Journal of Ovonic Research Vol. 6, No. 3, June 2010, p. 105 – 115 ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVE PROPAGATION THROUGH SINGLE NEGATIVE INDEX MATERIAL K. B. THAPA a* , A. VISHWAKARMA a , R. SINGH b , S. P. OJHA c a Department of Physics, University Institute of Engineering & Technology Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj University, Kanpur-208024(UP), India b Department of Physics, PPN College, Kanpur-208001(UP), India 3 Department of Applied Physics, Institute of Technology Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221005 (UP), India Due to the potential applications of a negative index material (NIM), the development of the NIM has been occurred at an outstanding place in optics. To understand the optical properties of the single NIM layer, we have studied the propagation of electromagnetic wave through a medium of single NIM layer which is sandwiched between two dielectric materials. By using simple translational matrix method, the optical properties of the structure have calculated in the effect of thickness and plasma frequency of the NIM layer. The zero-refractive index, transmittance and dispersion of the structure are controlled by the thickness and the separation between the electric and magnetic plasma frequencies of NIM layer. The study of the electromagnetic wave propagation through the single negative index material may help to study the unusual behavior of the periodic structure containing NIMs. The study reveals that the single NIM layer can be used to make controlled optical devices (like Omni-directional reflectors) by adjusting the separation between the electric and magnetic plasma frequencies as well as the thickness of the NIM. (Received Msay 20, 2010; accepted June 4, 2010) Keywords: Wave propagation, Negative index material, Electric permittivity, Magnetic permeability, Controlled optical devices 1. Introduction In 1967, Veselago [1-2], Russian physicist, first formally considered a negative index material (NIM) medium with simultaneously negative the electric permittivity and magnetic permeability at a certain frequency from a theoretical point of view, and concluded that the phase velocity and energy velocity of such media would point in opposite directions. The most fundamental optical effect of the negative refraction is that the bending of light occurs in negative direction when the light crosses the interface between two the materials [3-4]. The principle of negative refraction can be applied to all electromagnetic waves to study the wave propagation. According to Snell’s law when an electromagnetic waves traverse the interfaces from a refractive index to refractive index , the change in its trajectory can be determined from the ratio of refractive index . For the negative refractive index (NIM), the Snell’s law shows that the electromagnetic wave would refract in negative angle due to the value of the 1 n 2 n 1 2 n / n ε and μ is simultaneously negative i.e. εμ − = n . The numerous investigations have been carried out experimentally and theoretically studies of the NIMs [5-6]. The characters of novel types of micro-structured materials have been demonstrated the property of negative refraction for microwaves frequency range (1.0GHz- 10.0GHz) for the arrays of wires [7] and the split-ring resonators (SRRs) [8]. The electric field, * Corresponding author: khem.bhu@gmail.com