ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a review of the standard methods of determining permittivity and permeability, followed by a set of analogous arguments that show, intuitively, how negative permittivity and permeability may come about. Metamaterial research is a relatively new field, spanning just a few years, but already enjoys a great deal of attention in both the physics and engineering communities, which have slowly but largely come to accept their tremendous potential for application, particularly in the variety with a negative-refractive index. In 1999, John Pendry independently introduced the split-ring resonator, a resonant particle amounting, essentially, to Schelkunoff’s capacitively-loaded metallic loop. The properties of conventional materials are the macroscopic interpretation of field interactions at the atomic or molecular level. The familiar lumped-element model of the transmission line is determined by applying quasi-static field conditions to J. C. Maxwell Garnett’s Equations and obtaining the circuit equations; hence, the analogies between permeability, inductance, permittivity, and capacitance are easily drawn.
