Phase and group velocities of surface waves in left-handed material waveguide structures

We assume a three-layer waveguide structure consisting of a dielectric core layer embedded between two left-handed material claddings. The phase and group velocities of surface waves supported by the waveguide structure are investigated. Many interesting features were observed such as normal dispersion behavior in which the effective index increases with the increase in the propagating wave frequency. The phase velocity shows a strong dependence on the wave frequency and decreases with increasing the frequency. It can be enhanced with the increase in the guiding layer thickness. The group velocity peaks at some value of the normalized frequency and then decays.