Nonlinear transmission and solitons in left-handed metamaterials

This paper studies numerically, with the help of the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method, one-and two-dimensional wave transmission through a slab of the left-handed metamaterial assuming that it possesses a hysteresis nonlinear response. Two types of nonlinear effects associated with a change of the metamaterial properties are observed: nonlinearity-induced suppression of the wave transmission, and the nonlinearity-induced transmission and the generation of spatiotemporal electromagnetic solitons. In the later case, the nonlinearity-induced transmission of the slab for larger input powers is shown to take place for the slab, which is opaque and totally reflecting for low-amplitude wave scattering. In addition, in the case of the overcritical transmission, this study reveals that the spatiotemporal dynamics is characterized by the generation and propagation of spatiotemporal solitons.