Negative Index Materials: Some Mathematical Perspectives

Abstract

Negative index materials are artificial structures whose refractive index has a negative value over some frequency range. These materials were postulated and investigated theoretically by Veselago in 1964 and were confirmed experimentally by Shelby, Smith, and Schultz in 2001. New fabrication techniques now allow for the construction of negative index materials at scales that are interesting for applications, which has made them a very active topic of investigation. In this paper, we report various mathematical results on the properties of negative index materials and their applications. The topics discussed herein include superlensing using complementary media, cloaking using complementary media, cloaking an object via anomalous localized resonance, and the well-posedness and the finite speed propagation in media consisting of dispersive metamaterials. Some of the results have been refined and have simpler proofs than the original ones.