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Solution Number: 895
Platform: All Platforms
Applies to: COMSOL Multiphysics, Electromagnetics Module, RF Module
Versions: 3.3, 3.4
Created: October 22, 2002
Last Modified: February 22, 2008
Categories: Boundary Conditions, Product Information, PDEs, ODEs, and other equations, Electromagnetics, Multiphysics
Keywords: left handed left-handed

Problem Description

Can COMSOL Multiphysics handle left-handed materials?

Solution

Introduction

Left-handed materials/media is an important topic in optics and electromagnetics. It is of great commercial interest in areas like cellular and wireless technology as well as photonics/optics. Here are some external links describing the field:

http://physics.ucsd.edu/lhmedia/whatis.html
http://physics.ucsd.edu/~drs

COMSOL Multiphysics and left-handed materials

COMSOL Multiphysics can model the effects caused by left-handed materials by introducing negative permittivity and negative permeability. The attached COMSOL Multiphysics model shows a waveguide excited at the left end and having a central region with μr = εr = -1. The energy (arrows) is flowing from left to right as expected but the phase (wave pattern) is doing something else. Click the picture to see an animation!

Click to see animation

Note that to prevent numerical instabilities, the example model avoids setting the exact same (but negative) material properties to the left-handed material as to the right-handed material. It is possible to bring the properties of the left-handed material closer to the negative of the right-handed material by using a finer mesh at the common boundaries.

COMSOL Multiphysics can also model the periodic structures used to achieve these properties.

 

Related Files

LH895.mph 273 KB
LH895_movie.avi 683 KB


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