Abstract

When a guided mode is excited in a dielectric slab coupled to a backward surface wave at the interface between a dielectric and a left-handed medium, light is confined in the structure: this is a light wheel. Complex plane analysis of the dispersion relation and coupled-mode formalism give deep insight into the physics of this phenomenon (lateral confinement and the presence of a dark zone).

© 2010 Optical Society of America

Localization of light in a lamellar structure with left-handed medium : the Light Wheel

P. H. Tichit, A. Moreau, and G. Granet
Opt. Express 15(23) 14961-14966 (2007)

Quasi-optics of the surface guided modes in a left-handed material slab waveguide

Zi Hua Wang and Su Ping Li
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 25(6) 903-908 (2008)

Light wheel confined in a purely dielectric composite waveguide

Yu Qian Ye, Yi Jin, and Sailing He
Opt. Express 17(6) 4348-4354 (2009)

Experimental and numerical studies of terahertz surface waves on a thin metamaterial film

Benjamin Reinhard, Oliver Paul, René Beigang, and Marco Rahm
Opt. Lett. 35(9) 1320-1322 (2010)

Enhanced twinkling in left-handed media

P. C. Ingrey, K. I. Hopcraft, and E. Jakeman
Opt. Lett. 35(22) 3802-3804 (2010)