A Discussion on the Interpretation and Characterization of Metafilms/Metasurfaces: The Two-Dimensional Equivalent of Metamaterials

Published

October 1, 2009

Author(s)

Christopher L. Holloway, Andrew M. Dienstfrey, Edward E. Kuester, John F. O'Hara, Abul K. Azad

Abstract

A metafilm is the surface equivalent of a metamaterial. More precisely, a metafilm is a surface distribution of suitably chosen electrically small scatterers. Metafilms are becoming popular as an alternative to the full three-dimensional metamaterials. Unfortunately many papers in the literature present incorrect interpretations and mis-characterizations of these metafilms. In fact, some of the characterizations presented in the literature result in non-unique parameters for a uniquely defined metafilm. In this present paper we discuss the appropriate interpretation and characterization of metafilms and present the correct manner to characterize metafilm. Additionally, we illustrate the error that results for this mis-characterization of metafilms. We present various examples to emphasize these points. Finally we present an retrieval approach for determining the uniquely defined quantities (the electric and magnetic polarizabilities of its constituent scatterers) that characterizes a metafim.

Citation

Metamaterials

Volume

3

Issue

2

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.metmat.2009.08.001

Keywords

effective media, generalized sheet transition conditions, GSTC, metafilm, metamaterial, polarizability densities

Citation

Holloway, C. , Dienstfrey, A. , Kuester, E. , O'Hara, J. and Azad, A. (2009), A Discussion on the Interpretation and Characterization of Metafilms/Metasurfaces: The Two-Dimensional Equivalent of Metamaterials, Metamaterials, [online], https://doi.org/10.1016/j.metmat.2009.08.001 (Accessed October 8, 2025)