Continuous `fish scale' planar electromagnetic meta-material

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel continuous 'fish scale' planar electromagnetic meta-material that exhibits broad transparency with a single wavelength of high reflectivity and acts as a local field concentrator and loss amplifier.

Contribution

It presents a new continuous meta-material design with unique optical properties, including broadband transparency and resonant loss amplification.

Findings

Highly transparent across broad spectral range except at one wavelength

Acts as a broadband reflector with zero phase change at a specific wavelength

Serves as a local field concentrator and loss amplifier in dielectric materials

Abstract

We report on a new type of continuous electromagnetic metal planar meta-material, which resembles a `fish scale' structure. It is highly transparent to electromagnetic radiation throughout a broad spectral range apart from at one isolated wavelength. When the structure is superimposed on a metallic mirror it becomes a good broadband reflector everywhere apart from one wavelength where the reflectivity is small. At this wavelength the reflected wave shows no phase change with respect to the incident wave, thus resembling a reflection from a hypothetical zero refractive index material, or `magnetic wall'. We also discovered that the structure acts as a local field concentrator and a resonant `amplifier' of losses in the underlying dielectric.