SOVIET PHYSICS USPEKHL VOLUME 10, NUMBER 4 SJANUARY-FEBRUARY 1968 na0 THE ELECTRODYNAMICS OF SUBSTANCES WITH SIMULTANEOUSLY NEGATIVE VALUES OF © AND pt V. 6. VESELAGO PN. Lebedev Physics Institate, Academy of Sciences, U.8..R. Usp. Fiz. Nauk 92, 517-526 (Jaly, 1964 1. INTRODUCTION Tl, THE PROPAGATION OF WAVES IN A SUBSTANCE WITH ¢ <0 AND 4 < 0, “RIGHT-HANDED” AND "Tu aictectric constant « and the magnetic permea-_“LEPT-HANDED” SUBSTANCES bility 1 are the fundamental characteristic quantities Which determine the propagation of electromagnetic waves in matter, This 1 due to the fact that they are the only parameters of the substance that appear in the dispersion equation | Sean Bt kay ‘To ascertain the electromagnetic laws essentially connected with the sign of € and u, we must turn to those relations in which < and y appear separately, fand not in the form of their product, as in (1)—(8) ‘These relations are primarily the Maxwell equations (1) and the constitutive relations tic gives the comeotion between the requney © mei.) fof a monochromatic wave and ils wave vector k In eee ores 2 She eave of en lotroptesobetnee, Hg. (0) tes 7 simpler form wont “ *. pow | om e For a plane monochromatic wave, in which all Here n® is the square of the index of refraction of quantities are proportional to eilkz-wti, the expres- the bobstance, ands given fy Sion (3 and (0) reduce fo a tke u on (sit tte do aot tke loses ato account and regatd 2, 6, tame, td's as eal numer, ft can bo nee tom (2) 428 It can be seen at once from these equations that if (5) that a simultaneous change of the signs of €and Sq and w>0 then E, H, and k forma right- 4 has no effect on these relations, This situation can handed triplet of vectors, and if € <0 and u<0 they be interpreted in various ways, First, we may admit rea left-handed set.!") If we introduce direction that the properties of a substance are actually not cosines for the vectors E, H, and k and denote ther affected by a simultancous change of the signs of € by a. py, and yy, Tespectively, then a wave PFops— and 4. Second, it might be that for ¢ and 4 to be gated in 4 given medium will be characterized by the simullancously negative contradicts some fund eit mental lavs of nature, end therefore no substance fag as a admitted that substances with negative © and # have Mn ie wi some properties different from those of substances The determinant of this matrix Is equal to +1 if the with positive € and y. As we shall see in what fol- Segiors =, Hy and k are a right-handed set, and -1 lows, the third case is the one that is realized. Tt if this set is left-banded, Denoting this determinant mst he emphasized that there has not €0 far been ty p. we can say that p characterizes the right any experiment in which a substance with € <0 and ness" of the given medium. ‘The medium is “right <0 could be observed. We can, however, at once panded’” i pl. and “left-handed” if p= 1. The sive a number of arguments as to where and how one elements of the matrix (6) satisfy the relation Should look for such substances. Since in our opinion the electrodynamics of substances with « < 0 and Ga ha a <0 1s undoubtedly of interest, independently of our lore Aix 18 the algebraic complement of the element now having such substances available, we shall at Gin, Furthermore the elements of G are oztho- first consider the matter purely formally. Tuere- after in tae second part of this article we shall con sider questions connected with the physical realiza~ rot = ew ton of substances with €< 0 and <0 1ME] =k « E soy510 vig. WW FIG. 1. «) Doppler effect in a right-handed substance; b) Doppler lect ina lefehanted substence. The Teter A cepraseats the Source ofthe radiation, the letter B the receive rormal. The energy flux carried by the wave is de- termined by the Poynting vector 8, whichis given by 8 iew © According to (8) the vector S always forms a right- handed set withthe vectors E und i. Accordingly, for right-handed substances § and Kc are in the same direction, and for left-handed substances they are in opposite directions." Since the vector k is in the direction ofthe phase velocity, itis clear that left- anded substances are substances with a so-called negative group velocty, which ocoure In particular {in ansotropie substances or when there 1 spatial dispersion.'" In what follows we shall for brevity use the term “left-handed substance,” keeping. la ‘ind that this term is equivalent to the term “sub stance with negative group velocity.” Let us now consider the consequences ofthe fact that tn lefts handed substances the phase veloety is opposite to the energy fu. First, in left-handed substancen there will be a reversed Doppler effect.!1s#) Indeed, suppose for example that detcotor of radiation which fs ina left-handed medium moves relative toa source which emits a frequency. In its motion the detector will pursue points of the wave which correspond to some definite phase, a8 is shown in Fig. 1, ‘The frequency roccived by the de- tector will be smaller than wy, not larger as it would be in an ordinary (right-handed) medium. Us~ ng the quantity p for the medium in question, we can write the formula forthe Doppler shit in the form ow (1-0) 9 Here the velocity v of the detector is regarded as positive when it is receding from the source. The velocity u of the energy flux is regarded as always positive. ‘The Vavilov-Cerenkov effect will also be re— versed, just like the Doppler effect.'* Ifa particle VESELAGO FIG. 2.5) The Vavilor-Corenkow effect in rgh-handed sub stance; b) The same effect in left-handed substance ‘moves ina medium with speed v in a straight line Fig. 2), will emit according to the lav ellker ket 00), and the wave vector of the radiation will be given by k =k, /cos @ and is in the general direction of the velocity v. ‘The quantity ity will be different in different media, in accordance with the expression b= VRE (10) ‘This choice of the sign for the square root in (10) will assure that the energy moves away from the radiating particle to infinity. It is then clear that for left- hhanded meuis the voetor ky Will be directed toward the trajectory of the particle, and the cone of the radiation will be directed backward relative to the ‘motion of the particle. This corresponds to an obtuse angle 9 between v and 8. Por a medium of either “rightness” this angle can be found from the expres= es a Ul. THE REFRACTION OF A RAY AT THE BOUND- ARY BETWEEN TWO MEDIA WITH DIFFERENT RIGHTNESSES: In the passage of a ray of Light from one medium {into another the boundary conditions Wy = thy a2 Bay alla, ay ‘must be satisfied, independently of whether oF not the media have the same rightness. It follows from (12) that the x and y components of the fields E and H in the refracted ray maintain their directions, inde— eB, pender the 2 the tw This © medi not on the int pens Hon of change of the reflee ‘on the sn the must 1 is alw the tw usual has to of mec write Here refrac Fig nate ofFIG. 3. Passage of a ray through the boundary between two edie. 1 — Incident ray; 2 ~roflected ray; 3 — flected ray if the second medium is Ilt- handed 4 ~ ceracted ray the second rnedium is right-handed. AN, pendently of the rightnesses of the two media. As for the 2 component, it keeps the same direction only if the two media sro of the same rightness. If the right- nesses are different, the z components change sign. ‘This corresponds to the faet that in passage into a medium of different rightness the vectors E and H rot only change in magnitude owing to the difference im € and 1 bat also undergo a reflection relative to the interface of tae two media. The same thing hap- pens to the vector Ke also. ‘The simultancous reflec toa of all three vectors corresponds precisely to a ‘change of sign of the determinant G in (6). ‘The path of the zefracted ray produced as the result of such reflections is shown in Fig. 3. As we see, wien the second medium is left-handed the refracted ray lies ‘on the opposite eide of the 2 axis from its position in the case of a right-handed second mediun.'"! It ‘must be noted that the dizection of the reflected ray 4s always the same, independent of the rightnesses of the two media, It can be seen from Fig. 2 that the usual Snell's law sing as) as tobe given a more presse form ifthe righhesses arr Ee Strte the formula ts now ee tore py and pare the righinesses ofthe stand tecoed sea itis clear fom (2) tint he index of efraston of bvo media canbe negative ifthe gt as) FIG, 4. Passage f rays of light through «plate of thickness & inate ofa lefhanded substance, A ~ source of radiation; B ~ de tector of easton FIG. S. Pathe of rays theough lenses made of left-handed sub- tance, situated in vacuum. nesses of the media are different. In particular, the index of refraction of a left-handed medium relative to vacuum ia negative. Fresnel’s formulas are commonly used to find the amplitudes of the reflected and refracted light.) ‘These formulas involve the quantities ¢, 4, n, 9, ¥- In order not to make mistakes one must always use the absolute values of these quantities in Fresnel’s formulas, ‘An interesting case is that of a ray passing from a medium with €, > 0, 40 inlo one with € = by = =4;. In this case the ray undergoes refraction at the interface between the two media, but there is no reflected ray. The use of left-handed substances ‘would in principle allow the design of very unusual refracting eystems. An example of such a system 15 ‘a simple plate of thickness d made of a left-handed substance with a= 1 and situated in vacuum. It is shown in Fig. 4 that such a plate ean focus at a point the radiation from a point source located at a dis~ tance ! 0) there will be plasmas, both gaseous plasmas !) ang solid-state plasmas.("~) 1g a plasma with no mag~ netic field the value of € is given by = (as) where wf = 4xNe’/m, N being the concentration of the carriers, e their charge, and m their mass, and the summation is over all types of carriers. It is not hhard to see that at small frequencies « is smaller than zero. For € > 0 and 4> 0 the value of n¥ given by (8) ts negative, whch leads to reflection of waves: from such a medium. This fact is well confirmed by experiment, for example, in the ionosphere. ‘The thind and fourth quadrants in Fig, 7 are un— occupied. So far there is not a single substance known with 4 < 0. As we shall see in what follows, this is not accidental G. VESELAGO Let us now go on to anisotropic substances. In this cease the quantities ¢ and 4 are tensors, and we can- rot make use at once of a diagram like Fig. 7. Ia Some substances, however, we can do this for waves propagated in particular directions. Gyrotropie sub stances are especially interesting in this respect, For gyrotrople substances the tensors ¢yc and kik, are of the forms ( Irs 0) 7 4 fa ql ” 0 ) a My fh 0 was( im m0 as 00 ws A well known example of a gyrotropie substance is « plasma in & magnetic field, which is characterized bya tensor €jx of the form (17) and a sealar value of u. Ifa plane circularly polarized transverse wave of the form ellk2-wt) is propagated in such a plasma, with keitz1/ Hy, then n® is given by mtowe se) a9 ‘The sign + corresponds to the two directions of polarization of the wave. If || <|¢,| and «> 0, wo waves can be propagated in the plasma, but if leal> lei = —c, then only one wave is propagated, that for which n''> 0. In these cases the plasma must be placed in the first quadrant of Fig. 7 (j is of the order of 3). As for the second wave in the case | ¢| > || = ~cy, st cannot be propagated because for it © <0, which by (19) leads to an imaginary value of 1, In this case the plasma belongs in the second quadrant in Fig. 7, Another example of gyrotropic substances 18 various magnetic materials, in whieh, in contrast to the plasma, it is ¢ and not € that is a tensor. For these materials the analog of (19) 18 nt=e (us +) (20) Here also there can in principle be a situation in which |ip/ > [m:| = —m, and thie case corresponds to the fourth quadrant in Fig. 7 Quite recently there have begun to be intensive studies of gyrotropic substances in which both « and # are tensors.t!*“H) Eeamples of such substances are pure ferromagnetic metals and semiconductors. For such substances the index of refraction of a cireu- larly polarized wave travelling along the field is given by ted tw, and it 1s casy to see that in this case the effective electric and magnetic permeabilities can both be less than zero, while a? remains positive and the wave will be propagated.) Such substances occupy the third and last quadrant of Fig. 7. Accordingly we see ‘that we must look for substances with € < 0 and ey | eo sprot: Yor o longea certai Sand qualit wrist when seen 4 that w sorpti that ¢ there en a orc wis These can bold i quence clusi« subst from. purel class the = betwe Com! It fol field ting vic n kind rier thata 8, # ELECTRODYNAMICS OF SUBSTANCES WITH NEGATIVE ¢ AND « 519 <0 primarily among gyrotropic medie. Further- more it ig obvious thta negative values of € and yin gyrotroplc substances can be realized only for those ‘waves that are propagated along the magnetic field. For other directions of propagation ¢ and 4 can no longer be regarded as scalars. Nevertheless, for a certain range of angles between Hand k the vectors 8 and k will make an angle close to 180° and will qualitatively satisfy all of the laws which are charac~ teristic for left-handed substances. In concluding this section we note that simultane- ous negative values of ¢ and 4 can be realized only when there is frequeney dispersion. In fact, it can be ‘seen from the relation Wee pure 23, that when there is no frequency dispersion nor ab- sorption we cannot have € <0 and 4 <0, since in that case the total energy would be negative. When ‘there is frequency dispersion, however, the relation (22) must be replaced by wa 200) Be Hite 2) In order for the energy W given by (23) to be positive itis required that 200) 9, 20H so, 2 ‘These inequalities do not in general mean that ¢ and 4 cannot be simultaneously negative, but for them to hold it is necessary that ¢ and depend on the fre~ quency. It is appropriate to emphasize here that the con~ ‘clusion that there is a light attraction in left-handed substances, which was obtained at the end of Sec. III from quantum arguments, can also be obtained in @ purely classical way. To do this we must use the Classical expression for the momentum of the field petesik (ee Sir). a9 the relations (29) and (24), aad also the connection between the Poynting vector and the group velocity vg =Ow/2k, Sa Wve (26) Combining the expressions (28) —(20), we get pote, en = It follows from this that in left-handed substances the field momentam p is directed opposite to the Poya~ ting veetor 8. ‘V. GYROTROPIC SUBSTANCES POSSESSING PLASMA AND MAGNETIC PROPERTIES It is characteristic of gyrotropic media of this kkind that, first, they contain sufficiently mobile car— riers forming an electron-hole plasma, and, second, that there exists a system of interacting spins which provide a large magnetic susceptibility. This assures the simultaneous propagation of spin and plasma waves, and naturally there is an interaction between ‘them. If this interaction is strong enough, the waves propagated in such a substance are of a mixed, spin— plasma, character. In this case the values of € and 4 are of the following form (9). Laem : . 28) a. (29) Here w is the frequency, wf - 4xNe#/m is the square of the plasma frequency, N is the concentration and m the mass of the earriers; the summation Is taken over all types of carriers; = eBi/me, and B Ht Man aya BE ha Of Ho where Hy is the external field, Mg 1S the saturation ‘magnetization, A is the exchango-interaction con stant, my 1s the mass of the electron, and e is its charge. In") a graphical analysis has been made of Eq. (29), with © and 4 of the form (28); it was shown, that for certain relations between the parameters that appear in (28) it 1s possible to have wave propa gation with ¢ <0 and #< 0 in conducting ferromag- netic substances. As examples of such condueting ferromagnetic substances there are in the first place ferromagnetic metals, for example nickel. There is already & communication "*) on the observation of ‘coupled spin-plasma waves in this metal, but it is not clear just what were the values of « and 4 in this ‘ease, and in particular whether or not they were negative. As for semiconductors which have magnetic properties, several such compounds have recently been indicated," in particular CuFeS,, UTe, InSb-FeSb, and others. At present the mobility of the carriers in these materials is still very small, and does not allow the observation of weakly damped waves in them, Constant technological progress gives the hope, however, that such materials with good mobility will be produced, and then experiments with sub~ stances in which c and 4 are less than zero will surely become practicable. It must be noted that such, experiments with gyrotropie substances can confirm only sore of the properties of left-handed substances Which we have expounded. For example, it will be very difficult to make experiments on the refraction of waves, since for rays propagated in left-handed substances at an angle with the external magnetic field the relation (21) is no longer valid. AS has ready been stated, i will be approximately correct nly for small angles between the field and the vector and all experiments must be arranged so as not to go beyond such angles. In view of this difficulty, it would be very desirable to have an isotropic left~ handed substance. Unfortunately, as has already been sald, we do not Know of even a single substance which514 V. G. VESELAGO FIG. 8. Passage of «ray through a sphere with «< Oand y situated i vacuum, The source of radiction fo indicated with » heavy black pot could be isotropic and have 4 < 0. This is true be- cause the sources of magnetie field are not charges, but dipoles. If the magnetic field, like the electric field, could arise from charges, a gas of such charges would have a magnetic permeability given, in analogy with (16), by the formula wig (30) Here why = 1 ~ 4atigf/my, where N; is the concen- tation of the charges, gy is thotr magnitude, and my their mass. The hypothesis of the existence of auch charges was stated by Dirac as early as 1991 there have been many papers on the possible proper~ ties of this charge (the Dirac monopole), for example 4 review article," and also "2, $9 tar, however, attempts to observe it have given no result." the monopole were found, then a mixture of ordinary plasma and a gas of monopoles would have a value of 4 given by (30), and the 4 of the mixture would be siven by @y At sufficiently low frequencies such a mixture would be a left-handed isotropic substance. Let us imagine "that such a mixture uniformly fills a sufficientiy large spherical region in space, ‘and that outside this region there is vacaum. For simplicity suppose that inside the sphere wy = we ‘and that radiation 1s ineident from outside the sphere ‘ata froquency such that inside the sphere « =~ 1, ‘Then there will be no refraction of an incident ray at the points where it enters and leaves the sphere. At the same time there will be imparted to the sphere at each of these points @ momentum directed toward its center, as is shown In Fig. 8. If we imagine that the sphere is irradiated from all sides, then it will experience an isotropic compression. Accordingly, if Dirac monopoles were uniformly distributed in space together with an ionized gas, under the influ cence of radiation this mixture would be continuously concentrated in certain local regions, This argument {s of course very approximate, and does uot take into account many other factors, but it may possibly help to explain the lack of suecess in the experimental observation of Dirac monopoles Weve F V.G. Veselago, FTT 8, 3571 (1966), Soviet Phys. Solid State 8, 2853 (1967) 7A. V. Sokolov, Opticheskie svoistva metalloy (The Optical Properties of Metals), Moscow, Fizmat- Biz, 1951. *Y, B, Pafomov, JETP 36, 1853 (1959), Soviet Phys. JETP 9, 1323 (1959). ‘VM, Agranovich and V. L. Ginzburg, Kristal looptika © uchetom prostranstvennoi dispersii i ‘teoriya ksitonov (Spatial Dispersion Fifects in Crysial Opties and the Theory of Excitons), Moscow, Nauka, 1965. SL. 1, MandeVstam, JETP 16, 475 (1945) *V. 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