Some results on electromagnetic transmission eigenvalues

The electromagnetic interior transmission problem is a boundary value problem, which is neither elliptic nor self-adjoint. The associated transmission eigenvalue problem has important applications in the inverse electromagnetic scattering theory for inhomogeneous media. In this paper, we show that, in general, there do not exist purely imaginary electromagnetic transmission eigenvalues. For constant index of refraction, we prove that it is uniquely determined by the smallest (real) transmission eigenvalue. Finally, we show that complex transmission eigenvalues must lie in a certain region in the complex plane. The result is verified by examples. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.