Advances in Photonic and Microwave Technologies Based on Negative Phase Velocity Materials, and Related Topics - A Qualitative Bibliographic Review for the Year 2006: Part II

A negative phase velocity means that the phase of a wave advancing through the medium is negative rather than positive, which is usually the case. This fundamental reversal of propagation contains important implications related to all electromagnetic phenomena. [See for example, Victor Veselago, "The electrodynamics of substances with simultaneously negative values of ε and μ" Sov. Phys. Usp. 10 (1968) 509–514]. These materials result in modified Snell's law of refraction, and thus show many startling properties e.g. Refraction of light on the same side of the normal entering the material; Reversal of Doppler shift; Cerenkov radiation pointing the other way; and the time-averaged Poynting vector being antiparellel to phase velocity. Demonstration of the use of negative refractive materials (NRMs) for making perfect lenses with resolution capabilities not limited by the conventional diffraction limit has given an enormous impetus to the interest in NRMs. Considerable interest has been shown in using sub-wavelength structures to develop materials that qualitatively have new response functions that do not occur in nature. A very brief introduction of negative refraction covering its hypothesis, research, relevant materials and their preparation, and pertinent devices has been given. As these materials are becoming increasingly important for various studies in the fields of ‘Photonics and Microwave Technologies’, a qualitative bibliographic review of the investigations in these fields for the year 2006, has been presented in this paper. The books have been marked by an asterisk (*). No claim is made as to the completeness of the bibliography. However, an attempt has been made to include as many references as possible.