures and SRRs are fairly well understood, their practical
applications have not yet been developed to their potential. The future of
metamaterials will be focused on provided higher transmission throughput while
maintaining negative index values, and nding way around the current directionality
of form birefringent materials and SRRs.
7.2 Conclusions
We have presented many of the applicable theoretical models for normal
materials and shown how these can be applied to metamaterials meta-atomic
constituents. Through this understanding we have shown how these subwavelength
sized structures can be used to realize properties not found in nature. These
structures can be engineered to exhibit resonant or average properties nor normally
133
found in nature because because impurities and random phase eects eliminate
coherent scattered eld eects that can combine to give a larger positive or negative
constituent parameter. We also have demonstrated theoretically and experimentally
a specic exploitation of these new material properties through the results of our
high index and magnetically addressable coatings. We also looked at specic
restrictions and challenges to engineering and implementing materials to be used
with a super-resolving or perfect lens. in doing so this work has shown that like
Lorentz, Veselago overcame a fundamental barrier when simply removing the
assumptions or an index greater than 1, paving the way for a new vision on how
materials could be engineered from the atom up.
134
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137
APPENDIX A
Derivation of plasma frequency,
We can look at Maxwells equations in dierential form to nd that

2
E =
1
c
2

2
t
2
E +
0

t
J
e
(1)
We will assume a free electron in 1D, though not necessary, under and plane wave
electric eld given by
E = E
0
e
i(kxt)
x (2)
where the force on exact electron is
m
e
x = qE (3)
where m
e
is the electron mass and q is its charge. The current density is dened as
J = nq x, where n is the number density of electrons. tis allows us to place the current
density in terms of the electric eld, if we consider
_

t
J
e

t
[nq x] =
0
[nq x] =
0
_
nq
2
m
e
E
_
(4)
Inserting this as well as
2
E = k
2
E and
1
c
2

2
t
2
E =

2
c
2
E into the original wave
equations leads to
k
2
=

2
c
2
+
0
_
nq
2
m
e
_
(5)
138
Using
1
c
2
=
0

0
and rearranging we get the dispersion relation
c
2
k
2
=
2

_
nq
2

0
m
e
_
(6)
where we dene the last term as the plasma frequency

p
=
_
nq
2

0
m
e
_
(7)

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