Material parameter retrieval procedure for general bi-isotropic metamaterials and its application to optical chiral negative-index metamaterial design

Do-Hoon Kwon, Penn State Univ, Dept Elect Engn
Douglas H. Werner, Penn State Univ, Dept Elect Engn
Alexander V. Kildishev, Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University
V. M. Shalaev, Birck Nanotechnology Center and School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University

Abstract

A chiral optical negative-index metamaterial design of doubly periodic construction for the near-infrared spectrum is presented. The chirality is realized by incorporating sub-wavelength planar silver-aluminasilver resonators and arranging them in a left-handed helical (i.e., stair-step) configuration as a wave propagates through the metamaterial. An effective material parameter retrieval procedure is developed for general bi-isotropic metamaterials. A numerical design example is presented and the retrieved effective material parameters exhibiting a negative index of refraction are provided. (c) 2008 Optical Society of America.