Semi-analytic impedance modeling of three-dimensional photonic and metamaterial structures

We define the concept of an impedance matrix for three-dimensional (3D) photonic and metamaterial structures relative to a reference medium and show that it satisfies a matrix generalization of the basic algebraic properties of the wave impedance between homogeneous media. This definition of the impedance matrix is motivated by the structure of the Fresnel reflection and transmission matrices at the interface between the media. In the derivation of the Fresnel scattering matrices, the field in each medium is expressed by a Bloch mode expansion, with field matching at the interface being undertaken in a least-squares manner by exploiting a biorthogonality relation between primal and adjoint Bloch modes. A semi-analytic technique, based on the impedance matrix, is developed for modeling the scattering of light by 3D periodic photonic and metamaterial structures. The advantages (in design and intuition) of the formalism are demonstrated through two applications. © 2013 Optical Society of America