Doubly negative metamaterials in the near infrared and visible regimes based on thin film nanocomposites

An optical metamaterial characterized simultaneously by negative permittivity and permeability, viz. doubly negative metamaterial ( DNM), that comprises deeply subwavelength unit cells is introduced. The DNM can operate in the near infrared and visible spectra and can be manufactured using standard nanofabrication methods with compatible materials. The DNM's unit cell comprise a continuous optically thin metal film sandwiched between two identical optically thin metal strips separated by a small distance form the film. The incorporation of the middle thin metal film avoids limitations of metamaterials comprised of arrays of paired wires/strips/patches to operate for large wavelength / unit cell ratios. A cavity model, which is a modification of the conventional patch antenna cavity model, is developed to elucidate the structure's electromagnetic properties. A novel procedure for extracting the effective permittivity and permeability is developed for an arbitrary incident angle and those parameters were shown to be nearly angle-independent. Extensions of the presented two dimensional structure to three dimensions by using square patches are straightforward and will enable more isotropic DNMs. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.