Photonic Metamaterials: Magnetism at Optical Frequencies

Photonic metamaterials are man-made materials with "lattice constants" smaller than the wavelength of light. Tailoring the properties of their functional building blocks (atoms) allows one to go beyond the possibilities of usual materials. For example, magnetic dipole moments at optical frequencies (mune1) become possible. This aspect substantially enriches the possibilities of optics and photonics and forms the basis for the so-called negative-index metamaterials. Here, we describe the underlying physics and review the recent progress in this rapidly emerging field