Negative electrical conductivity metamaterials and their properties

Abstract

The system of non-interacting electrically charged core-massless spring-shell mechanical units, demonstrating negative effective mass, is considered, seen as a Drude–Lorentz gas. When such an ideal gas is exposed to the external harmonic field, it demonstrates as the certain conditions the negative frequency-dependent electrical conductivity. The negative value of the electrical conductivity $\sigma$ implies that the electrical current will flow against the direction of the electric field and correspondingly the direction of the electrical force. Low- and high-frequency asymptotic behavior of the electrical conductivity is addressed. The same system demonstrates at low frequencies the negative asymptotic refraction. Experimental realization of the introduced model system, based on the exploitation of plasma oscillations of the free electron gas is suggested.