Resonance-based metamaterial in the shallow sub-wavelength regime: Negative refractive index and nearly perfect absorption

Abstract

The research on magnetic resonances in typical meta-atoms has led to the discovery of electromagnetic metamaterials (MMs). These new materials played a crucial role in achieving extraordinary phenomena as well as promised potential applications. In this paper, we numerically and experimentally investigated two different MM effects: the absorption and the negative refraction, which induced by magnetic resonances in a symmetric structure. The meta-atom sandwich model that includes two parallel flat rings separated by an insulating slab was designed. Firstly, three resonances in sub-wavelength range were demonstrated, revealing the negative permittivity and permeability effects. Notably, negative refractive index (NRI) was gained at the third-gap resonance, resulting from superposition of the rest of the electric resonance and the magnetic one accompanied by multi-plasmon. Moreover, the manipulation of the structural parameters could control the NRI behavior and, interestingly, a nearly perfect absorption peak arises in shallow sub-wavelength regime.