2004/02/10 by Tom G. Mackay, T. G. Mackay, Akhlesh Lakhtakia +1 · 2 citations
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Electromagnetic Scattering and Analysis #Liquid Crystal Research Advancements #Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications #physics.optics
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreve.69.026602
published as Phys. Rev. E, Vol. 69, article 026602, 2004 · accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. E
openalex publication_date 2004/02/10 · arxiv created 2004/02/11 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The propagation of plane waves in a Faraday chiral medium is investigated. Conditions for the phase velocity to be directed opposite to the direction of power flow are derived for propagation in an arbitrary direction; simplified conditions which apply to propagation parallel to the distinguished axis are also established. These negative phase-velocity conditions are explored numerically using a representative Faraday chiral medium, arising from the homogenization of an isotropic chiral medium and a magnetically biased ferrite. It is demonstrated that the phase velocity may be directed opposite to power flow, provided that the gyrotropic parameter of the ferrite component medium is sufficiently large compared with the corresponding nongyrotropic permeability parameters.