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Plasmonic nanorings provide the unique advantage of a pronounced plasmonic field enhancement inside their core. If filled with a polarizable medium, it may significantly enhance its optical effects. Here, we demonstrate this proposition by filling gold nanorings with lithium niobate. The generated second harmonic signal is compared to the signal originating from an unpatterned lithium niobate surface. Measurements and simulation confirm an enhancement of about 20. Applications requiring nanoscopic localized light sources like fluorescence spectroscopy or quantum communication will benefit from our findings.

In this work, we show local laser-induced heating in fluids with gold nanodot arrays prepared by electron-beam lithography that cover resonances in the near infrared spectral range from 750 nm to 880 nm. We utilize two approaches to demonstrate thermal effects, solvent evaporation and flow stop, with a thermosensitive polymer solution. We show that with fluences as low as 4 μJ cm−2, significant heating of the nanostructures occurs in their immediate vicinity. We perform power and wavelength dependent measurements to determine the threshold of the thermal effects. Using wavelengths about 20 nm away from the plasmonic resonance peak, the heating drops drastically, and 30 to 40 nm away, there is mostly no thermal effect. Therefore, working close to the threshold laser power offers the possibility of multiplexed reactions or sensing without cross-talk even though a typical full width at half maximum of a plasmonic resonance spectrum can be as broad as 200 nm. Additionally, comparison with theoretical calculations of heat generation show good agreement with the experimentally determined threshold powers., RSC Advances, 4 (106), ISSN:2046-2069

An optical metamaterial, operating in between the MID/IR and the visible domain, which uses the effect of extreme coupling between closely spaced nanostructured gold metal plates and a planar gold substrate was realized by means of electron beam lithography and lift-off technique. This regime is only accessible by using an ultrathin oxide layer between metal plates and substrate, where the oxide layerisrealized by atomic layer deposition here. The involved fabrication is discussed in detail. The metamaterial shows the predicted effect of perfect absorption with multiple resonances in the spectral range from 100 THz to 600 THz. The plasmonic based resonance frequencies are very sensitive to the plate size of the grating and the spacer thickness.

We present, discuss, and validate an adapted $S$-matrix formalism for an efficient, simplified treatment of stacked homogeneous periodically structured metasurfaces operated under normally incident plane wave excitation. The proposed formalism can be applied to any material system, arbitrarily shaped metaatoms, at any frequency, and with arbitrary subwavelength periods. Circumventing the introduction of any kind of effective parameters we directly use the $S$ parameters of the individual metasurfaces to calculate the response of an arbitrary stack. In fact, the $S$ parameters are the complex parameters of choice fully characterizing the homogeneous metasurfaces, in particular with respect to its polarization manipulating properties. Just as effective material parameters like the permittivity and the permeability or wave parameters like the propagation constant and the impedance, the stacking based upon $S$ matrices can be applied as long as the individual layers are decoupled with respect to their near fields. This requirement eventually sets the limits for using the optical properties of the individual layers to calculate the response of the stacked system---this being the conceptual aim for any homogeneous metasurface or metamaterial layer and therefore the essence of what is eventually possible with homogeneous metasurfaces. As simple and appealing as this approach is, it is as powerful as well: Combining structured metasurfaces with each other as well as with isotropic, anisotropic, or chiral homogeneous layers is possible by simple semianalytical $S$-matrix multiplication. Hence, complex stacks and resonators can be set up, accurately treated and optimized with respect to their dispersive polarization sensitive optical functionality without the need for further rigorous full-wave simulations.

The excitation of surface plasmon polaritons in metallic nanostructures significantly enhances light-matter interactions at sub-wavelength scales. This enables novel optical effects that rely on artificial materials, so-called metamaterials. Metamaterials are made from densely packed and sufficiently small nanostructured unit cells. The purpose of metamaterials is to act comparable to bulk materials but with effective properties that can be tailored by the geometry of the unit cells. However, recently it became obvious that many appealing applications are already in reach by employing an ultrathin layer of metamaterial. Exploiting the metamaterials’ primary optical properties in the form of their dispersive complex reflection and transmission coefficients, single functional layers instead of bulk metamaterials are already sufficient for achieving sophisticated device properties. In particular, if the unit cells change across the functional layer, a new class of devices can be perceived that shape the light in the far-field according to predefined patterns. These metamaterial layers, usually referred to as metasurfaces, possess major advantages when compared to traditional optical elements. Here, we provide an overview of the burgeoning field of research that explores metasurfaces to affect an incident field spatially and spectrally in a deterministic way to enable functional diffractive optical elements.

We theoretically and experimentally investigate circular plasmonic disc nanoantennas enhanced in their performance by a surrounding Bragg grating ring structure. PEEM investigations are demonstrated to provide unprecedented insights into the field localization and enhancement.

We systematically study both experimentally and theoretically the links between the lattice symmetries of metasurfaces and their optical properties at both normal and oblique illumination. We attribute different symmetry elements to number of polarization phenomena. In particular, we predict analytically and verify experimentally the influence of rotational axes, mirror planes and inversion centres on optical activity, circular dichroism and asymmetric transmission. We fabricate and test nanostructured optical metasurfaces with four different inner structures: square and hexagonal lattices, quasicrystalline layout, and amorphous arrangement. We demonstrate the ability to enhance/suppress particular optical response by appropriate choice of the metasurface’s symmetry.

The availability of novel technologies that enable the fabrication of bulk metamaterials made it necessary to develop a theoretical language to discuss their properties appropriately. Here we use the fundamental Bloch mode approximation to explore bulk properties of metamaterials that operate at terahertz frequencies. We demonstrate that this approximation is valid in the case of terahertz meta-foil metamaterials. While relying on theoretical and experimental results, we show that the fundamental Bloch mode approximation can explain minuscule details that are unique to the bulk metamaterial. Various applications such as cylindrical lenses, terahertz cloaks, and sensors will benefit from our analysis.

We discuss the homogenization of metamaterials consisting of periodically arranged unit-cells from a Bloch mode perspective. This theory provides clear answers to the important questions of whether a metamaterial can be homogenized, which effective properties can be assigned, and how they are linked to properties of the Bloch mode. It is shown that material parameters can only be assigned to the metamaterial under certain circumstances, i.e. only if the propagation constant and the impedance obey a strict functional dependency. To achieve homogenous metamaterials fewer efforts are necessary but they still require a carefully balanced design.

By means of experiment and simulation, we achieve unprecedented insights into the formation of Talbot images to be observed in transmission for light diffracted at wavelength-scale amplitude gratings. Emphasis is put on disclosing the impact and the interplay of various diffraction orders to the formation of Talbot images. They can be manipulated by selective filtering in the Fourier plane. Experiments are performed with a high-resolution interference microscope that measures the amplitude and phase of fields in real-space. Simulations have been performed using rigorous diffraction theory. Specific phase features, such as singularities found in the Talbot images, are discussed. This detailed analysis helps to understand the response of fine gratings. It provides moreover new insights into the fundamental properties of gratings that often find use in applications such as, e.g., lithography, sensing, and imaging. (C) 2012 Optical Society of America

Recently perfect metamaterial absorbers triggered some fascination since they permit the observation of an extreme interaction of light with a nanostructured thin film. For the first time we evaluate here the functionality of such perfect absorbers if they are applied on curved surfaces. We probe their optical response and discuss potential novel applications. Examples are the complete suppression of back-scattered light from the covered objects, rendering it cloaked in reflection, and their action as optical black holes.

We demonstrate that planar metamaterial lacking of mirror symmetry shows asymmetric transmission of terahertz waves and bands of positive, negative and zero phase and group velocities indicating a polarization sensitive negative index and slow-light media.

We introduce a top-down fabricated metamaterial composed of three-dimensional, chiral, plasmonic nanostructures for visible and near-infrared wavelengths. Based on a combined spectroscopic and interferometric characterization, the entire complex transmission response in terms of a Jones matrix is disclosed. Particularly, the polarization output state of light after propagation through the nanostructures can be decoded from the measurements for any excitation configuration. We experimentally found a rotation of the polarization azimuth of linearly polarized light exceeding 50degrees at wavelengths around 1.08 mum. This corresponds to a specific rotation which is significantly larger than that of any linear, passive, and reciprocal medium reported to date.

Homogenization of optical metamaterials is one of the fundamental problems of electrodynamics of composite materials. Here the homogenization approach using multipole expansion is analysed and compared with the phenomenological one. Applications of the developed model for different structures and various phenomena are presented.

International audience; We introduce a technique to decompose the scattered near field of two-dimensional arbitrary metaatoms into its multipole contributions. To this end we expand the scattered field upon plane wave illumination into cylindrical harmonics as known from Mie's theory. By relating these cylindrical harmonics to the field radiated by Cartesian multipoles, the contribution of the lowest order electric and magnetic multipoles can be identified. Revealing these multipoles is essential for the design of metamaterials because they largely determine the character of light propagation. In particular, having this information at hand it is straightforward to distinguish between effects that result either from the arrangement of the metaatoms or from their particular design.

The realm of nanooptics is usually characterized by the interaction of light with structures having relevant feature sizes much smaller than the wavelength. To model such problems, a large variety of methods exists. However, most of them either require a periodic arrangement of a unit cell or can handle only single entities. But there exists a great variety of functional devices which may have either a spatial extent much larger than the wavelength and which comprise structural details with sizes in the order of a fraction of the wavelength or they may consist of an amorphous arrangement of strongly scattering entities. Such structures require large scale simulations where the fine details are retained. In this contribution we outline our latest research on such devices and detail the computational peculiarities we have to overcome. Presenting several examples, we show how simulations support the physical understanding of these devices. Examples are randomly textured surfaces used for solar cells, where guided modes excited in the light absorbing layers strongly affect the solar cell efficiency, amorphous metamaterials and stochastically arranged nanoantennas. The usage of computational experiments will be motivated by the unprecedented insight into the functionality of such components.

Although optical metamaterials that show artificial magnetism are mesoscopic systems, they are frequently described in terms of effective material parameters. But due to intrinsic nonlocal (or spatially dispersive) effects it may be anticipated that this approach is usually only a crude approximation and is physically meaningless. In order to study the limitations regarding the assignment of effective material parameters, we present a technique to retrieve the frequency-dependent elements of the effective permittivity and permeability tensors for arbitrary angles of incidence and apply the method exemplarily to the fishnet metamaterial. It turns out that for the fishnet metamaterial, genuine effective material parameters can only be introduced if quite stringent constraints are imposed on the wavelength/unit cell size ratio. Unfortunately they are only met far away from the resonances that induce a magnetic response required for many envisioned applications of such a fishnet metamaterial. Our work clearly indicates that the mesoscopic nature and the related spatial dispersion of contemporary optical metamaterials that show artificial magnetism prohibits the meaningful introduction of conventional effective material parameters.

We experimentally demonstrate a three-dimensional chiral optical metamaterial that exhibits an asymmetric transmission for forwardly and backwardly propagating linearly polarized light. The observation of this novel effect requires a metamaterial composed of three-dimensional chiral meta-atoms without any rotational symmetry. Our analysis is supported by a systematic investigation of the transmission matrices for arbitrarily complex, generally lossy media that allows deriving a simple criterion for asymmetric transmission in an arbitrary polarization base. Contrary to physical intuition, in general the polarization eigenstates in such three-dimensional and low-symmetry metamaterials do not obey fixed relations and the associated transmission matrices cannot be symmetrized.

Based on a systematic analysis of the symmetry properties of metamaterial unit cells, we show experimentally and theoretically that asymmetric transmission for linearly polarized, visible light can be observed for suitably designed unit cells.

Optically isotropic metamaterials (MMs) are required for the implementation of subwavelength imaging systems. At first glance one would expect that their design should be based on unit cells exhibiting a cubic symmetry being the highest crystal symmetry. It is anticipated that this is a sufficient condition since it is usually assumed that light does not resolve the spatial details of MM but experiences the properties of an effective medium, which is then optically isotropic. In this work we challenge this assumption by analyzing the isofrequency surfaces of the dispersion relation of the split-cube in carcass (SCiC) negative index MM. We show that this MM is basically optically isotropic, but not in the spectral domain where it exhibits negative refraction. The primary goal of this contribution is to introduce a tool that allows to probe a MM against optical isotropy.

We show for the first time that a planar metamaterial, an array of coupled metal split-ring resonators with a unit cell lacking mirror symmetry, exhibits asymmetric transmission of terahertz radiation (0.25-2.5 THz) propagating through it in opposite directions. This intriguing effect, that is compatible with Lorentz reciprocity and time-reversal, depends on a directional difference in conversion efficiency of the incident circularly polarized wave into one of opposite handedness, that is only possible in lossy low-symmetry planar chiral metamaterials. We show that asymmetric transmission is linked to excitation of enantiomerically sensitive plasmons, these are induced charge-field excitations that depend on the mutual handedness of incident wave and metamaterial pattern. Various bands of positive, negative and zero phase and group velocities have been identified indicating the opportunity to develop polarization sensitive negative index and slow light media based on such metamaterials., Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures (various minor improvements throughout)

We present an analytical model which permits the calculation of effective material parameters for planar metamaterials consisting of arbitrary unit cells (metaatoms) formed by a set of straight wire sections of potentially different shape. The model takes advantage of resonant electric dipole oscillations in the wires and their mutual coupling. The pertinent form of the metaatom determines the actual coupling features. This procedure represents a kind of building block model for quite different metaatoms. Based on the parameters describing the individual dipole oscillations and their mutual coupling the entire effective metamaterial tensor can be determined. By knowing these parameters for a certain metaatom it can be systematically modified to create the desired features. Performing such modifications effective material properties as well as the far field intensities remain predictable. As an example the model is applied to reveal the occurrence of optical activity if the split ring resonator metaatom is modified to L- or S-shaped metaatoms., 5 figures, 1 table

In the past several years, optical metamaterials (MMs) have attracted a considerable deal of interest because it may be anticipated that their properties can be shaped to an unprecedented extent relieving optics from some of its natural limitations. An inevitable first step toward this goal is the evaluation of the optical properties of specifically designed MMs. To date, apart from identifying chiral properties of very specific configurations, this is primarily done in retrieving an effective refractive index---mostly---only for normal incidence. On this basis suggestions for a perfect lens, exploiting this negative refractive index have been put forward by taking advantage of geometrical optics arguments. We show that this approach is pointless for realistic MMs. Instead we prove that the dispersion relation of normal modes in these MMs provides all the required information. Most of the relevant optical parameters, such as refraction and diffraction coefficients, can be derived from this relation. Imaging properties follow straightforwardly from that data. This general approach holds for any optical material, in particular, for all MMs in question. As an example, we apply it to the fishnet structure: one of the most prominent and best studied design approaches to date. We show that both refraction and diffraction properties are strongly spatially and temporally dispersive and they can even change sign. In detail, we study the effect of these peculiarities on imaging and refraction of finite beams. In particular, we discuss both the effect of the specific dispersion relation and the losses on the imaging properties. All our physical predictions are backed by rigorous numerical calculations and the agreement is almost perfect. Ultimately the main conclusion to be drawn is that a negative index of refraction is by no means a sufficient criterion to achieve negative refraction and/or perfect imaging.

We present and evaluate theoretically and experimentally a design for a negative-index metamaterial that is termed the "Swiss cross" structure. Compared with the established fishnet structure, the proposed design eliminates the drawback of polarization-dependent effective optical parameters. The new design is fabricated by means of e-beam technology and experimentally analyzed using spectroscopic techniques. The thorough comparison with numerical simulations reveals an effective refractive index of n=-1.9 at an operational wavelength of 1400 nm that is independent of the incident polarization. The resonances of the system are comprehensively discussed. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America

We analyze the absorption enhancement in single and tandem solar-cells comprising nanostructures that increase the path of the photons inside the solar cell. For this purpose we exploit different physical phenomena in different material systems.

We measure the angular dependent response of a Swiss-cross metamaterial that has an effective index of n = −1.9 at normal incidence. It is experimentally shown how the effective properties depend on the incidence angle.

We introduce a procedure to retrieve anisotropic effective parameters of metamaterials at oblique incidence. We show that such a homogenization fails near plasmonic resonances for all reasonable aspect ratios and discuss possible implications.

We present the realization of a metamaterial that combines double cut wires and continuous wires in its unit cell. This double-element geometry together with the applied layer-by-layer fabrication technique permits an independent tuning of the geometry of the unit-cell components. The characterization of the samples is based on the measurement of transmission and reflection spectra combined with rigorous numerical simulations. The results show that the metamaterial exhibits an effective refractive index of n=-0.5+1.9i at the wavelength lambda=2.1 microm.

We derive the dispersion relation of Bloch modes in a fishnet metamaterial in the optical frequency domain. The dependence of the longitudinal wave vector component on the transverse one and the frequency, which governs diffraction and dispersive spreading of localized light excitations, respectively, are analyzed. We show that this type of metamaterial exhibits an involved anisotropic behavior with diffraction changing the sign in passing even a zero diffraction point. For completeness we derive furthermore a formal angle-dependent effective refractive index which exhibits discontinuities. Thus we conclude that an effective refractive index tends to get meaningless and that only the dispersion relation predicts reliably light propagation in metamaterials. The results are double checked with those obtained from a retrieval algorithm based on angular resolved reflection/transmission data of a finite slab. Excellent agreement is observed.

We show that a longitudinal (Goos-H\"anchen) and a transverse (Imbert-Fedorov) beam displacement can be observed upon total internal reflection at two-dimensional photonic crystal slabs. By inspecting only the dispersion relation of the photonic crystal we derive qualitative criteria for the direction of the beam shift. Furthermore, it will be shown that the beam shift can be strongly enhanced at particular angles of incidence where Fabry-P\'erot resonances of the slab are excited. The Renard model, which predicts the strength of the shifts based on the Poynting vector in the totally reflecting medium, has been adapted to quantitatively analyze the beam shift.

We introduce a procedure to retrieve angle- and polarization-dependent effective parameters of metamaterials based on reflection and transmission at a finite slab. Their meaning in the presence of strong spatial dispersion and anisotropy is discussed.

We analyze beam displacements that occur upon reflection at interfaces between homogeneous media and metamaterials. Emphasis is put on system requirements, the techniques to predict the shift and the peculiarities in the presence of metamaterials.

The properties of metamaterials made of an increasing number of discrete functional layers are analyzed. Convergence of the effective properties towards their bulk counterparts is observed if the light propagation in the metamaterial is dominated by a single eigenmode. The effective properties of the finite structure will be compared to the properties of the infinite structure for which an effective refractive index can be derived from the dispersion relation. The dispersion relation is furthermore shown to be useful in deriving angle dependent effective material parameters. They are compared to the effective properties obtained from a finite slab by applying a dedicated retrieval procedure.

We analyze the transverse shift (Imbert-Fedorov shift) of a focused beam upon reflection at stratified (doubly dispersive) metamaterials. In deriving analytical expressions for the reflection of a focused beam at such an interface this shift can be quantitatively forecast. Solely based on symmetry considerations of the vectorial reflection coefficient we analyze potential geometries where such a shift occurs. Contrary to the common belief, this shift is observable for a linearly polarized beam at total internal reflection. Furthermore, we predict a giant Imbert-Fedorov shift if light is partially reflected at impedance-matched media.

Upon evaluating the dispersion relation of light propagating in metamaterials, we elucidate the impact of encountered normal and anomalous diffraction regimes on refraction, diffraction and the imaging properties of metamaterials.

We present an approach for extremely fast, wafer-scale fabrication of chiral starfish metamaterials based on electron beam- and on-edge lithography. A millimeter sized array of both the planar chiral and the true 3D chiral starfish is realized, and their chiroptical performances are compared by circular dichroism measurements. We find optical activity in the visible and near-infrared spectral range, where the 3D starfish clearly outperforms the planar design by almost 2 orders of magnitude, though fabrication efforts are only moderately increased. The presented approach is capable of bridging the gap between high performance optical chiral metamaterials and industrial production by nanoimprint technology.

Within the past several years a tremendous progress regarding optical nano-antennas could be witnessed. It is one purpose of optical nano-antennas to resonantly enhance light-matter interactions at the nanoscale, e.g. the interaction of an external illumination with molecules. In this specific, but in almost all schemes that take advantage of resonantly enhanced electromagnetic fields in the vicinity of nano-antennas, the precise knowledge of the spectral position of resonances is of paramount importance to fully exploit their beneficial effects. Thus far, however, many nano-antennas were only optimized with respect to their far-field characteristics, i.e. in terms of their scattering or extinction cross sections. Although being an emerging feature in many numerical simulations, it was only recently fully appreciated that there exists a subtle but very important difference in the spectral position of resonances in the near-and the far-field. With the purpose to quantify this shift, Zuloaga et al. suggested a Lorentzian model to estimate the resonance shift. Here, we devise on fully analytical grounds a strategy to predict the resonance in the near-field directly from that in the far-field and disclose that the issue is involved and multifaceted, in general. We outline the limitations of our theory if more sophisticated optical nano-antennas are considered where higher order multipolar contributions and higher order antenna resonances become increasingly important. Both aspects are highlighted by numerically studying relevant nano-antennas.

An interesting feature of light fields is a phase anomaly, which occurs on the optical axis when light is converging as in a focal spot. Since in Talbot images the light is periodically confined in both transverse and axial directions, it remains an open question whether at all and to which extent the phase in the Talbot images sustains an analogous phase anomaly. Here, we investigate experimentally and theoretically the anomalous phase behavior of Talbot images that emerge from a 1D amplitude grating with a period only slightly larger than the illumination wavelength. Talbot light carpets are observed close to the grating. We concisely show that the phase in each of the Talbot images possesses an anomalous axial shift. We show that this phase shift is analogous to a Gouy phase of a converging wave and occurs due to the periodic light confinement caused by the interference of various diffraction orders. Longitudinal-differential interferometry is used to directly demonstrate the axial phase shifts by comparing Talbot images phase maps to a plane wave. Supporting simulations based on rigorous diffraction theory are used to explore the effect numerically. Numerical and experimental results are in excellent agreement. We discover that the phase anomaly, i.e., the difference of the phase of the field behind the grating to the phase of a referential plane wave, is an increasing function with respect to the propagation distance. We also observe within one Talbot length an irregular wavefront spacing that causes a deviation from the linear slope of the phase anomaly. We complement our work by providing an analytical model that explains these features of the axial phase shift.

We present a method to experimentally measure the complex reflection and transmission coefficients of optical waves at metamaterials under normal incidence. This allows us to determine their pertinent dispersion relation without resorting to numerical simulations. For this purpose we employ a spectrometer and a white light interferometer for amplitude and phase measurements, respectively. To demonstrate the reliability of the method, it is applied to two referential metamaterial geometries, namely, the fishnet and the double-element structure. Involved aspects of the phase measurements as well as the accuracy of the method are discussed. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America

By combining experimental and theoretical efforts we study the optical properties of single-layer, double split-ring resonators at oblique incidences for terahertz frequencies and reveal their angular dependent effective properties. Contrary to what is usually anticipated, for incidence angles deviating from normal we do not observe any significant dispersion in the effective permeability. Effective properties are dominated instead by a strong dispersion in the effective permittivity, causing also the wavenumber in the medium to be large. The structure is shown to possess almost invariant effective properties for oblique incidences.

We propose the split cube in a cage (SCiC) design for application in producing a bulk metamaterial. Applying realistic material data for thin silver films, we observe an immediate convergence of the effective parameters obtained with a number of layers towards the bulk properties. Results are obtained by two different numerical techniques: the Fourier modal method and the finite integrals method, thus ensuring their validity. The SCiC exhibits a refractive index of −0.6 for frequencies close to the telecommunication bands. The fast convergence of effective parameters allows consideration of the SCiC as a bulk (effectively homogeneous) negative-index metamaterial even for a single layer. The bulk-like nature together with the cubic symmetry of the unit cell make the SCiC a promising candidate for potential applications at telecommunication frequencies.

We report on the experimental and theoretical study of the resonant eigenmodes of spiral-type terahertz antennas. The analysis is carried out for a varying number of spiral windings. For larger numbers the structure possesses a self-complementary property which allows the application of the Mushiake principle predicting that the impedance of such structures is half the impedance of free space. This permits to observe an equal and frequency independent reflection and transmission coefficient. This property makes the spiral-type terahertz antenna not only a fascinating example of a medium supporting strong resonances in the long wavelength limit but also a medium which can be easily and reasonably homogenized at higher frequencies. This is in stark contrast to most of the existing metamaterials.

A fast piezoelectric detection system was utilized to record time-resolved photoacoustic signals reflecting the thermal expansion and the rate of material ablation in infrared matrix-assisted laser...

Most left-handed metamaterials cannot be described by local effective permittivity or permeability tensors in the visible or near-infrared due to the mesoscopic size of the respective unit cells and the related strong spatial dispersion. We lift this problem and propose a metamaterial exhibiting artificial magnetism that does not suffer from this restriction. The artificial magnetism arises from the extreme coupling between both metallic films forming the unit cell. We show that its electromagnetic response can be properly described by biaxial local constitutive relations. A genuine biaxial left-handed fishnet metamaterial is suggested, which can be realized by atomic layer deposition to fabricate the nanoscaled spacing layers required for extreme coupling.

We introduce a novel class of metamaterials with quasicrystalline meta-atom arrangements and study their properties in comparison with periodic and disordered metamaterials. We show that quasicrystalline metamaterials exhibit isotropic optical properties while preserving pronounced resonances.

We describe the different optical responses of geometrically related metamaterials with an analytical method based on multipoles. Metamaterials affecting the polarization eigenstates or mimicking EIT-like phenomena can be understood and explained on simple analytical grounds.