Effective permittivity near zero in nanolaminates of silver and amorphous polycarbonate

Experiments were conducted to demonstrate a material with epsilon near zero (ENZ). Dimensions estimated by effective medium theory guided the fabrication of nanolaminate composites of silver and amorphous polycarbonate. This approach ensures that the ordinary component (not the extraordinary component) of the relative permittivity of a uniaxial material equals zero. The nanolaminates were characterized for optical properties using spectroscopic ellipsometry, reflectance, and transmittance. Simulations using both, a new scattering retrieval method, and an effective-medium approximation (EMA) were compared to the experimental results. These results indicate that nanolaminates should enable further exploration into the new optical phenomena predicted for ENZ materials.