A highly symmetric two-handed metamaterial spontaneously matching the wave impedance Yi- Ju Chiang1 and Ta-Jen Yen1,2† 1 Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan, R.O.C. 2 Institute of NanoEngineering and MicroSystems, National Tsing Hua University, 101, Section 2, Kuang Fu Road, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan, R.O.C. † E-mail:
[email protected]; Tel: 886-3-5742174; Fax: 886-3-5722366 Abstract: We demonstrate a two-handed metamaterial (THM), composed of highly symmetric three-layered structures operated at normal incidence. Not only does the THM exhibit two distinct allowed bands with right- handed and left-handed electromagnetic responses, but posses a further advantage of being independent to the polarizations of external excitations. In addition, the THM automatically matches the wave impedance in free space, leading to maximum transmittances about 0.8 dB in the left-handed band and almost 0 dB in the right-handed band, respectively. Such a THM can be employed for diverse electromagnetic devices including dual-band bandpass filters, ultra-wide bandpass filters and superlenses. ©2008 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: (160.3918) Metamaterials; (350.3618) Left-handed materials; (260.5740) Resonance; (350.4010) Microwaves. References and links 1. J. D. Watson, and F. H. C. Crick, "Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids," Nature 171, 737-738 (1953). 2. A. H. J. Wang, G. J. Quigley, F. J. Kolpak, J. L. Crawford, J. H. Vanboom, G. Van der Marel, and A. Rich, "Molecular structure of a left-handed double helical DNA fragment at atomic resolution," Nature 282, 680- 686 (1979).