Dong et al. Vol. 26, No. 5 / May 2009 / J. Opt. Soc. Am.

B 1091

Transmission properties of lossy

single-negative materials

Lijuan Dong,1,2 Guiqiang Du,1,3 Haitao Jiang,1 Hong Chen,1,2 and Yunlong Shi1,2,*
1
Pohl Institute of Solid State Physics, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China
2
Institute of Solid State Physics, Shanxi Datong University, Datong, 037009, China
3
School of Space Science and Physics, Shandong University at Weihai, Weihai, 264209, China
*Corresponding author: shiyunlong@yahoo.com.cn

Received December 8, 2008; revised February 24, 2009; accepted March 20, 2009;
posted April 2, 2009 (Doc. ID 104918); published April 22, 2009
We study the transmission properties of structures with one or two kinds of lossy single-negative (permittivity-
negative and permeability-negative) material. Analytic results show that the transmission of the structure de-
pends on the material absorption and reflection. In sharp contrast to lossy dielectrics, the reflection of the lossy
single-negative material(s) can decrease as the dissipation coefficient increases. As a result, the transmission
of the lossy single-negative material(s) will be nonmonotonic as the dissipation coefficient varies. In particular,
the transmission can be enhanced even when the dissipation coefficient increases. 2009 Optical Society of
America
OCIS codes: 260.2110, 120.7000, 160.3918.

1. INTRODUCTION transmission properties. Nonmonotonic transmission

Recently, significant attention has been attracted to
metamaterials with novel properties for manipulating
electromagnetic waves [110], which include single-
negative materials and double-negative materials. There
are two types of single-negative materials: epsilon-
negative materials (ENMs), in which the real part of per-
mittivity is negative R 0, but that of permeability is
positive R 0, and mu-negative materials (MNMs),
where the real part of permeability is negative R 0,
but that of permittivity is positive R 0. The double-
negative materials have simultaneously negative real
parts of permittivity and permeability and are also called
negative refractive or left-handed materials. In practice,
natural negative refractive materials do not exist, and
they can be fabricated and composed of two types of
single-negative materials [26]. Generally, ENMs and
MNMs are made of metals, so optical losses are unavoid-
able, especially in the visible region, which limits their
applications [710]. To improve transmission properties of
metamaterials, various methods have been proposed for
compensating or reducing these losses, such as adding
some gain materials or using lower-loss metallic compo-
nents [1114]. It is known that, below the plasma fre-
quency, metal is a natural ENM with loss, and it is nearly
opaque because of high reflection instead of absorption
[15]. Therefore, for structures composed of lossy single-
negative materials, two factors affecting transmission
should be considered: one is the material absorption, and
the other is the reflection at the entrance face. For a lossy
dielectric material, the reflection is boosted as the dissi-
pation coefficient increases, so the corresponding trans-
mission is reduced monotonically owing to enhanced re-
flection and absorption. However, the reflection can
decrease as the dissipation coefficient increases for a lossy
single-negative material, which will lead to different
properties are found in structures with one or two kinds
of lossy single-negative materials.
The arrangement of the paper is as follows. In Section
2, we analyze the mechanism of nonmonotonic transmis-
sion for a single-negative material. In Section 3, the
transmission of a lossy ENM monolayer is studied, and
the nonmonotonic behavior of the transmission with the
increase of the dissipation coefficient is illustrated. In
Section 4, we show that the transmission of a lossy ENM
MNM bilayer can be enhanced even when the dissipation
coefficient or the thickness of one layer increases. Finally,
we conclude in Section 5.
2. MECHANISM OF NONMONOTONIC
TRANSMISSION
Consider a structure composed of the air and a semi-
infinite medium. The refractive indices of the air and the
semi-infinite medium are 1 and n, respectively. The reflec-
tance R at the interface between them can be given by the
Fresnel formula [16],
1 nR2 + nI2
R= , 1
1 + nR2 + nI2
where nR nI is the real (imaginary) part of n.
We analyze the variances of the reflectance with the
imaginary part or real part of the refractive indices for
semi-infinite media composed of general dielectric mate-
rials (which have nR nI) or single-negative materials
(which have nR nI). For simplicity, for the fixed real part
of n, the relation can be deduced for dielectric materials
with two different imaginary parts of n, which is

0740-3224/09/051091-6/$15.00 2009 Optical Society of America

1092 J. Opt. Soc. Am. B / Vol. 26, No. 5 / May 2009 Dong et al.

R2 R1 n2I n1In2I + n1I,
where R1 and R2 are the reflectances. One can see that
R2 R1 when n2I n1I, which implies that more electro-
magnetic waves would be reflected when the dielectric
materials have larger losses (in other words, which have
larger imaginary part of n). Therefore, the transmittance
is reduced because of the enhanced reflectance and absor-
bance for such materials. However, the reflectance R of
lossless single-negative materials (because the real part
of n for them is zero) equals 1 according to Eq. (1). When
the losses are considered for single-negative materials
and the imaginary part of n is kept invariant for simplic-
ity, R will be reduced monotonically with the increase of
the real part of n, which will induce more electromagnetic
waves in the structure. For a lossy single-negative mate-
rial, if the effect of the reflectance reduction is smaller
than that of the material absorption enhancement, the
2 transmittance will decrease. On the other hand, if the
former is larger than the latter, enhanced transmittance
can be obtained. Therefore, nonmonotonic transmission
can be realized for structures with lossy single-negative
material(s), which depends on the competitive mechanism
between the reflectance and absorption. The nonmono-
tonic transmission behaviors are illustrated by a mono-
layer with one kind of lossy single-negative material and
a bilayer composed of two kinds of lossy single-negative
material.
3. MONOLAYER OF A LOSSY SINGLE-
NEGATIVE MATERIAL
We suppose that a wave is incident on a monolayer of a
lossy single-negative material surrounded by the air, as
shown in Fig. 1. The reflectance R and transmittance T of
the monolayer are obtained as follows (see Appendix A):

2A exp2n1I1 + B2 exp 2n1I1 + 2AB cosB A 2n1R1

R= , 3
exp2n1I1 + 2AB
2
exp 2n1I1 + 2AB cosB + A 2n1R1

2AB2 exp 2n1I1

T= , 4
1 + 2AB
2
exp 4n1I1 + 2AB exp 2n1I1cosB + A 2n1R1

where m m is the amplitude of the reflection (transmis-

sion) coefficients, and m is the phase of the reflection co-
efficients, in which m = A (B) represent the front (back) in-
B = arctan 2
n1R
21n1I
2
+ n1I 12
,

terface, as shown in Fig. 1. n1R n1I is the real

(imaginary) part of the refractive index of the lossy me- and A = + B. The absorbance in the medium is A
dium. In Eqs. (3) and (4), 1 = / cd1, where is the angu- = 1 R T.
lar frequency measured in gigahertz, c is the speed of We describe the single-negative materials with the
light in vacuum, and d1 is the thickness of the medium. In Drude model,
the following, we consider only normal incidence; then
ep
2

1 n1R + 2 2
n1I 1 = 1 , 1 = a, 5
2 + ie
2A = B2 = ,
1 + n1R2 + n1I
2

in the ENM and

412 2
4n1R 2
+ n1I mp
2
2A = , B2 = , 2 = 1 , 2 = b, 6
1 + n1R +
2 2
n1I 1 + n1R + 2 2
n1I 2 + im

in the MNM, respectively. In Eqs. (5) and (6), ep mp de-

notes the electronic (magnetic) plasma frequency, and e
m is the dissipation coefficient of ENM (MNM). Only an
ENM monolayer is considered in this section. The case of
a MNM monolayer is similar. In Eq. (5), we assume 1
= 1R + i1I, where

ep
2
ep
2
e
1R = 1 , 1I = . 7
2 + e 2
3 + 2e

Then the real and imaginary parts of n1 satisfy the fol-

Fig. 1. Schematic of a monolayer of a lossy single-negative ma- lowing formulas:
terial in the air.
Dong et al. Vol. 26, No. 5 / May 2009 / J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 1093

n1R = 1
2
11R
2 2
+ 1I + 1R 1/2
, 8

n1I = 1
2
11R
2 2
+ 1I 1R 1/2
. 9

Based on Eqs. (3)(9), we analyze qualitatively the

variation of the reflection and transmission of the lossy
ENM monolayer with the dissipation coefficient. For a
frequency , 1R 1 / 2 + 2e from Eq. (7), so the abso-
lute value of 1R is reduced as e increases. Similarly,
1I e / 3 e , so 1I is enhanced as e increases. But
the variation of 1R 2
with e is not the same for all
2 1/2
+ 1I
frequencies in Eqs. (8) and (9) when 1R 0. When Fig. 2. Transmittance (solid curve), reflectance (dashed), and
2ep / 2, 1R 2 2 1/2
+ 1I is always reduced when e in- absorbance (dotted) of the lossy ENM monolayer with thickness
creases; when 2ep / 2, 1R 2 2 1/2
+ 1I is always en- d1 = 15 mm at / 2 = 0.8 GHz.
hanced when e increases. However, the variation of
2
1R with e does not change the monotonic varia-
2 1/2
+ 1I minimum. Therefore, the value of the transmission is
tion of n1R or n1I with e. From Eqs. (8) and (9), we find nonmonotonic and has a minimum as e increases.
that n1R increases and n1I decreases monotonically with It is known that an ideal single-negative material has
the increase of e e (see Appendix B). negative permittivity and that its refractive index is
The variation of R of the monolayer with e can be ana- imaginary, so the electromagnetic wave is evanescent and
lyzed according to above results. From Eq. (3), the abso- the reflectance at the incident interface is very large.
lute value of exp2n1I1, cosB A 2n1R1, and When single-negative materials are lossy, the dissipation
cosB + A 2n1R1, is less than 1, and they can be ig- coefficient affects not only the absorption but also the re-
nored since they change very little when e increases. So flectance. In order to analyze the transmission properties
R A2
when e increases. The variation of A 2
depends on of the ENM more clearly, we suppose a = 3, ep = 10 GHz,
the variation of n1R and n1I with e. When n1R is invari- and d1 = 15 mm in Eq. (5), and we show the variances of
ant, transmittance and absorbance of the monolayer with the
dissipation coefficient.
1 + n1R2 1 n1R2 Figure 2 shows the transmittance, reflectance, and ab-
2A =1 sorbance of the lossy ENM monolayer at the frequency of
1 + n1R2 + n1I
2
0.8 GHz. One can see the reflectance is reduced continu-
2
ously as the dissipation coefficient increases, as shown by
and A n1I; when n1I is invariant, the dashed curve in Fig. 2. However, the transmittance is
nonmonotonic with the increase of e, shown by the solid
41n1R
2A = 1 , curve, which is in sharp contrast to a lossy dielectric ma-
1 + n1R2 + n1I
2
terial. In a lossy dielectric material, the transmittance
will be reduced continuously as the dissipation coefficient
and the value of A 2 2
/ n1R is n1R 2
n1I 12 / 1 + n1R2 increases. When e is small, one can see that the absor-
2 2
+ n1I , that is, less than zero because n1R n1I in the bance is enhanced greatly but the transmittance de-
single-negative materials. Therefore, R is always reduced creases as e increases. However, when e is large, the ab-
when e increases. Now we use real materials to test this sorbance increases slightly but the transmittance is
property. At the wavelength of 0.4 m, nI and nR of Ag are enhanced, since the reflectance is reduced noticeably.
1.95 and 0.173, while nI and nR of Au are 1.956 and 1.658 Therefore, the transmittance can be enhanced even when
[17]. At 0.4 m, the reflectances of Ag and Au with the the dissipation coefficient increases.
same thickness of 20 nm are 0.342 and 0.267, respec-
tively.
Similarly, the variation of T of the monolayer with e 4. LOSSY ENMMNM PAIRING STRUCTURE
can be analyzed. From Eq. (4), A B exp4n1I1 and
2 2
For a lossy ENMMNM bilayer, the transmission proper-
2AB exp2n1I1cosA + B 2n1R1 in the denomina- ties with frequency are more complex owing to the local-
tor for T can be ignored, since the their variation is small ized interface mode existing at the interface between two
with the increase in e; then T A B exp2n1I1 as e
2 2
kinds of single-negative materials [2]. But the variance of
increases. When e is small, the increment of 1 + n1R2 in the transmission with the dissipation coefficient is still
the denominator of A 2
is bigger than the decrement of n1I 2
, similar to that of the lossy monolayer. In the following cal-
which leads to reduced A. However, when e is large,
2
culation, we choose a = 1, b = 4, ep = 10 GHz, mp
1 + n1R2 increases trivially, which leads to the enhance- = 103 GHz, and d1 = d2 = 10 mm for two kinds of single-
ment of A2
. Therefore, the variation of A2
is nonmonotonic negative material.
as e increases. According to Eq. (4), B 2
decreases and In Fig. 3, we show the variances of the transmittance,
exp2n1I1 is enhanced with the increase of e, so that the reflectance, and the absorbance with m of the MNM
the value of B 2
exp2n1I1 is nonmonotonic and has a at the frequency of 1 GHz by means of the transfer-matrix
1094 J. Opt. Soc. Am. B / Vol. 26, No. 5 / May 2009 Dong et al.

Before concluding, we emphasize that the nonmono-

tonic property of transmittance with the increase of the
dissipation coefficient is seen not only in a monolayer or
bilayer, but also in a multilayer structure with lossy
single-negative materials.

5. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we studied the transmission properties of
structures with one or two types of single-negative mate-
rial. In these special materials, the transmittance can be
enhanced even when the dissipation coefficient increases,
which is distinct from the case of the lossy dielectrics. Be-
sides, we can boost the transmittance of the bilayer by in-
creasing the thickness of one of the single-negative mate-
Fig. 3. Transmittance (solid curve), reflectance (dashed), and
rials. These results may be used to improve transmission
absorbance (dotted) of the lossy ENM-MNM bilayer with e / 2
= 0.2 GHz at / 2 = 1 GHz. d1 = d2 = 10 mm. properties of artificial structures containing highly lossy
metamaterials, especially in infrared and visible regions.
method [5,6]. With the increase of m, the reflectance is
reduced for a fixed e, as shown by the dashed curve. The
transmittance decreases when the enhancement of absor- APPENDIX A: REFLECTANCE AND
bance is larger than the reduction of reflectance at TRANSMITTANCE OF LOSSY MONOLAYER
smaller m, while transmittance increases when the SINGLE-NEGATIVE MATERIALS
former is smaller than the latter at larger m, as shown The reflection and transmission of the structure are stud-
by the solid curve in Fig. 3. In other words, the transmit- ied by using Fresnel formulas. The Fresnel formulas can
tance also has a nonmonotonic property. be derived from the Maxwell theory as follows:
Unlike in the monolayer, the transmission properties
strongly depend on the thickness of each layer in the bi- 1n0 cos 0 0n1 cos 1
r = , A1
layer structure. In the following calculation, we choose a 1n0 cos 0 + 0n1 cos 1
= 6, b = 1, ep = 10 GHz, mp = 103 GHz, e / 2 = 0.01 GHz,
and m / 2 = 0.3 GHz for two kinds of single-negative ma- 0n1 cos 0 1n0 cos 1
terial. The value of the thickness of ENM d1 is fixed as r = , A2
15 mm. In Fig. 4, we show the variances of the transmit- 0n1 cos 0 + 1n0 cos 1
tance, the reflectance, and the absorbance of the bilayer
with the thickness of MNM d2 at the frequency of 21n0 cos 0
1.05 GHz. With the increase of d2, the reflectance is re- t = , A3
1n0 cos 0 + 0n1 cos 1
duced continuously, as shown by the dashed curve in Fig.
4. However, the transmittance is nonmonotonic when d2
21n0 cos 0
varies, as shown by the solid curve. When d2 is small, one t = , A4
can see that the reflectance is reduced greatly and the 0n1 cos 0 + 1n0 cos 1
transmittance increases as d2 increases. However, when
d2 is large, the reflectance decreases slightly and the where nj = jj (j = 0 , 1 represent the air and the single-
transmittance is reduced, since the absorbance increases negative material, respectively), and 0 and 1 are angles
noticeably. of incidence and refraction, respectively. In this paper, we
consider only normal incidence; so 0 = 1 = 0, R = r2
= R = r2 = R, and T = t2 = T = t2 = T.
The reflection and transmission coefficients at the two
interfaces (see Fig. 1) are given according to the Fresnel
formulas (A1) and (A3):
1 n1 n1 1 21 2n1
rA = , rB = , tA = , tB = .
1 + n1 1 + n1 1 + n1 1 + n1
The amplitude and phase of the two interfaces can be cal-
culated from rm = m expim and tm = m expim m
= A , B:
1 n1R2 + n1I
2
21n1I
2A = , tan A = , A5
1 + n1R + 2 2
n1I 2
n1R 2
+ n1I 12
Fig. 4. Transmittance (solid curve), reflectance (dashed), and
absorbance (dotted) of lossy ENM-MNM bilayer with d2 at n1R 12 + n1I
2
21n1I
/ 2 = 1.05 GHz. e / 2 = 0.01 GHz, m / 2 = 0.3 GHz, and d1 B2 = , tan B = , A6
= 15 mm. n1R + 1 + 2 2
n1I 2
n1R 2
+ n1I 12
Dong et al. Vol. 26, No. 5 / May 2009 / J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 1095

412 1n1I ep
2
222e 32 222 + 2e 0. B4
2A = , tan A = , A7
1 + n1R + 2 2
n1I 12 + 1n1R
Here 2ep 22 0, 2e 32 0e , 0, and e 0; so
inequality (B4) is not established. Therefore, we obtain
2
4n1R 2
+ n1I 1n1I da / de + db / de 0. Thus n1R increases with the increase
B2 = , tan B = , of e.
1 + n1R + + 1n1R (iii) da / de 0 and db / de 0 when 2 / 2ep;
2 2 2 2
n1I n1R + n1I
A8 thus n1R increases with the increase of e.
From the above results, we demonstrate that n1R in-
where n1R n1I is the real (imaginary) part of the refrac- creases with the increase of e. In addition, it can also be
tive index of the lossy single-negative materials. The re- obtained that n1I decreases with the increase of e by the
flection and transmission coefficients r and t can be ob- method of same analysis.
tained according to the above equations:

rA + rB exp 2i1 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

r= = expi, A9
1 + rArB exp 2i1 This research was supported by CNKBRSF (grant
2006CB921701), by CNSF (grant 10634050 and
10704055), by SXNSF (grant 2008011006), by SXSRF
tAtB exp i1 (grant 85), by SDNSF (grant Y2008A37), and by the Pro-
t= = expi, A10
1 + rArB exp 2i1 gram for Key Basic Research of the Shanghai Science and
Technology Committee (grant 08dj1400301) and the Pro-
where 1 = / cn1d1 = 1n1. Based on Eqs. (A9) and (A10), gram for Young Excellent Teacher in Tongji University.
the reflectivity R and transmissivity T of the lossy mono-
layer structure can finally be written as Eqs. (3) and (4) in
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