Dyakonov surface waves in lossy metamaterials

TL;DR

This paper investigates the existence and properties of Dyakonov surface waves and a new family of interface-bound waves in lossy, uniaxial dielectric materials, revealing their potential for long-range surface wave propagation.

Contribution

It introduces a new family of tightly bound surface waves in lossy anisotropic media, expanding understanding of surface wave phenomena in dissipative metamaterials.

Findings

Two families of surface waves identified, including Dyakonov surface waves.

A new interface-bound wave family exists, linked to material losses.

Propagation length of some waves exceeds the wavelength by nearly two orders of magnitude.

Abstract

We analyze the existence of localized waves in the vicinities of the interface between two dielectrics, provided one of them is uniaxial and lossy. We found two families of surface waves, one of them approaching the well-known Dyakonov surface waves (DSWs). In addition, a new family of wave fields exists which are tightly bound to the interface. Although its appearance is clearly associated with the dissipative character of the anisotropic material, the characteristic propagation length of such surface waves might surpasses the working wavelength by nearly two orders of magnitude.