Theory of fishnet negative-index optical metamaterials

We theoretically study fishnet metamaterials at optical frequencies. In contrast with earlier works, we provide a microscopic description by tracking the transversal and longitudinal flows of energy through the fishnet mesh composed of intersecting subwavelength plasmonic waveguides. The analysis is supported by a semianalytical model based on surface-plasmon coupled-mode equations, which provides accurate formulas for the fishnet refractive index, including the real-negative and imaginary parts. The model simply explains how the surface plasmons couple at the waveguide intersections, and it shines new light on the fishnet negative-index paradigm at optical frequencies. Extension of the theory for loss-compensated metamaterials with gain media is also presented.