ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a connection, the relationship between optics and general relativity, or, expressed more precisely, between geometrical ideas normally applied in general relativity and the propagation of light, or electromagnetic waves in general, in materials. Metamaterials are materials with electromagnetic properties that originate from human-made subwavelength structures. Metamaterials per se are nothing new: what is new is the degree of control over the structures in the material that generate the desired properties. Media, possibly made of metamaterials, are designed such that they appear to perform a coordinate transformation from physical space to some virtual electromagnetic space. The chapter deals with a brief look at Fermat’s principle and the concept of transformation optics. It also discusses a theory that perhaps plays a similar role to that played by complex analysis in optical conformal mapping. The chapter describes the reader with calculational shortcuts and geometrical insights.
