Recently, artificially constructed metamaterials have become of considerable interest, because these materials can exhibit electromagnetic characteristics unlike those of any conventional materials. Artificial magnetism and negative refractive index are two specific types of behavior that have been demonstrated over the past few years, illustrating the new physics and new applications possible when we expand our view as to what constitutes a material. In this review, we describe recent advances in metamaterials research and discuss the potential that these materials may hold for realizing new and seemingly exotic electromagnetic phenomena.

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Metamaterials and negative refractive index.

In this paper, a new approach for the development of planar metamaterial structures is developed. For this purpose, split-ring resonators (SRRs) and complementary split-ring resonators (CSRRs) coupled to planar transmission lines are investigated. The electromagnetic behavior of these elements, as well as their coupling to the host transmission line, are studied, and analytical equivalent-circuit models are proposed for the isolated and coupled SRRs/CSRRs. From these models, the stopband/passband characteristics of the analyzed SRR/CSRR loaded transmission lines are derived. It is shown that, in the long wavelength limit, these stopbands/passbands can be interpreted as due to the presence of negative/positive values for the effective /spl epsiv/ and /spl mu/ of the line. The proposed analysis is of interest in the design of compact microwave devices based on the metamaterial concept.

Equivalent-circuit models for split-ring resonators and complementary split-ring resonators coupled to planar transmission lines

In the past few years, new developments in structured electromagnetic materials have given rise to negative refractive index materials which have both negative dielectric permittivity and negative magnetic permeability in some frequency ranges. The idea of a negative refractive index opens up new conceptual frontiers in photonics. One much-debated example is the concept of a perfect lens that enables imaging with sub-wavelength image resolution. Here we review the fundamental concepts and ideas of negative refractive index materials. First we present the ideas of structured materials or meta-materials that enable the design of new materials with a negative dielectric permittivity, negative magnetic permeability and negative refractive index. We discuss how a variety of resonance phenomena can be utilized to obtain these materials in various frequency ranges over the electromagnetic spectrum. The choice of the wave-vector in negative refractive index materials and the issues of dispersion, causality and energy transport are analysed. Various issues of wave propagation including nonlinear effects and surface modes in negative refractive materials (NRMs) are discussed. In the latter part of the review, we discuss the concept of a perfect lens consisting of a slab of a NRM. This perfect lens can image the far-field radiative components as well as the nearfield evanescent components, and is not subject to the traditional diffraction limit. Different aspects of this lens such as the surface modes acting as the mechanism for the imaging of the evanescent waves, the limitations imposed by dissipation and dispersion in the negative refractive media, the generalization of this lens to optically complementary media and the possibility of magnification of the near-field images are discussed. Recent experimental developments verifying these ideas are briefly covered. (Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)

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Physics of negative refractive index materials

We measure two-dimensional profiles of collimated microwave beams transmitted through composite wire and split-ring resonator prisms. Prior experiments suggest these structures have a negative index of refraction, though these claims have been questioned. Our 2D measurements demonstrate that transmission obeys Snell's law with a negative index, confirming the refractive nature of this signal and refuting alternatives posed in the criticisms. In addition, we present preliminary evidence that a flat rectangular slab of this material can focus power from a point source.

Experimental observations of a left-handed material that obeys Snell's law.

Regions of anomalous localized resonance, such as occurring near superlenses, are shown to lead to cloaking effects. This occurs when the resonant field generated by a polarizable line or point dipole acts back on the polarizable line or point dipole and effectively cancels the field acting on it from outside sources. Cloaking is proved in the quasistatic limit for finite collections of polarizable line dipoles that all lie within a specific distance from a coated cylinder having a shell permittivity where is the permittivity of the surrounding matrix, and is the core permittivity. Cloaking is also shown to extend to the Veselago superlens outside the quasistatic regime: a polarizable line dipole located less than a distance d /2 from the lens, where d is the thickness of the lens, will be cloaked due to the presence of a resonant field in front of the lens. Also a polarizable point dipole near a slab lens will be cloaked in the quasistatic limit.

On the cloaking effects associated with anomalous localized resonance

By means of an analysis on evanescent waves in left-handed materials (LHM), we show that within a slab of such a medium, sandwiched between two positive refraction media, there is amplification of evanescent waves in ideal lossless, dispersiveless media; however, contrary to previous claims, this is limited to a finite width of the slab so that it prevents their restoration and perfect focusing. We illustrate this by considering their coupling to propagating waves through a tunnel barrier containing a slab of LHM. Further, we show that the effect of absorption, necessarily present in such materials, may drastically change any evanescent amplifying wave into a decaying one.

Left-handed materials do not make a perfect lens.

We show that recent claims of experimental verification of a negative index of refraction in metallic metamaterials, "left-handed" microwave frequencies, are questionable. At these frequencies the imaginary part of the dielectric permittivity is significant or even dominates its real part, and hence the effective medium behaves as a metal, i.e., with losses below the cutoff frequency of relevance. Then, the refractive index is complex, and there is not a distinction between right- and left-handed material because the electromagnetic wave is inhomogeneous. Just by using this idea we explain the transmittivities that were recently obtained in experiments by Shelby et al. [Science 292, 77 (2001) and Appl. Phys. Lett. 78, 489 (2001)].

N. Garcia

Papers

Left-handed materials do not make a perfect lens.

Is there an experimental verification of a negative index of refraction yet