In this Letter, we demonstrate theoretically that electromagnetic waves can be “squeezed” and tunneled through very narrow channels filled with $\epsilon$-near-zero (ENZ) materials. We show that the incoming planar wave front is replicated at the output interface, independently of the specific geometry of the channel. A closed analytical formula is derived for the scattering parameters of a particular class of geometries. It is discussed that in some cases the isotropy of the ENZ material may not be an issue. A metamaterial realization of an anisotropic ENZ material is suggested and numerically studied.

In this work, we investigate the response of epsilon-near-zero metamaterials and plasmonic materials to electromagnetic source excitation. The use of these media for tailoring the phase of radiation pattern of arbitrary sources is proposed and analyzed numerically and analytically for some canonical geometries. In particular, the possibility of employing planar layers, cylindrical shells, or other more complex shapes made of such materials in order to isolate two regions of space and to tailor the phase pattern in one region, fairly independent of the excitation shape present in the other region, is demonstrated with theoretical arguments and some numerical examples. Physical insights into the phenomenon are also presented and discussed together with potential applications of the phenomenon.

Utilizing a microwave setup, we experimentally verify our recently developed theory of energy squeezing and tunneling [ Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 157403 (2006)] through an ultranarrow waveguide channel that mimics zero-permittivity properties. Exploiting the infinite phase velocity supported by a waveguide transition section at cutoff, we test our theory of tunneling in this zero-permittivity region without use of resonant inclusions. This “supercoupling” is shown to have unique anomalous properties: an almost uniform phase along the narrow channel and weak dependence over its geometry.

It is found that there exist composite media that exhibit strong spatial dispersion even in the very large wavelength limit. This follows from the study of lattices of ideally conducting parallel thin wires (wire media). In fact, our analysis reveals that the description of this medium by means of a local dispersive uniaxial dielectric tensor is not complete, leading to unphysical results for the propagation of electromagnetic waves at any frequencies. Since nonlocal constitutive relations have been usually considered in the past as a second-order approximation, meaningful in the short-wavelength limit, the aforementioned result presents a relevant theoretical interest. In addition, since such wire media have been recently used as a constituent of some discrete artificial media (or metamaterials), the reported results open the question of the relevance of the spatial dispersion in the characterization of these artificial media.

Plasmonic cloaking is a scattering-cancellation technique based on the local negative polarizability of metamaterials. Here we report its first experimental realization and measurement at microwave frequencies. An array of metallic fins embedded in a high-permittivity fluid has been used to create a metamaterial plasmonic shell capable of cloaking a dielectric cylinder, yielding over 75% reduction of total scattering width.

In this work, we investigate the detailed theory of the supercoupling, anomalous tunneling effect, and field confinement originally identified by Silveirinha and Engheta [Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 157403 (2006)], where we demonstrated the possibility of using materials with permittivity $\epsilon$ near zero to drastically improve the transmission of electromagnetic energy through a narrow irregular channel with very subwavelength transverse cross section. Here, we present additional physical insights, describe applications of the tunneling effect in relevant waveguide scenarios (e.g., the “perfect” or “super” waveguide coupling), and study the effect of metal losses in the metallic walls and the possibility of using near-zero $\epsilon$ materials to confine energy in a subwavelength cavity with gigantic field enhancement. In addition, we systematically study the propagation of electromagnetic waves through narrow channels filled with anisotropic near-zero $\epsilon$ materials. It is demonstrated that these materials may have interesting potentials, and that for some particular geometries, the reflectivity of the channel is independent of the specific dimensions or parameters of near-zero $\epsilon$ transition. We also describe several realistic metamaterial implementations of the studied problems, based on standard metallic waveguides, microstrip line configurations, and wire media.