Spatial dispersion and nonlocal effective permittivity for periodic layered metamaterials

Abstract

The feature of spatial dispersion in periodic layered metamaterials is theoretically investigated. An effective medium model is proposed to derive the nonlocal effective permittivity tensor, which exhibits drastic variations in the wave vector domain. Strong spatial dispersion is found in the frequency range where surface plasmon polaritons are excited. In particular, the nonlocal effect gives rise to additional waves that are identified as the bonding or antibonding modes with symmetric or antisymmetric surface charge alignments. Spatial dispersion is also manifest on the parabolic-like dispersion, a non-standard type of dispersion in the medium. The associated negative refraction and backward wave occur even when the effective permittivity components are all positive, which is considered a property not available in the local medium.