Absorption losses in periodic arrays of thin metallic wires

TL;DR

This paper investigates how periodic arrays of thin metallic wires affect electromagnetic wave transmission, reflection, and absorption, revealing a negative permittivity region with minimal losses for very thin wires.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of absorption losses and effective permittivity in metallic wire arrays, including the dependence on wire thickness and conductance, and compares numerical results with analytical models.

Findings

Negative real permittivity region identified

Minimal absorption observed in certain frequency ranges

Effective plasma frequency matches analytical predictions

Abstract

We analyze the transmission and reflection of the electromagnetic wave calculated from transfer matrix simulations of periodic arrangements of thin metallic wires. The effective permittivity and the absorption is determined. Their dependence on the wire thickness and the conductance of the metallic wires is studied. The cutoff frequency or effective plasma frequency is obtained and is compared with analytical predictions. It is shown that the periodic arrangement of wires exhibits a frequency region in which the real part of the permittivity is negative while its imaginary part is very small. This behavior is seen for wires with thickness as small as 17 $\mu$m with a lattice constant of 3.33 mm.