Retrieval of Effective Parameters of Subwavelength Periodic Photonic Structures

We revisit the standard Nicolson–Ross–Weir method of effective permittivity and permeability restoration of photonic structures for the case of subwavelength metal-dielectric multilayers. We show that the direct application of the standard method yields a false zero-epsilon point and an associated spurious permeability resonance. We show how this artifact can be worked around by the use of the cycle shift operator to the periodic multilayer in question.