Optical propagation through a homogeneous mixture of positive and negative index materials

Abstract

Metamaterials, which maybe the answer to perfect lensing, are often fabricated as a periodic array of elements which exhibit negative refractive index or negative permeability/permittivity. In this work, we outline and illustrate a framework that can model propagation through a homogeneous and random mixture of positive and negative index materials. We achieve this by using a matrix-based multilayered approach, and a random sequence of positive and negative index materials, and by incorporating all possible combinations of such layers. Plane wave propagation is investigated, and aggregated transmittivity is calculated. We show that near-zero net refractive index maybe achieved through a random homogeneous mixture of positive and negative index materials.