Anisotropy and particle-size effects in nanostructured plasmonic metamaterials

We study the optical properties of metamaterials formed by layers of metallic nanoparticles. The effective optical constants of these materials are retrieved from the calculated angle-dependent Fresnel reflection coefficients for s and p incident-light polarization. We investigate the degree of anisotropy in the effective permittivity as a function of inter-layer spacing, particle size, filling fraction of the metal, and particle shape. For layers of spherical particles periodically arranged in a hexagonal lattice, the anisotropy disappears for the three inter-layer spacings corresponding to simple cubic (sc), bcc, and fcc volume symmetry. For non-spherical particles, an isotropic response can be still obtained with other values of the inter-layer spacing. Finally, we provide a quantitative answer to the question of how many layers are needed to form an effectively homogeneous metamaterial slab. Surprisingly, only one layer can be enough, except in the spectral range close to the particle plasmon resonances. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America