Anomalous dispersion and group velocity properties in subwavelength uniaxial metamaterial waveguide with metal cladding

We investigate propagation behavior of electromagnetic waves in a slab uniaxial metamaterial waveguide with metal cladding and discuss the dispersion relation, group velocity and energy flux distribution of transverse electric guided modes in two kinds of uniaxial metamaterial waveguides with different orientations of optical axis in detail. The numerical results show that there exist anomalous dispersion properties such as backward modes existing in low-frequency range, and the group velocity can be negative or approach zero. If the orientation of optical axis is selected properly, each guided mode has two dispersion curves—one is normal dispersion and another belongs to anomalous dispersion and shows a transition from a backward mode to a forward one with the angular frequency increasing. In addition, the condition of the existence of cutoff frequency is clarified. These properties may have potential applications in optical information storage, optical communication, integrated optics and nanophotonic devices.