Metamaterial is promising for enhancing the capability of plasmonic devices. We consider a cylindrical waveguide with three-level $\Lambda$ atoms embedded in the dielectric core. By comparing metal cladding vs metamaterial cladding of a waveguide with $\Lambda$ atoms in the core, we show that, for a fixed amount of slowing of light due to electromagnetically induced transparency, the metamaterial cladding outperforms in terms of the inherent loss.

• Received 25 March 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.88.023860