Bloch-mode analysis for retrieving effective parameters of metamaterials

We introduce a new approach for retrieving effective parameters of metamaterials based on the Bloch-mode analysis of quasi-periodic composite structures. We demonstrate that, in the case of single-mode propagation, a complex effective refractive index can be assigned to the structure, being restored by our method with a high accuracy. We employ both surface and volume averaging of the electromagnetic fields of the dominating (fundamental) Bloch modes to determine the Bloch and wave impedances, respectively. We discuss how this method works for several characteristic examples, and demonstrate that this approach can be useful for retrieval of both material and wave effective parameters of a broad range of metamaterials.