Dispersive finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) analysis of the elliptic cylindrical cloak

Abstract

A dispersive full-wave finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) model is used to calculate the performance of elliptic cylindrical cloaking devices. The permittivity and the permeability tensors for the cloaking structure are derived by using an effective medium approach in general relativity. The elliptic cylindrical invisibility devices are found to show imperfect cloaking, and the cloaking performance is found to depend on the polarization of the incident waves, the direction of the propagation of those waves, the semi-focal distances and the loss tangents of the meta-material. When the semi-focal distance of the elliptic cylinder decreases, the performance of the cloaking becomes very good, with neither noticeable scatterings nor field penetrations. For a larger semi-focal distance, only the TM wave with a specific propagation direction shows good cloaking performance. Realistic cloaking materials with loss still show a cloak that is working, but attenuated back-scattering waves exist.