Negative index materials

Negative index materials (NIMs) are man-made materials for which both the electric permittivity and the magnetic permeability are simultaneously negative. Consequently, the refractive index of such a material becomes negative, which gives rise to some remarkable properties, such as negative refraction, sub-wavelength imaging, reversal of Doppler effect, and reversed Cerenkov radiation. Many metals are natural materials with negative, but naturally occurring materials do not have negative values of and artificial materials with negative appeared on the scene only recently, proposed by Pendy et al. Following this, the first experimental verification of a negative index of refraction has been performed at the microwave regime, where the NIM is formed by combining periodic arranged metal wires and metal rings. Research on NIMs booms after this experiment, and researchers all over the world believe that NIMs are not only of interests in physics but also of importance for application in antenna, THz medical imaging, sub-wavelength optical devices, etc.

In the present work, the student is expected to design and simulate NIMs at optical frequencies. Some realted interesting properties of NIMS will also be the topics for the student to choose.

http://www.imit.kth.se/info/OPQ/FMI/Standard.php