Development and Analysis of Left-Handed Materials

BRIEF PRESENTATION

Left-handed (LH) materials are composite materials with novel and unique electromagnetic properties, which are not determined by the fundamental physical properties of their constituents but by the shape and the distribution of specific patterns included in them. LH materials have the unique property of having both the effective permittivity and the effective permeability negative. The aim of this proposal is the theoretical understanding, analysis, development and testing of LH materials, and also the investigation of their feasibility for commercial telecommunication applications. These applications include RF absorbers, radomes, wide-angle impedance matching sheets for phased array antennas, generation of nearly divergence-free RF beams, RF lenses, variable negative filters and remote imaging.

Objectives

The objectives of the proposed effort are:

(a) Better understanding of the physics of left-handed (LH) materials.

(b) Improvement of the existing modeling and simulation tools, with aim to study more complicated structures than the structures which can be studied today.

(d) Identification of commercial telecommunication applications where such materials can make a big difference.

(e) Testing of the electromagnetic behavior of these materials in the laboratory and in "relevant" environments.

Participating groups

Partic.	Participant Number	Participant name	Participant short name	Country
C	1	Foundation for Research and Technology , Hellas - Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser	FORTH	EL (Greece)
P	2	Bilkent University - Department of Physics	BILKENT	TR (Turkey)
P	3	Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine - Department of Physics	ICSTM1	UK (United Kingdom)
P	4	Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine - Imaging Science Department	ICSTM2	UK (United Kingdom)

*C = Co-ordinator (or use C-F and C-S if financial and scientific co-ordinator roles are separate)

P - Principal contractor

A - Assistant contractor

Brief description of work

The work plan is divided into three technical work packages (WP), in addition to a fourth work package (WP4) devoted to the management and the dissemination of the project results.

WP1 is devoted to theoretical understanding and to development of modeling tools and characterization techniques for parameter determination. The validity of the modelling tools will be tested through comparison of the theoretical results with experimental data obtained in the other workpackages. Detailed simulations and modeling of LH structures, both periodic and random, will provide a CAD toolbox for LH-based building blocks and demonstrators.

WP2 addresses the development and procedures for the fabrication of candidate LH structures. The fabrication of the active patterns will be done using thin film techniques. The inactive matrix in which these patterns reside will be made of various suitable materials, such as quartz, glass, or "Rexolite", a thermo set cross-linked polystyrene material with low loss.

Based on the results of WP1 and WP2, WP3 is devoted to the design, fabrication and test of more complex LH structures. Measurements will be performed in a laboratory environment to be able to quantify the LH material parameters, namely the permeability and permittivity. A comparison of the test results with requirements derived from proposed and new potential applications will be done. Effective electrical permittivity and magnetic permeability, transmitted power and absorption will be included in this comparison. Applications will be identified for the enhanced (tunable, switchable) LH materials developed and tested in WP3. Applications will include phased array antenna systems, low observables, RF lenses and filters and remote imaging systems.

Milestones and expected results

Milestones: (a) Theory and modeling tools development for left-handed materials (LHMs). (b) Assessment of fabrication routes of LH structures compatible with telecommunication (TM) applications. (c) Experimental demonstration and testing of LH structures.

Expected results: (a) Understanding of the physics of LH materials and their limitations. (b) CAD toolbox with LHM-based advanced functions. (c) Technology roadmap of LHM-based TM applications. (d) Integration of LH building blocks into compact structures with major impovements over traditional TM applications.

Related literature

R.A. Shelby, D.R. Smith, S. Schultz, “Experimental Verification of Negative Index of Refraction”, Science 292, 77 (2001).
D. R. Smith, W.J. Padilla, D.C. Vier, S.C. Nemat-Nasser and S. Schultz, “A composite medium with simultaneous negative permittivity and permeability”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 4184 (2000).
J.B. Pendry, A.J. Holden, D.J. Robbins and W.J. Stewart, “Magnetism from conductors and enhanced non-linear phenomena”, IEEE Trans. MIT, 47, 2075 (1999).
J.B. Pendry, “Negative Refraction Makes a Perfect Lens”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 3966 (2000).
J.B. Pendry, A.J. Holden, W.J. Stewart and I. Young, “Extremely low frequency plasmons in metallic mesostructures”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 4773 (1996).
V.G. Veselago, “The electrodynamics of substances with simultaneously negative values of e and m”, Soviet Physics, USPEKHI 10, 509 (1968).
M. Notomi, “Theory of light propagation in strongly modulated photonic crystals: Refraction like behavior in the vicinity of the photonic band gap”, Phys. Rev. B 62, 10696 (2000).
B. Gralak, S. Enoch, and G. Tayeb, “Anomalous refractive index properties of photonic crystals”, J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 17, 1012 (2000).
M.C.K. Wiltshire, J.B. Pendry, I.R. Young, D.J. Larkman, D.J. Gildedale, J.V. Hajnal, “Microstructure Magnetic Materials for RF Flux Guides in Magnetic Resonance Imaging”, Science 291, 849 (2001).
R. Fitzgerald, “Novel composite medium exhibits reversed electromagnetic properties”, Physics Today 53, 17 (2000).