Physical nature of volume plasmon polaritons in hyperbolic metamaterials.

We investigate electromagnetic wave propagation in multilayered metal-dielectric hyperbolic metamaterials (HMMs). We demonstrate that high-k propagating waves in HMMs are volume plasmon polaritons. The volume plasmon polariton band is formed by coupling of short-range surface plasmon polariton excitations in the individual metal layers.

Dipole radiation near hyperbolic metamaterials: applicability of effective-medium approximation.

We investigate the radiation rate of a dipole in close proximity to a hyperbolic metamaterial and confirm that both the radiation rate and its fraction directed into the metamaterial are greatly increased compared to bulk dielectric or metal. However, we find that the homogenized effective-medium approach greatly overestimates the Purcell factor compared to metal-dielectric subwavelength multilayers with previously reported layer thicknesses.