Nonlinear Surface Waves in Left-handed Materials

Abstract

Linear and nonlinear surface waves localized at the interface separating a left-handed (LH) medium and a conventional right-handed (RH) dielectric medium were studied. The intensity-dependent properties of nonlinear surface waves in three different cases, i.e., when both the LH and RH media are nonlinear and when either of the media is nonlinear, were also discussed. The possibility of tuning the wave group velocity in both the linear and nonlinear cases was described. The results show that the group-velocity dispersion can be balanced by the nonlinearity of the media, which results in soliton propagation.