Effects of Loss Factor on Plane Wave Propagation through a Left-Handed Material Slab

This article presents a theoretical and numerical discussion of the reflection and transmission analysis through a lossy left-handed material slab embedded between two semi-infinite dielectric media. The properties of the lossy left-handed material are given in detail and the required equations for the electromagnetic plane wave propagation are derived to solve the problem. The main important contribution of this article is the characterization of left-handed material that is different from its counterpart known in the literature. After introducing the left-handed material slab, the analytical solution is found for the powers carried by an electromagnetic wave. Then, the reflected, the transmitted, and the loss power are computed in terms of the incidence angle, the frequency, and the slab thickness in the numerical results with the emphasis on the loss factor.