Negative refraction in three-dimensional point-dipolelike polaritonic crystals

We propose two practical realizations of the point-dipole crystal, shown previously to be capable of negative refraction and other metamaterial and plasmonic properties. These are: an array of highly polarizable spheres, and the complementary array of spherical cavities in a highly polarizable medium. We study light propagation through these polaritonic crystals and show that they are capable of negative refraction, and can be constructed from available materials for experimental demonstrations at both microwave and optical frequencies. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3500323