Phonon-like dispersion curves of magnetoinductive waves

The dispersion characteristics of magnetoinductive (MI) waves for a one-dimensional array of metamaterial elements are investigated for the case where the element properties vary in a bi-periodic manner. It is shown that, by this means (analogously to acoustic waves in a solid), a variety of dispersion curves can be obtained including those displaying an optical branch. The flexibility of the metamaterial design makes it possible to apply this approach for obtaining specified dispersion properties. A design permitting parametric amplification is proposed. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.