Dispersion Properties of Multilayered Metal-Dieletric Metamaterials

TL;DR

This paper investigates the dispersion characteristics of multilayered metal-dielectric metamaterials, revealing inherent nonlocality and complex mode behavior, with analysis of loss effects on these properties.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of dispersion and nonlocality in layered metal-dielectric structures, highlighting the infinite eigenmodes regime and loss impact.

Findings

Strong nonlocality is inherent in layered structures.

Metamaterials operate with infinite eigenmodes.

Losses slightly affect nonlocality and mode structure.

Abstract

We study dispersion properties of layered metal-dielectric media having different layers thicknesses ratios. Plotting dispersion diagrams and isofrequency contours, we find that strong nonlocality is inherent property of such periodic structures. We introduce different level of losses and analyze complex modes of the metamaterial demonstrating that it operates in a regime with infinite numbers of eigenmodes, with nonlocality slightly affected by losses.