Magnetic levitation induced by negative permeability

TL;DR

This paper investigates magnetic levitation using negative permeability metamaterials, revealing that such materials can produce stronger levitation forces than superconductors, with analytical expressions derived for various dipole orientations.

Contribution

It provides the first analytical expressions for magnetic levitation forces involving negative permeability metamaterials, highlighting their potential advantages over superconductors.

Findings

Maximal levitation force with negative permeability exceeds that of superconductors.

Analytical expressions derived for arbitrarily oriented magnetic dipoles.

Negative permeability metamaterials can enhance magnetic levitation effects.

Abstract

In this paper we study the interaction between a point magnetic dipole and a semi-infinite metamaterial using the method of images. We obtain analytical expressions for the levitation force for an arbitrarily oriented dipole. Surprisingly the maximal levitation force for negative permeability is found to be stronger compared to the case when the dipole is above a superconductor.