Superluminal group velocity in an anisotropic metamaterial

Abstract

Based on boundary condition and dispersion relation, the superluminal group velocity in an anisotropic metamaterial (AMM) is investigated. The superluminal propagation is induced by the hyperbolic dispersion relation associated with the AMM. It is shown that a modulated Gaussian beam exhibits a superluminal group velocity which depends on the choice of incident angles and optical axis angles. The superluminal propagation does not violate the theory of special relativity because the group velocity is the velocity of the peak of the localized wave packet which does not carry information. It is proposed that a triglycine sulfate (TGS) crystal can be designed and the superluminal group velocity can be measured experimentally.