Oblique total transmissions through epsilon-near-zero metamaterials with hyperbolic dispersions

Wave-Functional Materials Lab, Department of Physics, Soochow University - Suzhou 215006, PRC

^(a) luweixin@suda.edu.cn
^(b) laiyun@suda.edu.cn

Received: 4 January 2013
Accepted: 31 January 2013

Abstract

Zero-index metamaterials with near-zero permittivity and/or permeability usually reflect oblique incident waves due to total reflection that occurs at the air-metamaterial interface. In this work, we show that if one component of the near-zero–permittivity tensor of metamaterial turns from positive to negative due to a small disturbance, the dispersion surface changes dramatically from a tiny circle to a hyperbola, which enables oblique transmissions. A series of high-order total-transmission peaks at large incident angles is predicted and observed. These peaks are induced by Fabry-Pérot effects. Our work may have potential applications for filters, sensors and switches.