In search of the elusive lossless metal

We show that when one looks beyond the Drude model of metal conductivity, the metals that may be extremely lossy for low frequency electromagnetic waves can become perfectly lossless in the mid-IR region or higher, while retaining the essential metallic characteristic of negative permittivity even at those frequencies. We identify that the transition to the lossless regime occurs when the interatomic distances in the lattice exceed certain values, typically a factor of two larger than those occurring in nature. We believe that advances in nanoassembly may render lossless metals feasible with revolutionary implications for the fields of plasmonics and metamaterials. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3425890]