Slow Electromagnetic Waves in a Left-Handed Medium Based on Magnetoactive Plasma Metamaterial

The spectrum of slow electromagnetic waves (EMWs) existing in a left-handed medium based on a magnetoactive plasma metamaterial has been theoretically studied. The metamaterial under study is a strip waveguide completely filled with longitudinally magnetized cold electron plasma containing a periodic structure made from ideally conducting split-ring resonators. It is shown that there exists either one (ordinary) or two (ordinary and extraordinary) slow EMWs in a left-handed medium based on anisotropic plasma, depending on the chosen values of the split-ring resonator eigenfrequency and magnetic induction. It is found that the extraordinary EMW has a negative dispersion, while the dispersion characteristic of the ordinary EMW contains portions of both negative and positive dispersion.