A DoD Perspective on Left Handed Negative Index Materials and Potential Applications
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0919-J01-02
A DoD Perspective on Left Handed Negative Index Materials and Potential Applications Valerie M. Browning1, Minas H Tanielian2, Richard W. Ziolkowski3, Nader Engheta4, and David R. Smith5 1 Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, Arlington, VA, 22203-1714 2 Boeing Phantom Works, Seattle, Washington, 98124 3 University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 85721-0104 4 University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104-6314 5 Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 27707
ABSTRACT In the quest for ever smaller, lighter weight, and conformal components and devices for radar and communication applications, researchers in the RF community have increasingly turned to artificially engineered, composite structures (or “metamaterials”) in order to exploit the extraordinary electromagnetic response these materials offer. One particularly promising class of metamaterials that has recently received a great deal of attention are “left-handed” or negative index materials. Because these metamaterials exhibit the unique ability to bend and focus light in ways no other conventional materials can, they hold great potential for enabling a number of innovative lens and antenna structures for a broad range of commercial and DoD relevant applications. Exploring the possible implementation of negative index materials for such applications will require significant enhancements in the properties of existing Negative Index Materials (NIM) (bandwidth, loss, operational frequency, etc.), as well as improved understanding of the physics of their electromagnetic transport properties. For this reason the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) has initiated a program that seeks to further develop and demonstrate NIM for future DoD missions including, but not limited to, the following: 1) lightweight, compact lenses with improved optics; 2) sub wavelength/high resolution imaging across the electromagnetic spectrum; 3) novel approaches to beam steering for radar, RF, and/or optical communications; and 4) novel approaches for integrating optics with semiconductor electronics. A brief overview of the salient properties of NIM will be presented as well as a general discussion of a few of their potential applications. INTRODUCTION The prediction, made nearly four decades ago by Veselago [1], of unusual electromagnetic behavior in materials with simultaneous negative values for dielectric permittivity ε and magnetic permeability µ, coupled with the more recent demonstrations [2-8] of such materials and their unusual properties has generated great excitement in the international research community. In a very short time, government sponsored research programs have been initiated to further elucidate the potential advantages of these materials for a wide variety of military and commercial applications that span the electromagnetic spectrum. The promise of electrically small antennas, novel approaches to electronically steered beams, and subwavelength imaging are just a few examples of the applications that have been proposed for
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