Achieving Anisotropy in Metamaterials made of Dielectric Cylindrical Rods

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how to induce anisotropic negative dispersion in dielectric rod metamaterials by changing lattice symmetry, verified through simulations, enabling advanced optical devices like lenses with reduced losses.

Contribution

It introduces a method to achieve anisotropic negative dispersion in dielectric metamaterials by altering lattice symmetry, improving upon metallic structures.

Findings

Anisotropic negative dispersion achieved in dielectric rods.

Verification through numerical calculations and simulations.

Potential for low-loss optical and terahertz applications.

Abstract

We show that anisotropic negative effective dispersion relation can be achieved in pure dielectric rod-type metamaterials by turning from the symmetry of a square lattice to that of a rectangular one, i.e. by breaking the rotation symmetry of effective homogeneous medium. Theoretical predictions and conclusions are verified by both numerical calculations and computer based simulations. The proposed anisotropic metamaterial, is used to construct a refocusing slab-lens and a subdiffraction hyperlens. The all-dielectric origin makes it more straightforward to address loss and scaling, two major issues of metallic structures, thus facilitating future applications in both the terahertz and optical range.