DOUBLE SCREEN SYSTEM WITH CIRCULAR UNDER-CUTTOF HOLES AS QUASIOPTICAL POLARIZER

Abstract

The polarization plane rotation generally occurs in structures having optical activity, Faraday effect or in liquid crystals. Recently, investigations aimed at creation of artificial environments (metamaterials) with similar properties have been actively carried out. The paper shows that the double screen system with circular holes can rotate polarization plane of incident plane wave, if its periodic cells have the special spatial symmetry. Theoretical and experimental results for fishnet metamaterial based on it are presented. Explanation of the phenomenon is carried out using the method of generalized scattering matrices and taking into account characteristics of the eigenfield spatial distributions, which are specified by the screen system symmetry. It is shown that there are several spatial types of the eigenoscillations, which are responsible for polarization plane rotation under plane wave excitation. Numerical experiments show that the polarization plane rotation can be controlled by changing the structure of the periodic cell, and the polarization plane rotation through specified angles can be achieved even at small distances between screens.

Keywords

• chiral structure
• metamaterials
• polarization plane rotation