Chiral metamaterials: retrieval of the effective parameters with and without substrate

TitleChiral metamaterials: retrieval of the effective parameters with and without substrate
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2010
AuthorsZhao RK, Koschny T, Soukoulis CM
Journal TitleOptics Express
Volume18
Pages14553-14567
Date Published07/05
Type of ArticleMetamaterials
ISBN Number1094-4087
Accession NumberISI:000279639900027
Keywordscircular-dichroism, index, media, negative refraction, photonic metamaterial, strong optical-activity, waves
Abstract

After the prediction that strong enough optical activity may result in negative refraction and negative reflection, more and more artificial chiral metamaterials were designed and fabricated at difference frequency ranges from microwaves to optical waves. Therefore, a simple and robust method to retrieve the effective constitutive parameters for chiral metamaterials is urgently needed. Here, we analyze the wave propagation in chiral metamaterials and follow the regular retrieval procedure for ordinary metamaterials and apply it in chiral metamaterial slabs. Then based on the transfer matrix technique, the parameter retrieval is extended to treat samples with not only the substrate but also the top layers. After the parameter retrieval procedure, we take two examples to check our method and study how the substrate influences on the thin chiral metamaterials slabs. We find that the substrate may cause the homogeneous slab to be inhomogeneous, i.e. the reflections in forward and backward directions are different. However, the chiral metamaterial where the resonance element is embedded far away from the substrate is insensitive to the substrate. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America

URL<Go to ISI>://000279639900027
DOI10.1364/OE.18.014553