Effective-medium properties of metamaterials: A quasimode theory

Shulin Sun, S. T. Chui, and Lei Zhou

Phys. Rev. E 79, 066604 – Published 22 June 2009

Abstract

Under the generalized coherent-potential approximation, we established a “quasimode” theory to study the effective-medium properties of electromagnetic metamaterials. With this theory, we calculate the self-energy, density of states (DOS), and mean-free paths for optical modes traveling inside a metamaterial, and then determine the effective permittivity and permeability of the metamaterial by maximizing the DOS function. Compared with the traditional methods for calculating effective-medium parameters, the present approach could provide quantitative judgments on how meaningful are the obtained effective-medium parameters. As illustrations, we employed the theory to study the effective-medium properties of several examples including finite metallic wires and split ring resonators.

Received 1 March 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.79.066604

Authors & Affiliations

Shulin Sun¹, S. T. Chui², and Lei Zhou^1,*

¹Department of Physics and Surface Physics Laboratory (State Key Laboratory), Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, People’s Republic of China
²Bartol Research Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA

^*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; phzhou@fudan.edu.cn

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Issue

Vol. 79, Iss. 6 — June 2009

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Physical Review E

covering statistical, nonlinear, biological, and soft matter physics