Tunable optical negative-index metamaterials employing anisotropic liquid crystals

A full-wave analysis technique based on the finite element-boundary integral method is developed and used to rigorously treat the scattering from periodically structured metamaterials incorporating anisotropic liquid crystals (LCs) and dispersive materials. Reconfiguration of the negative-index metamaterials is achieved by controlling the magnetic resonance via tuning permittivity of the embedded anisotropic LCs. Numerical results show that the refractive index of the metamaterials can be reconfigured by tuning the director orientation of anisotropic LCs or by using temperature-dependent LCs. The design configurations and their characteristics in the near- and the mid-infrared ranges are presented. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.