2006/09/08 by Andrea Alù, Andrea Alu, Nader Engheta · 1 citation
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Bandwidth (computing) #Computational physics #Computer science #Dispersion (optics) #Materials science #Metamaterial #Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications #Microwave #Optics #Photonic Crystals and Applications #Photonic metamaterial #Physics #Plasmon #Plasmonic and Surface Plasmon Research #Quantum mechanics #Telecommunications #physics.optics
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.74.205436
published as Physical Review B, Vol. 74, 205436 (18 pages), November 29, 2006 · 67 pages, 12 figures
arxiv created 2006/09/08 · openalex publication_date 2006/11/29 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Here we discuss the theory and analyze in detail the guidance properties of linear arrays of metamaterial/plasmonic small particles as nanoscale optical nanotransmission lines, including the effect of material loss. Under the assumption of dipolar approximation for each particle, which is shown to be accurate in the geometry of interest here, we develop closed-form analytical expressions for the eigenmodal dispersion in such arrays. With the material loss included, the conditions for minimal absorption and maximum bandwidth are derived analytically by studying the properties of such dispersion relations. Numerical examples with realistic materials, including their ohmic absorption and frequency dispersion, are presented. The analytical properties discussed here also provide some further physical insights into the mechanisms underlying the subdiffraction guidance in such arrays and their fundamental physical limits. The possibility of guiding beams with subwavelength lateral confinement and reasonably low decay is discussed, offering the possible use of this technique at microwave, infrared, and optical frequencies. Interpretation of these results in terms of nanocircuit concepts is presented, and possible extension to two- and three-dimensional nanotransmission line optical metamaterials is also foreseen.