Power Propagation in Homogeneous Isotropic Frequency-Dispersive Left-Handed Media

Abstract

We study transmission at a boundary between a right-handed medium (RHM: epsilon>0, mu>0) and a frequency dispersive left-handed medium [LHM: epsilon(omega)<0, mu(omega)<0 for some omega], both homogeneous and isotropic. In order to account for the dispersion, two types of signal spectra are considered. The first consists of two discrete frequencies, while the second is Gaussian. Explicit expressions for the time-domain fields are obtained, from which the time-averaged Poynting vectors and hence power flow vectors are calculated. In both cases, we find that waves refract at negative angles at a RHM-LHM interface.