Top-down, decoupled control of constitutive parameters in electromagnetic metamaterials with dielectric resonators of internal anisotropy

A meta-atom platform providing decoupled tuning for the constitutive wave parameters remains as a challenging problem, since the proposition of Pendry. Here we propose an electromagnetic meta-atom design of internal anisotropy (ε(r) ≠ ε(θ)), as a pathway for decoupling of the effective- permittivity ε(eff) and permeability μ(eff). Deriving effective parameters for anisotropic meta-atom from the first principles, and then subsequent inverse-solving the obtained decoupled solution for a target set of ε(eff) and μ(eff), we also achieve an analytic, top-down determination for the internal structure of a meta-atom. To realize the anisotropy from isotropic materials, a particle of spatial permittivity modulation in r or θ direction is proposed. As an application example, a matched zero index dielectric meta-atom is demonstrated, to enable the super-funneling of a 50λ-wide flux through a sub-λ slit; unharnessing the flux collection limit dictated by the λ-zone.