A copper negative index metamaterial in the visible/near-infrared

We propose a design for a plasmonic copper metamaterial with a negative index of refraction at visible/near-infrared wavelengths. Using numerical simulations, we demonstrate negative refraction by a copper metamaterial prism and perform a parameter extraction technique to verify the sign of the effective, electric permittivity and magnetic permeability. Our proposed design has a figure of merit comparable to similar silver-based metamaterials operating in the visible/near-infrared range. These findings have implications for the design of low cost plasmonic devices and negative-index metamaterials in the visible/near-infrared. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3654149]