A copper negative index metamaterial in the visible / near-infrared

TL;DR

This paper introduces a copper-based plasmonic metamaterial that exhibits negative refraction in the visible and near-infrared spectrum, verified through simulations and parameter extraction, offering a cost-effective alternative to silver-based designs.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel copper metamaterial design demonstrating negative index behavior in the visible/near-infrared range, with comparable performance to silver-based counterparts.

Findings

Negative refraction demonstrated via numerical simulations

Effective permittivity and permeability verified through parameter extraction

Figure of merit comparable to silver-based metamaterials

Abstract

We propose a design for a plasmonic copper metamaterial with a negative index of refraction at visible/near-infrared wavelengths. Using numerical simulations, we demonstrate negative refraction by a copper metamaterial prism, and perform a parameter extraction technique to verify the sign of the effective, electric permittivity and magnetic permeability. Our proposed design has a figure of merit comparable to similar silver-based metamaterials operating in the visible/near-infrared range. These findings have implications for the design of low cost plasmonic devices and negative-index metamaterials in the visible / near-infrared.