The refractive index of reciprocal electromagnetic media
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Published version
Author(s)
McCall, MW
Kinsler, P
Topf, RDM
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
We study the electromagnetics of media described by identical inhomogeneous relative dielectric and magnetic tensors, ${\boldsymbol{\epsilon }}={\boldsymbol{\mu }}.$ Such media occur generically as spatial transformation media, i.e. electromagnetic media that are defined by a deformation of space. We show that such media are completely described by a refractive index $n({\bf{r}},\hat{{\bf{s}}})$ that depends on position ${\bf{r}}$ and direction $\hat{{\bf{s}}},$ but is independent of polarization. The phase surface is always ellipsoidal, and $n({\bf{r}},\hat{{\bf{s}}})$ is therefore represented by the radius vector to the surface of the ellipsoid. We apply our method to calculate the angular dependence of the refractive index in the well-studied cylindrical cloak and to a new kind of structurally chiral medium induced by a twist deformation. By way of a simple example we also show that media for which ${\boldsymbol{\epsilon }}={\boldsymbol{\mu }}$ do not in general preserve the impedance properties of vacuum. The implications of this somewhat surprising conclusion for the field of transformation optics are discussed.
Date Issued
2016-04-01
Date Acceptance
2015-11-20
Citation
Journal of Optics, 2016, 18 (4)
ISSN
2040-8978
Publisher
IOP Publishing: Hybrid Open Access
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Optics
Volume
18
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
License URL
Sponsor
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Grant Number
EP/K003305/1
Subjects
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Optics
transformation optics
reciprocal media
cloaking
SCULPTURED THIN-FILMS
LIGHT
PROPAGATION
EXPRESSIONS
RELATIVITY
OPTICS
0205 Optical Physics
0906 Electrical And Electronic Engineering
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
044017