The magnetic permeability in Fresnel's equation

Abstract

Magnetic permeabilities derived for infinite, periodic media are used in the Fresnel equation to calculate the reflection from corresponding semi-infinite media. By comparison to finite-difference-time-domain (FDTD) simulations, we find that the Fresnel equation gives accurate results for 2D metamaterials which mimic natural magnetism, in a frequency range where the magnetic moment density dominates the $\mathcal O(k^2)$ part of the total Landau--Lifshitz permittivity. For a 1D layered structure, or for large frequencies, the correspondence is poor. We also demonstrate that even if a medium is described accurately by a local permittivity and permeability, the Fresnel equation is not necessarily valid.