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METAMATERIALS
METAMATERIALS
Technology and Applications
Edited by Pankaj K. Choudhury

MATLAB® is a trademark of The MathWorks, Inc. and is used with permission. The
MathWorks does not warrant the accuracy of the text or exercises in this book. This book’s
use or discussion of MATLAB® software or related products does not constitute
endorsement or sponsorship by The MathWorks of a particular pedagogical approach or
particular use of the MATLAB® software.
First edition published 2022
by CRC Press
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and by CRC Press
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© 2022 selection and editorial matter, Pankaj K. Choudhury; individual chapters, the
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sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Choudhury, P. K., editor.
Title: Metamaterials : technology and applications / edited by Pankaj K. Choudhury.
Other titles: Metamaterials (CRC Press)
Description: First edition. | Boca Raton : CRC Press, 2022. |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Summary: “This book is comprised of chapters on the topics pivoted to metamaterials, i.e.,
the artificially engineered mediums/structures, of micro- and nano-scale sizes. These will
include novel applications of metamaterials in sensors, solar-cell designs, diffractive lenses,
perfect absorbers, phase-shifters, THz imaging, antennas, etc” ‐‐ Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021021776 (print) | LCCN 2021021777 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780367505080 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367505110 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003050162 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Metamaterials. Classification: LCC
TK7871.15.M48 M46 2022 (print) | LCC TK7871.15.M48 (ebook) | DDC 620.1/1‐‐dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021021776
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021021777
ISBN: 978-0-367-50508-0 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-367-50511-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-05016-2 (ebk)
DOI: 10.1201/9781003050162
Typeset in Times
by MPS Limited, Dehradun
Dedication
Dedicated to
All lives to the COVID-19 pandemic
&
Those who strive for peace
Contents
Preface...................................................................................................................... xv
Editor.......................................................................................................................xix
Chapter 1 Progress in Metamaterial and Metasurface Technology and

Applications........................................................................................ 1
Subal Kar
1.1 Introduction ............................................................................... 1
1.2 Development of Metamaterial Technology – From
Inception to Recent Times .......................................................5
1.2.1 Microwave to Infrared Metamaterial.......................... 6
1.2.2 Optical Metamaterial................................................... 8
1.2.3 3D Metamaterial.......................................................... 9
1.2.4 All-dielectric Metamaterial ......................................... 9
1.3 Application Scenario of Metamaterials..................................11
1.4 Metasurfaces and Application Potentials ...............................18
1.4.1 Applications of Metasurfaces.................................... 20
1.4.1.1 Absorbers ...................................................20
1.4.1.2 Transformation Optics Applications .........21
1.4.1.3 Metasurface in Antenna Design ................23
1.4.1.4 Lasing Spaser .............................................23
1.4.1.5 Some More Applications of
Metasurface ................................................25
1.5 Conclusion ..............................................................................25
References..........................................................................................26
Chapter 2 Review of Effective Medium Theory and Parametric Retrieval

Techniques of Metamaterials .........................................................31
Raktim Guha and B.N. Basu
2.1 Introduction .............................................................................31
2.2 Effective Medium Theory ......................................................32
2.3 Electromagnetic Analysis of Parameter Retrieval
Techniques ..............................................................................36
2.3.1 S-parameter Retrieval Techniques ............................ 37
2.3.2 Miscellaneous Parameter Retrieval
Techniques................................................................. 44
2.3.3 Parameter Retrieval of Some Special Type
MTMS........................................................................ 48
vii
viii Contents
2.3.4 Simulation and Experimental Validation of

the Retrieval Techniques........................................... 53
2.4 Summary and Conclusion ......................................................55
References..........................................................................................56
Chapter 3 Engineered Metamaterials through the Material-by-Design

Approach ..........................................................................................61
G. Oliveri, M. Salucci, M. A. Hannan, A. Monti, S. Vellucci,
F. Bilotti, A. Toscano, and A. Massa
3.1 Introduction and Rationale .....................................................61
3.2 The MbD Paradigm: Concept and Features ..........................63
3.2.1 The MbD Synthesis Loop......................................... 63
3.2.2 The MbD Functional Blocks – Objectives and
Examples.................................................................... 64
3.3 MbD at Work in Metamaterial-based Sensing and
Communication Applications .................................................66
3.3.1 Customization of MbD in Applicative
Scenarios.................................................................... 66
3.3.2 MbD‐designed Metamaterials for Wide‐angle
Impedance Matching Layers..................................... 67
3.3.3 Phased Array Enhancement through
Metamaterial Lenses and MbD................................. 71
3.3.4 Wave Manipulation MTM Devices Based on
MbD........................................................................... 75
3.4 Final Remarks, Current Trends and Future
Perspectives.............................................................................78
Acknowledgments..............................................................................79
References..........................................................................................79
Chapter 4 Tunable Metamaterials ...................................................................83

Ke Bi and Jianchun Xu
4.1 Introduction .............................................................................83
4.2 Magnetically Tunable Dielectric Metamaterials....................84
4.2.1 Ferrite/Wire Composite Structure............................. 84
4.2.2 Structure of Ferrite Metamaterial Filter ................... 85
4.2.3 Ferrite/Dielectric Composite Structure ..................... 87
4.3 Electrically Tunable Dielectric Metamaterials.......................89
4.3.1 Graphene.................................................................... 89
4.3.2 Varactor Diode .......................................................... 92
4.3.3 Liquid Crystal............................................................ 93
4.4 Thermally Tunable Dielectric Metamaterials ........................95
4.4.1 Vanadium Dioxide .................................................... 95
4.4.2 Indium Antimonide ................................................... 97
4.4.3 Strontium Titanate..................................................... 99
Contents ix
4.5 Flexible Metamaterials .........................................................101

4.5.1 Polyimide................................................................. 101
4.5.2 Ecoflex ..................................................................... 102
4.5.3 Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)................................ 104
4.5.4 Paper ........................................................................ 107
4.6 Conclusions ........................................................................... 109
Acknowledgments............................................................................ 109
References........................................................................................110
Chapter 5 Metamaterials-based Near-perfect Absorbers in the Visible

and Infrared Range.......................................................................117
Kyungnam Kang, Seongmin Im, and Donghyun Kim
5.1 Introduction ........................................................................... 117
5.2 Principles of Near-perfect Absorption Using MTMs..........118
5.2.1 Theoretical Backgrounds......................................... 118
5.2.2 Bandwidth................................................................ 122
5.3 Performance of Various MTMs for Near-perfect
Absorption.............................................................................124
5.3.1 Metallic Periodic Arrays ......................................... 124
5.3.2 Stacked Structure..................................................... 126
5.3.3 Resonators................................................................ 127
5.3.4 Nanocomposites....................................................... 129
5.3.5 Dielectrics ................................................................ 130
5.4 Applications of Near-perfect Absorption in the Visible
and Infrared Range ............................................................... 132
5.4.1 Sensing..................................................................... 133
5.4.2 Solar Cells ............................................................... 133
5.4.3 Light-emitting Diodes ............................................. 136
5.4.4 Other Applications .................................................. 136
5.5 Concluding Remarks ............................................................139
References........................................................................................139
Chapter 6 Advances in Metamaterials in Conventional Low-frequency

Perfect Absorbers: A Brief Review.............................................149
Bui Xuan Khuyen, Bui Son Tung, Nguyen Thanh Tung,
Vu Dinh Lam, Liang Yao Chen, and YoungPak Lee
6.1 Introduction ........................................................................... 149
6.2 Scaling Down of the Size of LFMAs by Optimizing
Structures ..............................................................................150
6.3 Fabrication of LFMAs, Allowing More
Functionalities .......................................................................151
6.4 Miniaturization of LFMAs Based on Integrated Parasitic
Elements................................................................................156
6.5 EM Behavior in Conventional LFMAs ...............................157
x Contents
6.6 Conclusions and Perspective ................................................162

References........................................................................................163
Chapter 7 Photonic Metamaterials ................................................................ 169

Tatjana Gric
7.1 Introduction ........................................................................... 169
7.2 Metamaterial Heterostructures..............................................172
7.2.1 Dipersion Properties ................................................ 176
7.3 Non-Local Response of Metamaterials................................179
7.3.1 Nanowires ................................................................ 179
7.3.1.1 Local EMT ...............................................180
7.3.1.2 Non-local EMT ........................................180
7.3.2 Nanostructures ......................................................... 182
7.3.2.1 Dispersion and Effective Material
Parameters ................................................184
7.3.2.2 Surface Plasmon Polariton Supported
by the Nanostructured Metamaterial .......185
7.4 Tunable THz Structure Based on Graphene HMMS ..........186
7.5 Conclusions ........................................................................... 193
References........................................................................................194
Chapter 8 Active Hyperbolic Metamaterials and Their Applications:

From Visible to Terahertz Frequencies......................................199
Kandammathe Valiyaveedu Sreekanth and Ranjan Singh
8.1 Introduction ........................................................................... 199
8.2 Physics of Multilayered Hyperbolic Metamaterials ............200
8.3 Active Hyperbolic Metamaterials ........................................204
8.3.1 Visible to Near-infrared Spectral Band .................. 204
8.3.1.1 Chalcogenide Phase Change
Material-based Active HMMs .................204
8.3.2 Mid-infrared to THz Spectral Band........................ 208
8.3.2.1 Graphene-based Active HMMs ...............208
8.3.2.2 Topological Insulator-based Active
HMMs ...................................................... 210
8.3.2.3 Superconductor-based Active HMMs .....212
8.3.3 Applications of Active HMMs ............................... 213
8.3.3.1 Reconfigurable Sensing ..........................213
8.3.3.2 Supercollimation of Light........................ 215
8.3.3.3 THz Modulator.........................................218
8.4 Summary and outlook ..........................................................221
References........................................................................................223
Contents xi
Chapter 9 Graphene-supported Nanoengineered Metamaterials –

A Mini Review ...............................................................................227
P. K. Choudhury
9.1 Introduction ........................................................................... 227
9.2 Fundamental Properties of Graphene...................................228
9.3 Wideband THz Filtering.......................................................231
9.4 Optical Filter ......................................................................... 235
9.5 Plasmon-Induced Transparency in Graphene-based
Metamaterials........................................................................238
9.6 Graphene-based Absorber ....................................................240
9.6.1 Coned-graphene Metasurface Design ..................... 242
9.6.2 Graphene-Embedded Phase Change Mediums as
Absorbers................................................................. 247
9.7 Use of Graphene in Sensing ................................................251
9.8 Slow-Light Structures and Mode Filtering ..........................254
9.9 Conclusion ............................................................................257
References........................................................................................257
Chapter 10 Asymmetric Split-H Based Metasurfaces for Identification of

Organic Molecules .........................................................................269
Ili F. Mohamad Ali Nasri, Ifeoma G. Mbomson, Marc Sorel,
Nigel P. Johnson, Caroline Gauchotte-Lindsay and
Richard M. De La Rue
10.1 Introduction ......................................................................... 269
10.2 The Asymmetric Split-H Structure ....................................270
10.3 Numerical Modeling and Nanofabrication ........................ 271
10.3.1 Numerical Modeling............................................ 271
10.3.2 Nanofabrication on Fused Silica and
Zinc Selenide Substrates ..................................... 275
10.4 Results and Discussion .......................................................275
10.4.1 Impact of Horizontal and Vertical Spacing of
the Periodic Arrangement and Varying Gap of
ASH Arrays ......................................................... 275
10.4.2 Effect of Different Substrates ............................. 277
10.4.3 Variation of the ASH Arm-length on ZnSe
Substrate .............................................................. 279
10.5 Sensing Techniques ............................................................282
10.6 Conclusions and Future Work............................................ 284
Acknowledgment .............................................................................285
References........................................................................................285
xii Contents
Chapter 11 Acoustic Spoof Surface Waves Control in Corrugated

Surfaces and Their Applications .................................................289
Norbert Cselyuszka, Nikolina Jankovic, Andrea Alu,
Vesna Bengin
11.1 Introduction ......................................................................... 289
11.2 Theoretical Background...................................................... 290
11.3 Applications ........................................................................293
11.3.1 Slowing Down Acoustic Surface Waves on a
Grooved Surface.................................................. 293
11.3.2 Extraordinary Transmission Assisted by Acoustic
Surface Waves..................................................... 295
11.3.3 Acoustic Surface Wave Controlled by
Temperature......................................................... 296
11.3.4 Slowing Down Acoustic Surface Waves by
Applying Temperature Gradient along the
Wave Propagation/Spatial Spectral
Separation ............................................................ 298
11.3.5 Temperature-controlled Tunable Gradient
Refractive Index(GRIN) Acoustic Medium ....... 299
11.3.6 Gas Sensing with ASSW/acoustic
Mach-Zehnder Interferometer ............................. 302
11.3.7 Spoof-fluid-spoof Acoustic Waveguide and
Its Applications for Sound Manipulation ........... 305
11.4 Conclusion .......................................................................... 308
References........................................................................................309
Chapter 12 The Principle of Miniaturization of Microwave Patch

Antennas .........................................................................................313
Oleg Rybin
12.1 Introduction ......................................................................... 313
12.2 2D Model of a Rectangular Patch Antenna with
One-Layer Wire Composite/Metamaterial Substrate.........315
12.2.1 Standard Design .................................................. 315
12.2.2 Miniaturized Design ............................................ 324
12.2.3 Miniaturization Concept for Antenna with
One-layer Wire Composite/metamaterial
Substrate .............................................................. 326
12.3 Far Field Focusing for Rectangular Patch Antennas
with Composite/metamaterial Substrates ...........................331
12.3.1 Fabry-Perot Approach for a Patch Antenna
with Superstrate................................................... 331
Contents xiii
12.3.2 Main Relations for Evaluating the Performance

of Patch Antenna with Metamaterial Substrate
and Ferrite Superstrate ........................................ 334
12.4 2D Model of Rectangular Patch Antenna with
Two-Layer Wire Composite/Metamaterial Substrate ........338
12.4.1 The Main Analytical Relations........................... 338
12.5 Conclusion .......................................................................... 347
References........................................................................................347
Chapter 13 Review of Metamaterial-assisted Vacuum Electron

Devices ............................................................................................351
Raktim Guha, Xin Wang, Amit K. Varshney, Zhaoyun Duan,
Michael A. Shapiro, and B. N. Basu
13.1 Introduction ......................................................................... 351
13.2 MTM Effective Medium ....................................................353
13.3 MTM-assisted Interaction Structures of Microwave
VEDs Analyzed Only by Theory and/or
Simulation ........................................................................... 354
13.3.1 MTM-assisted Interaction Structures for
Microwave Amplifiers......................................... 354
13.3.1.1 Traveling-wave amplifiers .................354
13.3.1.2 Resistive-wall amplifiers....................357
13.3.1.3 Klystron amplifiers.............................359
13.3.2 MTM-assisted Interaction Structures for
Microwave Oscillators ........................................ 360
13.3.2.1 Backward-wave oscillators ................360
13.3.2.2 Extended Interaction
Oscillators........................................... 365
13.3.3 Cherenkov Radiation Sources............................. 365
13.4 MTM-Assisted VEDs as Microwave Sources –
Fabrication and Experimental Characterization.................368
13.4.1 Backward-wave Oscillators................................. 368
13.4.2 Cherenkov Radiation Sources............................. 369
13.5 MTM-Assisted Cross-Field VEDs .....................................372
13.5.1 Magnetron............................................................ 372
13.5.2 Gyrotron............................................................... 373
13.6 Challenging Aspects and Future Scope of
MTM-assisted VEDs ..........................................................374
13.7 Summary and Conclusion ..................................................375
References........................................................................................376
Index......................................................................................................................383
Preface
Metamaterials have been in the research limelight for the past few years due to their
exotic electromagnetic characteristics. These artificial structures are designed to achieve
electromagnetic properties that do not occur in nature, and they are able to exhibit
unique responses to incidence excitation. Their unusual features enable them to be used
in a variety of technological applications, such as antennas, filters, absorbers, sensors,
energy harvesters, cloaks and many others.
A meta-atom is the basic building block of a metasurface, which is usually a resonator
comprising either plasmonic or dielectric materials. With this viewpoint, the role of
engineered mediums remains greatly important due to the possibility of on-demand
tailoring of the electromagnetic response. The propagation of surface electromagnetic
waves at the interface of specially designed mediums has been widely investigated as
many new forms of miniaturized devices can be used for novel applications.
This book emphasizes the fundamentals of metamaterials, describing the development
of the field and the underlying theories, followed by the relevant advancements in the
research arena. The authors, who are from different countries, contributed their recent
research results, pivoted to metamaterial designs and experiments in fields ranging from
optical materials, to antennas, to even microwave tubes. This illustrates the phenomenal
growth of interest among R&D scientists focusing on engineered metamaterial
technology-oriented applications. Both theoretical and experimental investigations are
discussed, so the book can benefit expert scientists in universities and research labor-
atories as well as novice researchers, such as graduate students, to frame their own
research topics/ideas and objectives.
This book comprises 13 chapters written by scientists from various countries. In
Chapter 1, Subal Kar discusses a comprehensive roadmap of the progress of
metamaterial and metasurface technology, as well as application viewpoints from
its inception to recent times. The analytical treatment of metamaterials involves the
homogenization process of a medium, which makes it essential to use effective
medium theory. In Chapter 2, Guha and Basu present a review of effective medium
theory and electromagnetic analysis of parameter retrieval techniques in the context
of metamaterials. Their report incorporates simulation and experimental validations
of retrieval techniques, as used in the case of metamaterial unit cells.
Achieving high-performance metamaterials at the device level requires fine
adjustments of the constituting engineered meta-atoms at the micro/nano scale. This
often results in unfeasible design processes owing to costs, complexity and time
constraints. G. Oliveri et al., in Chapter 3, review the recent advances in Material-
by-Design technology, with specific attention to applicative scenarios emerging in
communications and sensing. Chapter 4 focuses on tunable metamaterials. Ke Bi
summarizes tuning methods for magnetically tunable, electrically tunable, thermally
tunable and flexible metamaterials, emphasizing recent developments and
technological potentials.
In Chapter 5, Kang et al. touch upon absorber applications of metamaterials in
optical spans in the electromagnetic spectrum. In particular, the authors review
xv
xvi Preface
theoretical background and strategies to achieve metamaterial-based near-perfect

absorbers in the visible and infrared regimes, which can be harnessed for sensing,
imaging, photo-detection and solar cell applications. In line with this, the theme of
Chapter 6 is the use of metamaterials in designing low-frequency perfect absorbers.
Khuyen et al. present a brief introduction of the operational progress of perfect
absorbers as well as underlaying challenges and tendencies for the future
development of low-frequency metamaterial-based perfect absorbers.
Tatjana Gric discusses the plasmonic properties of photonic metamaterials in
Chapter 7 The author touches upon a few different forms of metamaterials
comprising layered composites formed by dielectric mediums and graphene as
well as their underlying physical mechanisms. In addition, the study incorporates a
description of hyperbolic metamaterials, and the investigation demonstrates an
application of studying cancer. In Chapter 8, Sreekanth and Singh report on tuning
optical responses exhibited by specially designed hyperbolic metamaterials from the
visible to terahertz frequencies by incorporating suitable functional materials within
the multilayered structure. Also, the authors emphasize potential applications of
active hyperbolic metamaterials in photonics and biomedical research.
Graphene has been greatly researched, and it remains extremely important in
constructing tunable electronic and/or optical components. The amalgamation of
graphene in designing metamaterials has led to a variety of technologically prudent
nanoengineered mediums. Keeping this in mind, in Chapter 9, P.K. Choudhury explains
the fundamentals of graphene and reviews the spectral features of a few types of
graphene-supported metamaterial configurations that can be used for filters, absorbers
and sensors. In Chapter 10, Nasri et al. discuss the use of specially designed asymmetric
H-shaped metamaterials in sensing different estrogenic hormones, for example, 17β-
estradiol (E2) – the most potent estrogen. The authors address the use of aptamers in the
experimental study of various estrogenic molecules via metamaterials-based plasmonic
sensing.
Cselyuszka et al., in Chapter 11, report detailed insight into acoustic surface
wave propagation at the boundary between fluid and hard-grooved surfaces. Within
the context, the authors provide the theoretical background and analyses of spoof
acoustic surface wave propagation as well as control and manipulation. Also, they
touch upon the applications in sound trapping, collimation of sound, gas sensing
and acoustic lensing.
In Chapter 12, Oleg Rybin talks about the principle of miniaturization of
microwave patch antennas in achieving improved performance. The author presents
the importance of substrate in enhancing the constitutive properties. The chapter
reports that the use of larger number of layers yields better improvements with
respect to power gain and efficiency of the antenna. The author shows that replacing
a high dielectric substrate with metamaterial having the same values of effective
relative permittivity/permeability enables one to create compact multi-band and
multi-directional patch antennas.
Chapter 13 discusses the importance of metamaterials in constructing vacuum
electron devices. Guha et al. review attempts made to improve the performance of
conventional vacuum electron devices using various metamaterials. In the chapter, the
authors analyze the effect of metamaterial assistance considering negative effective
Preface xvii
relative permittivity and permeability. Also, they model the constitutive parameters of
metamaterials to study the vacuum electron devices through presenting analyses,
simulations and experiments.
Overall, the included chapters are pivoted to novel applications of metamaterials
in a wide spectral range. The themes are basically focused on the development of
sensors, filters, absorbers, antennas and vacuum electronic devices. The editor of
this book is thankful to all contributors for spending enough attention to summarize
their research findings during the hard time of the ongoing pandemic. Indeed, it took
a few more months than what was expected to realize this book, which essentially
delayed the overall process. The editor highly appreciates the patience of all the
contributors in this respect.
Finally, the editor takes this opportunity to acknowledge Marc Gutierrez of the
CRC Press (Taylor & Francis Group) and the team for inviting him to take up this
editorial task. Also, the editor extends sincere thanks to the Director of the Institute
of Microengineering and Nanoelectronics (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,
Malaysia) for constant encouragement and help throughout. The endless support
from his spouse, Swarnadurga, can in no way be forgotten.
Pankaj K. Choudhury
About the Editor
Pankaj K. Choudhury received a Ph.D. degree in physics in
1992. From 1992 to 1997, he was a Research Associate at the
Department of Electronics Engineering, Institute of Technology,
Banaras Hindu University (Varanasi, India). In 1997, he joined the
Department of Physics, Goa University (Goa, India) as a Lecturer.
In late 1999, he became a Researcher at the Center of Optics,
Photonics and Lasers (COPL), Laval University (Quebec,
Canada). From 2000 to 2003, he was with the Faculty of
Engineering, Gunma University (Kiryu, Japan), as a Researcher.
In May 2003, he received the position of Professor at the Faculty
of Engineering, Multimedia University (Cyberjaya, Malaysia), where he was until late
2009. During that span, he also served the Telekom Research and Development
(TMR&D, Malaysia) as a consultant for projects on optical devices. In late 2009, he
became Professor at the Institute of Microengineering and Nanoelectronics (IMEN),
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (The National University of Malaysia, Malaysia). His
research interests lie in the theory of optical waveguides, which include complex
mediums, fiber optic devices and nanoengineered structures. He has published over 260
research papers, contributed chapters to 17 books, and edited and co-edited 7 research-
level books. He is the reviewer for nearly four dozen research journals. He remains in the
Editorial Board of Optik – International Journal for Light and Electron Optics (Elsevier,
The Netherlands). Also, he is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Electromagnetic
Waves and Applications (Taylor & Francis, UK). He is a Fellow of IET and Senior
Member of IEEE, OSA and SPIE.
xix
1 Progress in Metamaterial
and Metasurface
Technology and
Applications
Subal Kar M.Tech., Ph.D (Tech.)
Former Professor and Head, Institute of Radio Physics
and Electronics, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India
1.1 INTRODUCTION
Metamaterial, or phenomenologically left-handed material (LHM), is popularly
known to make things “invisible.” The “meta-material” is the combination of
two terms: meta (whose meaning in Greek is “beyond”) indicates that it exhibit
properties not available in nature, and material means that it is constituted of
permittivity and permeability. Metamaterial is capable of reversal of Snell’s law
of refraction and reversed Doppler Effect, and it produces reversal of Čerenkov
radiation [1,2], see Fig. 1.1.
The history of artificial material exhibiting properties not available in nature can
be traced back to the pioneering work of J.C. Bose on twisted jute pair polarizer at
the millimeter-wave frequency in 1898 and K.F. Lindman’s work on electro
magnetic chirality at the microwave frequency in 1914, which may be considered to
be the precursor of the present-day artificial chiral material. During 1940–1960,
extensive work was also carried out on the so-called artificial dielectrics. However,
the beginning of research on LHM (left-handed material), or metamaterial, can
actually be reckoned from the seminal work of V.G. Veselago in 1968 [1]. Veselago
examined the solutions to Maxwell’s equations in hypothetical media having si
multaneously negative isotropic permittivity and permeability, and he observed that
such material would exhibit some counter-intuitive phenomena. He termed such
materials, not found in nature, as “left-handed material”. The term “metamaterial”
for LHM was coined by R. Walser at a 1999 DARPA workshop on composite
materials, where the prefix “meta” was chosen to convey that such composites
transcend the properties of natural materials.
Technically speaking, metamaterial is artificially structured material (commonly
metal-dielectric composite) having extrinsic inhomogeneity, but to an incident
electromagnetic wave, it is effectively homogeneous. The structural properties,
rather than the chemistry of material with which it is constituted, determine the
DOI: 10.1201/9781003050162-1 1
2 Metamaterials
FIGURE 1.1 Counter-intuitive phenomena with metamaterial; (a) reversal of Snell’s law of
refraction, (b) reversed Doppler Effect and (c) reversal of Čerenkov radiation [ 2].
characteristics and functionalities of metamaterials. Such artificial material is rea

lized with the unit cells in periodic structure having their dimensions commensurate
with small-scale physics (h << λ, where h is the characteristic dimension of a unit
cell and λ is the operating wavelength).
Permittivity and permeability are the constitutive parameters of any material. In
usual/natural material, or right-handed material (RHM), both the permittivity and
permeability are positive, whereas in LHM, or metamaterial, the permittivity and
permeability are simultaneously negative. Unlike RHM, the permittivity and per
meability are bulk properties of LHM rather than the elemental property, and thus,
we talk of effective relative permittivity (εreff) and effective relative permeability
(μreff) of LHM, or metamaterial.
Apart from being RHM or DPS (double positive), and LHM or DNG (double
negative), the materials can be of other forms having either negative permittivity
with positive permeability, or negative permeability with positive permittivity.
Fig. 1.2 shows the plot of constitutive parameters (ε vs. μ) in the four quadrants.
Negative permittivity below plasma frequency is possible in the ionosphere of
Metamaterial and Metasurface Technology 3
DPS (RHM)
DNG (LHM)
FIGURE 1.2 Plot of constitutive parameters of materials showing the possibility of different
materials (Taken from the presentation of Subal Kar; 99th Indian Science Congress, 2012).
the Earth’s atmosphere, which has been known for a long time. Negative per
meability below plasma frequency is possible in gold and silver, but at the
ultraviolet (UV) frequency.
John Pendry first showed the possibility for practically realizing the electric
plasma at microwave frequency using an array of thin metallic wires in 1996 [3], and
magnetic plasma using an array of split-ring resonators in 1999 [4], respectively, to
realize the negative εreff and negative μreff below the corresponding plasma frequency.
In actual design, the negative permittivity is realized with an array of metallic thin
wires (TWs), see Fig. 1.3a, below its electric plasma frequency, and negative per
meability with a matrix of C-shaped split-ring resonators (SRRs), see Fig. 1.3b, below
its magnetic plasma frequency. Each unit cell in a periodic array of TWs or an SRR
matrix, when irradiated with an electromagnetic signal, acts as an “electric atom” and
“magnetic atom”, respectively, mimicking the atomic arrangements as in the lattice
FIGURE 1.3 Plasmonic metamaterial (a) thin-wire (TW) array and (b) split-ring resonator
(SRR) matrix [ 2].
4 Metamaterials
TABLE 1.1
Dual of RHM gives the LHM [ 2]
Parameters for β Zc vp vg n
LC L 1 1 LC
C LC LC 0 0
RHM
1 2 2 1
L LC + L C
2 L C
L C C 0 0
LHM
of natural material. The metamaterial realized with an array of TWs and a matrix of
SRRs combined together constitutes a plasmonic metamaterial.
Table 1.1 shows the analogy between possible left-handed (LH) waves and the
dual of the normal transmission line. Eleftheriades et al. [5] in 2002 proposed an
alternative way to realize the LHM property using transmission lines.
The practical implementation of transmission line metamaterial is done by peri
odically loading a host transmission line with series capacitance and shunt inductance,
as shown in Fig. 1.4. Effective metamaterial property is realizable only when the unit
cell dimension (d) satisfies the condition: d ≪ λ. Being non-resonant, the periodically
loaded transmission line (PLTL) exhibits simultaneously low loss and broad band
width, and it is thus well suited for RF and microwave circuit applications.
It is interesting to note that Maxwell’s wave equation can be used both for RHM
and LHM, since the refractive index n appears as square power in the equation (see
Eq. (1.1)) given below:
2
2 + n2 =0 (1.1)
c2
where n2 = r r and Ψ represent the electric or magnetic field.
FIGURE 1.4 Schematic of periodically loaded transmission line (PLTL) to realize meta
material property [ 2].
FIGURE 1.5 The triad formed by E, H and k vectors in the RHM and LHM, and the
direction of Poynting vector P [ 2].
For RHM or double positive (DPS) medium, when both the εr and μr are
positive, n (=+ r r ) is positive, whereas for LHM or DNG medium, when εr and
μr are simultaneously negative, n (= r r ) is negative. However, Maxwell’s wave
equations are equally valid for signal propagation both in the case of RHM and also
for LHM.
It may further be noted that E, H and k vectors form a left-handed triad in the
case of LHM, unlike the RHM, in which E, H and k vectors form a right-handed
triad, see Fig. 1.5. Hence, the LHM is said to support backward waves (as the
k vector is in the –z-direction). However, the flow of electromagnetic energy, given
by the Poynting vector, in LHM or metamaterial, like RHM, remains in the
+z-direction (otherwise causality would have been violated).
1.2 DEVELOPMENT OF METAMATERIAL TECHNOLOGY – FROM

INCEPTION TO RECENT TIMES
The first successful metamaterial was made at the UCSD (USA) in 2001 [6] using
TW strips and SRRs to exhibit a negative refractive index at microwave fre
quency with both the TWs and SRRs printed as metal inclusions on a dielectric
substrate, see Fig. 1.6a. It was a plasmonic metamaterial, with TWs exhibiting
FIGURE 1.6 Two basic types of metamaterial; (a) Plasmonic metamaterial of TWs and
SRRs, and (b) PLTL [ 2].
6 Metamaterials
FIGURE 1.7 SRR structures at (a) 21 MHz, (b) 100 GHz and (c) 200 THz [ 7].
the effective negative permittivity below the electric plasma frequency of TWs,
and SRRs exhibiting the effective negative permeability below the magnetic
plasma frequency of SRRs. Since plasmonic metamaterial is inherently narrow-
band due to the resonant nature of individual metamaterial inclusions, PLTL
metamaterial was designed in 2002, see Fig. 1.6b [5], to realize the broadband
metamaterial components, as the transmission line is non-resonant in nature, and
thus, inherently broadband.
Since the proposal of realizing negative effective permeability with SRRs (more
specifically with the spring role structure) by Pendry [4], various SRR structures
have been developed from MHz to THz frequency range [7]; some of those
structures are shown in Fig. 1.7.
1.2.1 MICROWAVE TO INFRARED METAMATERIAL

Apart from different shaping of SRRs at different frequency ranges, as in
dicated in Fig. 1.7, variations of these magnetic inclusion structures have also
been developed to realize different performance characteristics. The multiple
split-ring resonator (MSRR) is used to increase the magnetization compared to
the simple couplet-type SRR. However, both (SRR and MSRR) suffer from the
problem of bi-anisotropy (that causes imbalance of current in the two rings due
to asymmetric placement of splits in the two rings) [2]. The use of two splits in
both rings and rotating one ring with respect to the other ring by 90° solves this
problem and results in the so-called double split-ring resonator (DSRR) or
labyrinth resonator (LR), as shown in Fig. 1.8 [8–10]. The LR is a fully
symmetric metamaterial structure initially designed for high-frequency ap
plications. It has two cuts in each ring, hence lowering the overall capacitance.
Another variant of SRR is the spiral resonator (SR) [11]. Two more variants of
SRRs are the two-turn split-ring resonator (TTSRR) and the non-bi-anisotropic
split-ring resonator (NBSRR), which have advantages in specific applications
[8,12]. In TTSRR, the two rings of SRR have a cut on the same side, and the
two ends are cross-joined for connectivity; NBSRR is the symmetric version of
TTSRR where bi-anisotropy is reduced [2]. A comparison of the performance
characteristics of LR, MSRR and SR is given in Table 1.2 [2].
FIGURE 1.8 Variants of SRR; (a) MSRR, (b) SR, (c) LR, (d) TTSRR and (e) NBSRR [ 2].
TABLE 1.2
Comparative characteristics of LR, MSRR and SR
Structure type fr (GHz) r (mm) Δf (GHz)
LR 41.5 1.000 0.670

MSRR 21.0 0.648 0.278
SR 8.5 0.357 0.081
Table 1.2 shows that LR has the highest resonant frequency (fr), provides larger
bandwidth (Δf), and also has larger geometrical dimension (r) compared to the
other two. This is because of the nature of capacitive loading of the structure
concerned. Thus, LR will be a better magnetic inclusion structure at high fre
quency with larger bandwidth and better design tolerances added with the feature
of not being bi-anisotropic like MSRR.
Other magnetic inclusion structures have also been discussed in literature; see
Fig. 1.9 provide size‐miniaturization at higher frequency of operation while de
signing metamaterial based couplers and filters. The U-shaped split-ring resonator
(USRR) is a variant of SRR where two U-shaped strips are placed inverted on each
other, which make it easy to fabricate at higher frequencies. The USRR structure
was initially designed for infrared frequency applications [13]. In the broadside
coupled split-ring resonator (BC-SRR), two split-rings of an SRR are on two sides
of a substrate having a broadside coupling [14]; it is an alternative of an SRR to
8 Metamaterials
FIGURE 1.9 Other variants of SRR; (a) USRR, (b) BC-SRR and (c) ICRR [ 16].
avoid bi-anisotropic effects. In inter-digital capacitor loaded ring resonator (ICRR),

a square ring is loaded with inter-digital capacitors at four corners [15]. ICRR is the
only negative permeability structure that exhibits totally polarization-independent
behavior with respect to the applied electric field due to its unique shape. A
comparative study on the characteristics of all these magnetic inclusion structures is
available in literature [16].
1.2.2 OPTICAL METAMATERIAL

Design technology of metamaterial at optical frequency is quite different from
those at microwave to THz frequencies. The ubiquitous split-ring metamolecule
can be scaled down in size up to about 200 THz, but this scaling breaks down at
higher frequencies as metal does not behave any more as a conductor, and it
becomes transparent to the radiation for wavelengths shorter than 1.5 µm, i.e.,
beyond the 200 THz range. This scaling limit, combined with the fabrication
difficulties of making nanometer-scale SRRs along with TWs (to form an SRR-
TW combination), led to the development of alternative designs that are more
suitable for optical regimes.
Cut-wire and fishnet are popular types of optical metamaterial structures that
were developed in 2005 [17,18]. Cut-wires use pairs of metal nanostrips sepa
rated by a dielectric spacer, see Fig. 1.10a. Anti-parallel current flow in the pair
results in magnetic resonance. Parallel current flow in the same strip causes
electric resonance. However, in such structures, it is difficult to get overlapping
FIGURE 1.10 Optical metamaterial structures; (a) Cut-wire structure, and (b) fishnet
structure [ 7].
ε < 0 and μ < 0 zones. The particular design shown in the figure used a 2 mm ×
2 mm array of nanorods imprinted on a glass substrate using electron-beam
lithography. A negative refractive index of neff ≈ −0.3 at the optical wavelength
of 1.5 μm was reported [17].
Fishnet structure combines magnetic coupled strips (to provide μ < 0) with
continuous electric strips (to provide ε < 0), see Fig. 1.10b, over a broad spectrum.
Hence, the overlapping frequency zone for simultaneously negative ε and μ is easily
obtained at the optical frequency. In this design, a multilayer structure consisting of
an Al2O3 dielectric layer between two gold films perforated with a square array
of holes (838 nm pitch; 360 nm diameter) on a glass substrate was used [18]. The
active regions for the electric (dark regions) and magnetic (hatched regions)
responses are indicated. A minimum negative refractive index of neff ≈ −2 was
obtained around a 2 μm optical wavelength.
1.2.3 3D METAMATERIAL
Though it appears to be challenging, there is demand to fabricate three-
dimensional (3D) metamaterials. Initial 3D metamaterials were made by creating
multilayer structures using the challenging lift-off process and also by using a
layer-by-layer technique that requires careful alignment. Complex 3D structures
can be fabricated by electron-beam writing, focused-ion beam chemical vapor
deposition, etc., but these methods are too complex and time consuming for mass
production. Fabrication methods based on two-photon photopolymerization (TPP)
are considered to be most promising for manufacturing large-area true 3D me
tamaterials. Direct single-beam laser writing and multiple-beam TPP techniques
are the methods offering sub-diffraction resolution down to 100 nm. Nano-imprint
lithography is also a successful method for fabricating 3D metamaterial.
1.2.4 ALL-DIELECTRIC METAMATERIAL

Unlike conventional metamaterials (that use noble metals like gold or silver on di
electric substrate), a class of new metamaterials, known as transparent metamaterials,
are made entirely of dielectric materials or insulators and non-metals [19–21]. In fact,
everything will be in a silicon platform, allowing integration of electronic and pho
tonic devices on the same chip. The absence of metal in the metamaterial design will
save light from getting unnecessarily lost as heat in the photonic device and inter
connections [19]. Such metamaterials can make it possible for computer chips and
interconnecting circuits to use photonics, instead of electronics, to process and
transmit data, representing a potential leap in performance. In computers and con
sumer electronics, we still use copper wires between the different parts of the chip.
But, if we can confine light to the same size as a nanoscale copper wire, we can have
much faster clock speed, and hence, enormously fast data processing – the transparent
metamaterial can make this possible [19,20] (Fig. 1.11).
The innovation in transparent metamaterial (TMTM) lies in modifying the
phenomenon of total internal reflection (TIR) – the principle normally used to
guide light in an optical fiber. Here the optical momentum of evanescent waves
10 Metamaterials
FIGURE 1.11 (a) Conventional TIR – the most power is in the cladding that decays slowly,
and (b) relaxed-TIR in TMTM – light decays fast in cladding. [Reprinted/Adapted] with
permission from Jahani and Jacob [ 19] ©The Optical society.
is controlled as opposed to conventional photonic devices, which manipulate

propagating waves [20]. This dramatically reduces cross-talk (mutual coupling),
the figure of merit of photonic integration, among close-by devices compared
to any dielectric waveguide (slot, photonic crystal, etc.), making dense photonic
integration possible [21].
The introduction of engineered anisotropy in permittivity tensor (εx = 4.8 and
εz = 11.9) in the momentum of cladding (realizable with TMTM) brings about
the phenomenon of relaxed-TIR [19].
Quantum information technologies, such as quantum cryptography, quantum
information storage and optical quantum computing, demand effective stable
sources of single photons and nanostructures to control the quantum dynamics
(of these photons) [22]. Transparent metamaterial can aid in enhancing the
single-photon radiation over a broad spectral range, the principle of which is
discussed in Fig. 1.12. Here single-photon generation is based on coupling dia
mond nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers (or silicon-vacancy centers) with a
FIGURE 1.12 Principle of single-photon source with metamaterial cladding. Taken from
the presentation of Subal Kar (104th Indian Science Congress, 2017).
metamaterial having hyperbolic dispersion characteristics in which the en

hancement of single-photon emission is due to the presence of metamaterial (may
be two orders of magnitude or so). Such single-photon sources may also have
applications in nanochemistry to control chemical reactions at the level of in
dividual molecules, biochemical analysis to determine the dynamics of molecular
configuration, decoding DNA and so on [23].
1.3 APPLICATION SCENARIO OF METAMATERIALS

To unfold the application scenario of metamaterials, let us first mention some of their
exotic application potentials – the “holy grails” of metamaterials. In 2000, John Pendry
proposed the possibility of realizing superlens with metamaterial [24]. It is known that,
at the image plane, the sub-wavelength object details are not obtainable when focusing
is done by the natural or right-handed (RH) media due to the “diffraction limit”. This
happens because the evanescent waves, which contain the sub-wavelength details of
the object, decay rapidly in an RH medium. However, the LH medium is found to be
capable of growing (amplifying) the evanescent waves, possibly with surface plasmon
coupling between the z = 0 and z = d faces of the LHM slab (see Fig. 1.13) [25], thus
overcoming the diffraction limit. The sub-wavelength details of the object are thus
FIGURE 1.13 Concept of superlens. (a) Growth of evanescent waves via surface plasmon
[ 25], (b) focusing by LHM plane slab [ 25], and (c) hyperlens based on the concept of
superlens to magnify sub-diffraction limited objects [ 7].
12 Metamaterials
obtainable at the image plane with LH medium focusing. The counter-intuitive LHM
plane slab focusing is thus said to perform as a “superlens”. This sub-wavelength
imaging, possible with the superlens concept of metamaterial, is gaining enough en
thusiasm that it might one day make it possible to image individual strands of DNA,
thereby bringing about a revolution in medical research.
It is worth noting at this point that, unlike RHM, where focusing is done by
curved surfaces (convex or concave lens), in LHM or metamaterial, focusing is
realizable on flat interfaces between the positive- and negative-index media [5,25],
see Fig. 1.13b. This is because the reversal of Snell’s law (Fig. 1.13a) refracts the
incident electromagnetic signal on the other side of normal compared to the natural
material or RHM. Thus, the refracted wave within the slab makes a negative re
fracting angle (θrefr), thereby converging at a focal point, F1, while upon emergence
from LHM slab, the ray again undergoes negative refraction and meets at another
focal point, F2. Hence, there exists a double-focusing effect [25].
Hyperlens, based on the concept of superlens, to magnify sub-diffraction
limited objects and project the magnified images to the far field with conventional
lens, has been demonstrated with resolution down to 125 nm at 365 nm working
wavelength [26], see Fig. 1.13c. Hyperlens consists of a metamaterial formed by a
curved periodic stack of Ag and Al2O3 deposited on a half-cylindrical cavity
fabricated on a quartz substrate. Hyperlens might have possible applications in
nanotechnology photolithography.
Among the many tropes found in science fiction and fantasy, few are more
popular than the cloaking device. We are familiar with Harry Potter’s invisibility
cloak or the Star Trek technology that can make the whole Romulan warships
disappear. Since 2006, the development of a metamaterial-based cloaking device
has been gaining pace with extreme enthusiasm. However, it must be noted that the
science-fiction movie type invisibility cloak is still a distant possibility, though not
impossible. The first cloaking device was developed in 2006 by D. R. Smith et al.
[27] of Duke University (USA). Their cloaking device at microwave frequency
consisted of a group of concentric circles made of metamaterial (loops of copper
wire stamped on fiber glass) with a cylindrical gap in the middle where the object
(to be cloaked) was placed, see Fig. 1.14a. Their device could mask or make the
FIGURE 1.14 Demonstration of cloaking. (a) First cloaking device at microwave

frequency, and (b) principle of cloaking with metamaterial [ 7].
object invisible from only one wavelength of the incident microwave signal. The
device was not perfect, causing shadowing of microwaves, i.e., distortions.
The principle of cloaking by metamaterials depends on judicious control, i.e.,
graded variation of negative refractive index around the object to be cloaked.
With reference to Fig. 1.14b, the object can be made invisible if there is no
reflection from and also no transmission through or even no absorption of the
incident electromagnetic signal in the object. The signal should just glide past
the object. The trick is not a simple job as one has to make sure that waves from
all angles are bending smoothly without scattering. In fact, when the electro
magnetic signal is directed at the device, the wave would split, and it should be
bent subtly around the device so that it is able to reform on the other side: the
effect can be compared to river water flowing around a smooth rock, when no
wakes are formed.
Other cloaking devices were also developed of which a few words about carpet
cloaking may be mentioned. In April 2009, a team led by Xiang Zhang at UC
Berkeley achieved “carpet cloaking” [28]. An object covered with a piece of cloth
would normally be detectable based on its telltale bump, see Fig. 1.15, but with the
new metamaterial, even the bump seems to vanish with such a cloaking device.
They achieved the effect by drilling tiny nanoholes into the cloaking material, a
silicon-based metamaterial. The cloaking system was operated near the infrared
frequency and scalable to visible light. Carpet cloaking is capable of hiding mi
croscopic objects. These may have potential use in optical computing; for example,
such cloaks may be used to allow light to move more efficiently, by hiding the parts
of a computer chip that get in the way of the beam. Also, expensive dielectric
mirrors – special mirrors used to make printed circuits for electronics – can be
ruined by tiny defects on their surfaces, which may be cloaked, making them look
like perfect mirrors again.
We mentioned that the first experimental fabrication of metamaterial was to
realize its basic property of the reversal of Snell’s law and, hence, the negative
FIGURE 1.15 Concept of carpet cloaking [ 7].

14 Metamaterials
FIGURE 1.16 Plasmonic metamaterial designed with TW and LR with the performance
characteristics: negative refractive index (nreff) realized was: −1.84 at 31.25 GHz over a
bandwidth of 3.5 GHz [ 2].
refractive index in 2001 at UCSD (USA). Following this, the applications of

metamaterials have proliferated exponentially at different branches of electronics
engineering, including those in antennae, filters, passive components, absorbers
and so forth. Our group at Calcutta University (Kolkata, India), in collaboration
with SAMEER (Kolkata, India) center and BARC (Mumbai, India), made the first
successful plasmonic metamaterial in India [29] using the TW and Labyrinth
Resonator (LR) combination, see Fig. 1.16.
We have also done successful design and development of metamaterial-inspired
antenna and filters at microwave frequency. A complementary split-ring resonator
(CSRR)-loaded microstrip patch antenna has shown 24% size reduction when
compared with the conventional patch antenna with similar gain and bandwidth
characteristics, see Fig. 1.17 [30].
Composite right/left-handed (CRLH) metamaterial filter has been designed and
compared in size and performance with the conventional edge-coupled band-pass
filter at 2.45 GHz. It has been found that the metamaterial-based filter has 67%
size reduction and significant performance improvement, see Fig. 1.18 [31].
Many other researchers [32–35] have also worked on the development of highly
efficient and miniaturized antennae, filters and directional couplers, etc.; some
representative structures are shown in Fig. 1.19.
FIGURE 1.17 Microstrip patch antenna. (a) Conventional microstrip patch antenna, and
(b) CSRR-loaded microstrip patch antenna [ 30].
(a)
Property CRLH BPF Edge coupled BPF

Insertion loss 1.6 dB 2.3dB
(b) Return loss 15 dB 18dB
Harmonics Suppressed up No harmonic
to 10 GHz suppression
Size 4.3 cm x 3 cm 6.5 cm x 6 cm
FIGURE 1.18 Microwave band-pass filter (BPF); (a) CRLH-based metamaterial filter, and
(b) conventional edge-coupled filter; also shown, filter performance comparison [ 31].
In addition to this, a waveguide-loaded SRR is also capable of exhibiting pass-

band in the evanescent band and stop-band in the propagation band of waveguide,
thereby providing the possibility of notch filter design, which is tailorable by SRR
design dimensions [31], see Fig. 1.20.
Two more applications of metamaterial, namely absorbers and sensors, are also
becoming very important these days. Absorbers at microwave frequency are
required in bolometers, in anechoic chambers, for stealth purposes in defense
applications and so on. In solar cells, such absorbers are also used to absorb solar
energy. Conventional absorbers are carbon-foam or ferrite based, but are either
thick or bulky in nature. Metamaterial absorbers are designed in such a way that
they offer the input impedance to be equal to the impedance of free space, thereby
limiting the reflections from the absorber structure. Since metamaterial absorbers
are capable of offering ultra-thin thickness, conformal properties and compact
ness, they attract researchers and are practically the best-suited substitute for
conventional absorbers.
16 Metamaterials
FIGURE 1.19 Metamaterial-based microwave passive components [ 7].
FIGURE 1.20 SRR-loaded waveguide and its characteristics: (a) SRR unit cell, (b) wa
veguide loaded with the sheets of SRR matrix, (c) stop-band in the pass-band of waveguide
and (d) pass-band in the evanescent band of waveguide [ 31].
FIGURE 1.21 3D schematic drawing of the proposed metamaterial sensor and a single
enlarged unit cell with its geometrical dimensions. [Reprinted/Adapted] with the permission
from Wang et al. [ 36] ©The Optical society.
THz sensors are now using metamaterial assistance to significantly improve

their sensor capabilities. Using a THz signal, the sensor determines the re
sonances of various molecular vibrations in a sample. As metamaterial magnetic
inclusion structure (SRR/LR) is highly resonant, it aids in enhancing resonances
and, hence, leads to better sensing with metamaterial assistance. The more the Q
(quality factor) of metamaterial resonators is, the better the sensing capability.
Effective sensing is evaluated by measuring the resonant response differences of
metamaterial unit cells, thereby identifying and detecting minute differences in
chemical and biochemical substances. In the structure shown in Fig. 1.21 [36], the
Q-value of 30 has been realized with the maximum refractive index sensitivity of
788 GHz/RIU or 1.04 ×105 nm/RIU.
The use of a metallic structure in metamaterial design has inherent drawbacks;
hence, the Q-factor gets compromised. If we use perfect absorbers designed with
metamaterial, then we can get a higher Q-factor. Reaching high Q-factor resonance in
these structures leads to enhanced sensor sensitivity to detect minute frequency shifts.
Bi-material sensors with metamaterial absorbers have been used for sensor de
sign, see Fig. 1.22 [37]. This consists of a sensing element (absorber) that converts
FIGURE 1.22 Structure of bi-material THz sensor using metamaterial absorber.

[Reprinted/Adapted] with permission from Alves et al. [ 37] ©The Optical society.
18 Metamaterials
FIGURE 1.23 Metamaterial absorber; (a) unit cell, and (b) 1D periodic array. [Reprinted/
Adapted] with permission from Alves et al. [ 37] ©The Optical society.
the incoming THz radiation to heat, which is eventually transmitted by conduction

to two symmetrically located bi-material legs connected to the host substrate (heat
sink) with supporting structures of lower thermal conductance (anchors).
Temperature rise caused by the absorption of incident THz radiation results in
deformation of bi-material legs. The deformation can be probed by different ap
proaches, among which the optical readout is a simple technique that requires a
reflective surface, which is embedded into the absorber. Such sensors have re
sponsivity values as high as 1.2 deg/μW, have time constants as low as 200 ms,
have minimum detectable power on the order of 10 nW, and can operate with low-
power THz sources.
A “perfect” absorber can be constructed with the proper design of structural
parameters [37]. The challenge remains in the design of a metamaterial film that is
thin enough to provide low thermal capacitance, while providing structural strength,
low stress and a flat reflective surface for an optical readout. Fig. 1.23 shows that a
typical metamaterial absorber consists of a periodic array of Al square elements
separated from an Al ground plane by a SiOx layer, a single unit cell being shown in
Fig. 1.23a. Such a combination allows matching to the free-space impedance at
specific frequencies, eliminating the reflection. Fig. 1.23b shows a periodic array of
this metamaterial absorber [37].
1.4 METASURFACES AND APPLICATION POTENTIALS

Like metamaterial, similar intriguing properties and applications, including far
complex wave-manipulation properties, can be realized using the 2D arrangements
of engineered scatterers, now widely known as “metasurfaces.” Metasurfaces or
metafilms (as sometimes refereed in literature) are basically the 2D counterpart of
metamaterials (which are 3D structures) consisting of an ultrathin planar arrange
ment of sub-wavelength-size building blocks of metallic patches or dielectric
etchings. Such ultrathin structures have the unique ability to manipulate electro
magnetic waves, with spatially arranged meta-atoms – fundamental building blocks
of the metasurface – thereby blocking, absorbing, concentrating, dispersing or
guiding the waves, from microwave through THz to optical frequencies.
Metamaterials are difficult to fabricate because a useful and practical metama

terial needs to be 3D, whereas metasurfaces being planer (2D) in structure can be
easily fabricated using the planer fabrication tools. The planer fabrication process is
cost effective, and being 2D, they can be easily integrated into other devices, which
can make them a salient feature for nanophotonic circuits. Metasurface, which has
followed as a derivative of metamaterial, is capable of tackling some of the critical
challenges rooted in traditional metamaterials, such as high resistive loss from re
sonant plasmonic components and fabrication requirements for making 3D na
nostructures. In the past few years, metasurfaces have achieved groundbreaking
progress, providing unparalleled control of light, including the construction of ar
bitrary wave-fronts and realizing active and nonlinear optical effects.
Unlike metamaterials, a metasurface affects waves through modified boundary
conditions instead of using bulk effective constitutive properties. To be more
specific, the function of metamaterials is to realize artificial effective negative
permittivity and permeability that changes the wave dynamics with the bulk con
stitutive properties, see Fig. 1.24a. But metasurfaces can arbitrarily control the
wave-fronts, i.e., the amplitude, polarization, phase and frequency of the wave, as a
function of position with the help of sub-wavelength scatterers in the planer
structure of which they are made, see Fig. 1.24b.
Metasurfaces find applications in absorbers in which surface impedance can be
varied and manipulated by patterning the 2D metasurface unit cells. When active
and non-linear components are added to traditional metasurfaces, exceptional tun
ability and switching capability becomes possible.
Metasurfaces can be engineered with spatially varying boundary conditions to
convert a given incident electromagnetic field into a desired scattered waveform,
resulting in wave-front transformations. Using novel configurations of meta-atoms,
the incoming plane waves can be deflected to preferable directions, manipulate their
polarization state, and generate special beams. It is important to note that a meta
surface can efficiently manipulate the wave-front of an incident electromagnetic
wave through just the sub-wavelength propagation distance compared to the tra
ditional 3D metamaterial that does the same at a distance far larger than the wa
velength. Therefore, this can largely alleviate the propagation loss. The controllable
FIGURE 1.24 Metasurface vs. metamaterial. (a) periodic structure of metamaterial

(b) metasurface showing wave-front transformation.
20 Metamaterials
surface refractive index provided by metasurfaces can also be applied to lenses. In

fact, they can be used to design 2D microwave/optical lenses like Luneburg and
fish-eye lenses, which are applied in surface waveguides for antenna systems and
planar microwave sources. Reconfigurable ultrathin surfaces provided by meta
surface, resulting in wave-front transformations to the impinging waves to any
imaginable degree, may form the basis for smart surfaces with a significant impact
on nearly any electromagnetic and photonic application, from classical to quantum
photonics, from radar to wireless technology.
Metasurfaces have already revolutionized the antenna design, especially
the leaky-wave antennae, from microwave to THz and higher frequencies.
Metasurface finds interesting applications in the design of plasmonic laser or
lasing spaser, whose bandwidth can be controlled by tailoring the metamole
cules of metasurface. Other applications of metasurfaces include cloaking and
imaging. Since metasurfaces have high bio tissue sensitivity, they can be used
in biosensors for inside-body examination and bio tissue discrimination, in
cluding cancer disease diagnosis.
Metasurfaces resemble frequency selective surfaces (FSSs) in many respects;
they can replace FSSs in many applications due to the sub-wavelength nature of
“meta-atoms” of which they are made of. An FSS is a periodic structure made
of composite material (or sometimes with only dielectric material) and designed
to be transparent in some frequency bands while reflecting, absorbing or re
directing the incident signal. However, in FSS, each individual element is
resonant at the resonance frequency. FSS’ typically have periodicity equal to
half the wavelength of the resonant frequency. But, the periodicity of individual
elements of metasurface is of sub-wavelength order, so is the individual ele
ments of metasurface. Compared to FSSs, the sub-wavelength periodicity of
the metasurface allows packing of a large number of unit cells in a constrained
space, which is highly useful for radome design and in many other applications
with limited space.
1.4.1 APPLICATIONS OF METASURFACES

1.4.1.1 Absorbers
From microwave through optical frequencies, absorbers are required in many
applications, such as anechoic chambers, solar cells, photodetectors and so forth.
Conventional absorbers are usually composed of multilayer structures that are
lossy and bulky, but the modern system requires miniaturized and compact ab
sorbers. Metasurface-based absorbers are a good catch for their low profile, light
weight and simplicity of construction with simple metallic structures. A passive
absorber is shown in Fig. 1.25a [38] that consists of an array of gold material
patches on MgF2-substrate that are capable of absorbing energy independent of
polarization and with a wide-angle range of up to ±80°. The proposed structure is
designed to be polarization-independent in the x- and y-directions at normal in
cidence, thus yielding a polarization-insensitive property. Active metasurface
absorbers have the advantage that they enable switchable absorption, tunable
FIGURE 1.25 Metasurface absorbers; (a) passive absorber at infrared frequency, and
(b) active tunable absorber at optical frequency. [Reprinted/Adapted] with permission from
Li et al. [ 38] © Nanophotonics.
non-linear response and tunable resonant frequency. A tunable metasurface ab

sorber, which can be used from tens of GHz to near infrared due to the broadband
optical response of graphene, is shown in Fig. 1.25b.
1.4.1.2 Transformation Optics Applications

With the advent of metasurfaces, transformation optics has significantly bene
fitted. In fact, the introduction of metasurfaces for transformation optics has
brought a new paradigm for efficiently controlling electromagnetic waves [39].
Transformation optics deals with the control of electromagnetic waves, leading
to designer-demanded tailoring of its wave-front, thereby manipulating the wave
dynamics at will. The wave-front shaping with conventional techniques like lens,
hologram, etc., can be realized over a distance that is larger than the wavelength of
operation. The same is the case with metamaterials or DNG materials in which the
control of the wave-front of an electromagnetic signal is done by accumulating
the phase through propagating over a distance larger than a wavelength. But, with
metasurfaces, wave-front shaping and focusing of energy can be done over
sub-wavelength distances, thus alleviating the propagation loss. This makes me
tasurfaces potentially superior for this purpose, and they are replacing bulky
metamaterials in many applications. In fact, in metasurfaces, the electromagnetic
signal undergoes a so-called “phase discontinuity” or “phase jump” caused by the
interaction of the incident electromagnetic wave with the surface plasmon [40].
The surface plasmon in the metasurface originates due to an induced surface
electromagnetic wave caused by impinging the electromagnetic wave that forces
the charges present in the individual sub-wavelength elements of the metasurface
to oscillate. Since the elements on a metasurface can be spatially varied, this
variation can cause the currents on the surface to lead (or lag) depending on the
individual resonant element. This localized phenomenon allows us to tailor
the wave-fronts as they pass through a metasurface, and it leads to a variety
of applications.
Realization of a polarization split in the visible region has been reported [41],
see Fig. 1.26, that uses an all-dielectric gradient metasurface, composed of
periodic arrangement of differently sized cross-shaped silicon nanoblocks
22 Metamaterials
FIGURE 1.26 (a) The metasurface structure, and (b) polarization splitting. [Reprinted/
Adapted] with permission from Li et al. [ 41] © Springer Nature.
resting on the fused silica substrate. The cross-shaped silicon block arrays
can induce two opposite transmission-phase gradients along the x-direction for
the linear x-polarization and along the y-direction for y-polarization. With
proper design, the metasurface can separate the linearly polarized light into the
x- and y-polarized ones, which propagate at the same angle along the left and
right sides of the normal incidence in the x-z plane, as shown in Fig. 1.26b.
The polarization beam splitter is expected to play an important role for future
free-space optical devices.
Introduction of non-uniform impedance surfaces in lenses with the help of
metasurface has resulted in very thin and ready-to-manufacture lenses. Fig. 1.27a
shows one such metasurface lens in which the radii of the patches, i.e., the unit
cells that make up the metasurface, are gradually decreased as one moves from the
center of the lens [38,42]. On such a surface, the traveling electromagnetic wave
encounters gradually varying surface impedance and the corresponding change in
phase velocity. The impedance profile is obtained by combining the Luneburg lens
design with TM surface wave dispersion relation. In another design, the meta
surface elements have smoothly varying, i.e., asymmetric polygons, as shown in
Fig. 1.27b. Both the methods are useful to design surfaces with spatially varying
refractive indices.
FIGURE 1.27 Luneburg lens; (a) with metasurface having gradually decreasing radii of
unit cells from center to the rim, and (b) metasurface elements having smoothly varying,
i.e., asymmetric polygons. [Reprinted/Adapted] with permission from Li et al. [ 38]
© Nanophotonics.
1.4.1.3 Metasurface in Antenna Design

Metasurfaces have the unique ability and distinct advantage as media for radiating
electromagnetic waves into free space apart from their wide applications in surface
and free-space wave manipulation. Metasurface leaky-wave antennae have ad
vantages in that they are low-profile and have simple feed structures. They also
have frequency-dependent beam scanning properties (beam squint).
Fig. 1.28a [38,43] depicts a sinusoidally modulated graphene leaky-wave an
tenna with electronic beam-scanning capability. By applying bias voltages to the
different grating pads beneath the graphene substrate, the graphene surface re
actance can be modulated, resulting in a versatile beam-scanning capability at THz
frequencies. Another 2D leaky-wave antenna operating at THz frequencies with
tunable frequency and beam angle is shown in Fig. 1.28b [38,44]. It is based
on tuning the conductivity of the graphene.
Metasurfaces have been successfully used to design and manufacture high-gain
holographic antennae for which the surface wave is the major incident wave. The
radiation for such antenna occurs when the phase matching between the forward
and backward leaky waves occurs. The forward leaky wave arises from the grating,
which has a larger periodicity, while the smaller period grating leads to a backward
leaky wave. Based on this approach, circularly polarized leaky-wave antennae with
a 26 dB gain have been realized [45]. The grating effect was produced by mod
ulating the surface impedance of the metasurface. A significant advantage of this
approach is that, instead of changing the antenna shape, in order to design a specific
response, the metasurface modulation (i.e., surface impedance) is engineered [46].
Metasurfaces can also improve the performance of horn antennae. A metasurface
designed using a genetic algorithm has been used as an inner surface for a conical
horn, and the cross polar and side lobe levels have been improved over the entire Ku
band [47]. A similar approach was applied to improve the performance of a hybrid
mode square horn antenna using metasurfaces [48].
1.4.1.4 Lasing Spaser

The use of meta-molecules in developing “lasing spaser” is a dominant example
of the application possibility of metasurfaces in photonics [49]. In spaser
FIGURE 1.28 leaky-wave metasurface antennae. [Reprinted/Adapted] with permission

from Li et al. [ 38] © Nanophotonics.
24 Metamaterials
(Surface Plasmon Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation), also

known as plasmonic laser, the light-quanta-photons of the laser is being replaced
with electronic excitations at the surface of metals called surface plasmons,
which can have atomic-scale dimensions [50]. However, a spaser produces very
little light, which is not collimated into a narrow beam.
But, if the emission can be fueled by plasmonic excitations in an array of co
herently emitting meta-molecules (designed with magnetic inclusion structure, such
as SRRs) supported by a gain medium (quantum-dot-doped dielectric), which can
overcome the radiation losses and Joule losses in the metallic structure of meta-
molecules, we have the “lasing spaser” [49,51], see Fig. 1.29. In contrast to con
ventional lasers that operate at wavelengths of suitable natural atomic or molecular
transitions, the emission wavelength of lasing spaser can be controlled by meta-
molecule design. Being the thinnest (~100 nm) laser, the lasing spaser promises
new applications ranging from displays to high-speed communications.
The combination of artificial classical electromagnetic resonators (SRRs),
forming the metasurface, plays the role of the active medium in the lasing spaser,
just as an assembly of essentially quantum inversely populated atoms plays the
same role in a conventional laser. These identical plasmonic resonators impose
FIGURE 1.29 Schematic of metamaterial-fueled lasing spaser. Taken from the presentation
of Subal Kar (104th Indian Science Congress, 2017).
Other documents randomly have
different content
wore his clothes as one accustomed to them. One suit he always kept in
town at his tailor's, pressed and cleaned, changing at each visit.
His wife drew a sharp breath, forgetting that she was staring at him with
uplifted hand. The evil temper had left his face with his leather chaps and
neckerchief. He regarded her with an embarrassed twist to his face.
"Better get into your grey," he said, looking anywhere but into her eyes.
"I'll be ready for you in fifteen minutes."
"Oh, Jim!"
That was all. She dropped her darning on the table and fled ecstatically
to the bedroom. And big Cockney Aikens picked up the ball of darning
wool and kissed it furtively.
By the time he was back from the stables with a lively team hitched to a
buggy, she was almost dressed, and a suitcase stood packed outside the
bedroom door. He drew a second suitcase from beneath the bed and began
to fill it with his ranch clothes. She watched him, surprised.
"Why, Jim, what are you taking those for?"
He muttered something about going to do some riding perhaps, and

snapped the catches, hurrying out with the suitcase to the buggy.
Mary bustled to the kitchen and began to lay various tins on the table. A
side of bacon she wrapped up and suspended from a hook in the ceiling.
When she was finished she stood back and struck off a list on her fingers:
"Bacon, flour, cheese, oatmeal, matches—there, I forgot the matches

again."
He laughed.
"Lord, Mary, you're still expecting visitors to this corner of the moon!"
She tilted her head. "You never know. We couldn't leave the house with
nothing to eat in it. Some day—perhaps—— We should have visitors——"
She ended the sentence by a noisy clustering of the tins, and ran to her
suitcase.
He took it from her hand and carried it out. One of the horses was trying
to get back into the buggy, but he quieted it with masterful hand. With one
foot on the step she paused.
"Why—that's Pink Eye! He's never been harnessed before, has he?"
"I've been breaking him to it. Good time to try him out on a long trip like
this. He'll have the spirit taken out of him in that sixty miles—seventy by
the Double Bar-O. We're going across there first. Maybe Cherry Gerard
would like to come too; you may be lonesome."
"I don't want Cherry, Jim," she pouted.
He lifted her in and took his seat beside her before he replied:
"It's possible I'll be leaving you for a couple of days in there."
She was looking straight ahead without a word of what was in her mind.
But as the horses galloped madly up the sloping trail to the east her spirits
rose, and she laughed exultantly.
"Seventy miles won't tire Pink Eye," she gurgled. "He's steel."
Dakota, standing before the door of the cook-house, watched them go,
scorning to reply to Mary Aikens' waving hand. It was Bean Slade,
emerging hastily from the interior of the shack, who returned it, as Pink Eye
and his mate tore along the indistinct eastern trail over the edge of the
prairie above.
"Hoorah!" shouted Dakota, when the moving speck had vanished over
the ridge.
"Hoorah!" responded a half-dozen voices; and the Dude and Alkali

seized each other for a musicless dance.
"Dassent leave her t'yore tender mercies, Dakota, ole sport," chaffed
Alkali. "Yo're a reg'lar lady-killer, that's what yo are."
"Oh, I dunno," grunted the Dude jealously, buttoning the loose front of
his brilliant vest. "There's others."
"Go 'long with you, Dude," jeered General. "She never looks at you. Jest
about two days o' Dakota's slippery manners, and the missus ud be shore
climbing his neck."
Bean Slade unwound his lanky legs from a chair and spat through the
doorway.
"Yer a tarnation liar, Gin'ral. Not a doggone neck ud the missus climb
that she hadn't oughter. An' you're a dang lot o' sap-heads to talk it."
"You oughter know, Bean," grinned General. "Y'ain't licking her pots fer
nothing, I bet."
Bean was on his feet so quickly that no one else had moved by the time a
chair whirled aloft in his hands. General slid to the cover of the table in
desperate haste.
Dakota flung himself between them.
"Drop it, you fools! Nobody's saying nothing again the missus, Bean.
They're just joshing you. You needn't get so touchy anyway; she ain't your
wife."
Bean, whose anger rose and fell with disturbing unexpectedness,

dropped the chair.
"No sech luck!" he growled. "If she was I wudn't risk her where you
slimy coyotes was."
Alkali broke in:
"And now what's the agendar, Dakota? Takin' on that Irvine job this
week. 'T should be a good time with the boss away."
Dakota screwed his eyes up thoughtfully. "That's what I had in mind."
"No rifles this time," protested Bean Slade. "We've toted 'em once too
often—I don't know but twice too often. Br-r-r! I won't ever forget——"
"Shut your clap, Bean! You've had your man in your day, heaps of 'em."
"They allus had their chance," growled Bean. "No rifles, I say, or I don't
go."
Three or four insulting guffaws greeted the threat.
"The Reverend Beanibus Slade, him of Dead Gulch memory and Two-
Shot Dick fame, will now lead us in singing the twenty-third Psalm!"
scoffed General Jones. "Come along with us, Reverend sir—and bring yore
burial service."
"I've said it," repeated Bean stubbornly.
Dakota tried to oil the surface. "We don't need rifles this time—it's an
easy job.... But we'll shore miss the Kid. He shore was the handy kid with
the blinkers on a dark night, and he'd hold a close second to yours truly with
a gun. Poor Kid! I'd give my left ear to get even with the guy that got him.
I've a bit o' lead resarved for him."
CHAPTER VIII
A LAMB AMONG THE LIONS
"There y'are, mister. That's your place."
Stamford unlimbered his stiffened legs and raised himself in the buggy
to look out over the valley of the H-Lazy Z.
"It's my place all right," he moaned. "I don't care what ranch it is. I didn't
think Canada was so wide as that sixty miles of prairie. Sixty miles!
Humph! I've a complete set of disarticulated bones that's ready to go into
any witness box and swear it's at least umpteen million miles, and then
some."
The youthful driver grinned.
"Oh, you'd get used to that. I 'member when I was raw——"
"Look here, young man, for about eighteen hours you've been rubbing
my rawness into me. Lord knows you didn't need to! This rattly, lumpy,
jumpy bone-shaker you call a carriage would make any body raw that's not
made of cast-iron. How the dickens Cockney Aikens, to say nothing of his
wife and the ranch outfit, can contemplate that sixty miles with sufficient
equanimity to stick the job is beyond my limited experience."
"Golly, mister, Dakota Fraley—Two-Gun Dakota—bosses the outfit.

He's fit for anything."
"Huh! Dakota seems to have a rep."
"Dakota Fraley," confided the driver, "is a gunman, a dead shot with
either hand. He's lightning on the draw and was never known to miss his
man. He's the toughest of the tough, a broncho-buster that takes all the
prizes at the contests—and they say he's got so many men he lost track
years ago. But, say, he's a dead-game sport. Ju hear about the police-court
case—for shooting up the town that time?"
Stamford knew every word of it, but the lad's story was worth hearing,
so he only looked interested.
"He just ponied up seventy-five simoleons without a wink. I think old

Jasper was hoping he wouldn't have it, so he could send him down for a
couple of months. Gee, I wouldn't send Dakota Fraley down, not by a long
sight—least, not unless I was dying or something and wouldn't be there
when he got out. I wouldn't fool with Dakota Fraley, no sir-ee!"
Stamford heard it with fitting solemnity.
"I suppose," he murmured, "that's how the books put it. I mustn't blame
him."
"What d'you mean, mister?"
"Oh, excuse me, lad. Don't mind me when I get wandering. I'm often
taken that way. The doctor says I'm not really dangerous."
"Don't you go to wandering about here or you'll get plumb lost."
Stamford cast a furtive eye back on the sixty miles and shuddered.
Almost at daylight—and that meant about two-thirty a.m.—they had pulled
out of Medicine Hat, for he was determined to run no risk of a night in the
open. One he had had already, and was content. That sixty miles of prairie
hung behind him like a pall, too oppressive to be relieved by its varied
monotony. Here a line of unaccountable sand-buttes, there a landscape of
rolling sweeps like the billows of a petrified sea, and sometimes a stretch of
dullness that melted into the horizon uncountable miles away; and over all
but the sand-buttes dead whispering grass, trembling in the blazing winds of
midsummer, and a lifelessness that was uncanny.
His nerves were jangling still from the memory of it and, delighted
though he was at the end of his journey, sundry and impressive qualms that
resembled fear made him question his ability to cope with the problem he
had set himself.
He raised himself on his arms before the house and tentatively extended
one dead foot, drew in his breath painfully, and held himself erect by the
buggy as both feet touched the ground.
"There are the stables, I guess," he pointed out. "I confess I don't know
the proper thing to do with you. Will they feed you there or here in the
ranch-house?"
The driver gathered up the reins.

"They ain't going to have a chance to keep me neither places. I'm not
taking chances where Two-Gun Dakota is—me with no gun or nothing.
These broncs are good for another ten miles. I got a friend over at the
Double Bar-O. That's good enough for me."
He tumbled Stamford's suitcase out, chirruped to the horses, and rattled

away eastward up the slope.
Stamford was suddenly oppressed with the loneliness of things. About

the ranch-house was not a sign of life, and the ranch buildings two hundred
yards away seemed to be equally deserted. He glanced hurriedly about and
launched himself on the noisy gravel walk to the door. He was thrilled with
the vastness of things, the tremendous silence, the frowning cliffs across the
river, the pettiness of mere man; the gravel crunched pleasantly under him
as he walked.
Receiving no reply to his persistent knocking, he lifted the latch. The

evidences of recent life within pleased him mightily, especially the signs of
a woman's presence. Mary Aikens' darning lay on the table where she had
dropped it. A pile of folded newspapers and magazines covered the top of a
smaller table against the wall, almost crowding off a smoker's tray and
pipestand. The pictures on the walls, the shiny stove, the cushions piled
with attractive abandon on couch and chairs, and, above all, a piano—
Stamford felt his spirits rise.
Here were luxury and art as he had not before seen them on the prairie.
Here was more than temporary makeshift. Here, he read, was a woman
determined to make life out there, sixty miles from the nearest post office,
railway station, and store, independent of its isolation and inconveniences.
He spied the open door to the kitchen and passed through, gathering
from the array of tin boxes that his host and hostess were more than
temporarily absent. It made him uncomfortable. His mind refused to grasp
the full significance of the situation in which he found himself.
He was wondering vaguely what to do, when the outer door burst
violently open, and he started like a thief caught in the act. Dakota Fraley
was standing in the doorway, peering about with an evil frown. Through the
kitchen doorway he caught sight of Stamford and strode quickly across the
sitting-room.
"What you doing here?"
Stamford's attempt at propitiation was a wan smile; his heart was

pattering uncomfortably.
"Just as you entered, Dakota, I was wondering the same thing. Mr. and
Mrs. Aikens are not at home, I take it."
"And won't be for a week, maybe," barked Dakota, standing with legs
wide, his thumbs caught in his belt.
"I gathered that from the lay-out."
"Tell 'em you was coming?"
"No. I knew the rule of the prairie."
"What rule?"
"That a visitor is always welcome. Have they been pulling my leg in

that, too?"
Dakota thought over that a moment. His dislike for the little editor since
the shooting-up scene, as well as for any visitor to the ranch, inclined him
to kick Stamford off the place. But there was Cockney to reckon with.
"There's nobody here to welcome you—you can see that," he grunted.
"I was noting it," said Stamford quietly.
"Look here, you two-by-four, none o' your insults. This is a mighty big
prairie to be alone on of a night ten miles from the next stopping place.
There's nicer things for a tenderfoot, I warn you."
"But one of them isn't forcing myself on your society, Dakota Fraley.
Yet, at the moment you're my host by proxy; my lips are sealed."
Dakota calmed. He was uncertain of the efficacy of anything but a gun in
dealing with insults, but to draw on such a little tenderfoot was not to be
thought of.
"Driver coming back?" he asked.
"By the way he galloped away I came to the conclusion he hoped never
to have to," smiled Stamford.
"We'll lend you a horse."
"Thanks, but I can walk better without one."
"I see you walking ten miles at this hour o' the night, I do?" jeered
Dakota.
"I wouldn't think of taking you from your own comfortable ranch for
such a trifling spectacle. I won't mind if you take it for granted.... But
perhaps a horse would be company. Lead me to it."
He pushed past Dakota and started toward the ranch buildings, the
foreman following, obviously ill at ease. As they neared the cook-house
door a sly smile crossed the latter's face. Several cowboys came out.
"I've found it, boys!" yelled Dakota, with a wide grin. "The only and
original tenderfoot—guaranteed to eat peas with a fork, crease his pants
every month, say 'fudge' when he means 'damn,' and take a saddle-horn for
the back of a rocking chair. Only he doesn't like us. He's decided to move
on. We're bold bad men. Alkali, trot out Joe-Joe."
Dakota's grin repeated itself in several faces. Stamford, aware that

silence was safest, said nothing until Dakota was through.
"It's a shame to inflict myself to the extent of a horse on your already

overtaxed hospitality," he said. "I promise to pay livery rates."
"Best put it on yer will, ole hoss, an' right now," drawled Bean Slade
through the whiffs of a cigarette.
Stamford looked up with a glint of understanding.
"My executors will naturally pay my debts first—if my estate is equal to

it."
"Yu seem to like Heaven best, kid," muttered Bean. "It's close up to here
—the way yu're going."
"One might be forgiven for preferring the other place," replied Stamford.
"At least there's only one devil there."
The cowboys grinned appreciatively.
"Best call it off, Dakota," suggested Bean.
Dakota frowned.
"If you geezers know of any quicker way of getting off the H-Lazy Z
than by Joe-Joe, trot the idea out and let's look at it, and precipitous-like."
Joe-Joe, a mule-faced, conscience-stricken creature, with a scraggly tail

that never stopped flicking, came humbly up at the rear of Alkali, bridle and
saddle having been adjusted in the stables to an accompaniment of clatter
that confirmed Stamford's suspicions. Still he had no thought of funking.
He reached out for the rein.
His hand was pushed roughly aside, and Bean Slade vaulted into the
saddle, cigarette between his lips. With a touching appeal in his wandering
eyes Joe-Joe looked about on the unsympathetic audience, then, with a jerk
that was startling even to see, he lowered his head, arched his back, and
leaped straight up with stiffened legs, all part of one movement.
When he landed, every bone in Bean's lanky body rattled; and before
they had time to rearrange themselves Joe-Joe was in the midst of a new
gyration that loosened Bean's sombrero and cigarette.
The cowboys looked on, laughing, darting sly glances at Stamford to see
how he was taking his escape. Dakota was divided between anger at Bean's
interference, and satisfaction at the trepidation on the little editor's face.
Joe-Joe continued to leap and twist and kick, Bean shouting encouragement
and slapping the steaming thigh behind him; but when the horse
straightened out for a run, his rider freed his feet and slid over his rump.
"Our show outlaw," he explained to Stamford, stooping to recover hat

and cigarette. "Yu can see why yu'd need to say yer say in yer will."
Dakota accepted his defeat with a laugh. He had had his fun, and the
sympathies of the outfit were against him.
"Any other ladylike nags about the place you'd like to break for us, my
little man?" he gibed, clapping Stamford on the back. "The H-Lazy Z's at
your disposal."
"Thanks, Dakota, then I'll stay a while."
Bean Slade shoved out a long, limp hand.
"Bully fer you! Yu've got the guts!"
"If you're going to kick about till the boss comes back," said Dakota,
"you'd better shake hands with the bunch. Give your hoof to Alkali Sam.
Alkali wasn't christened that—if he was ever christened at all. Somebody
musta been reading a wild-West story and thought Sam looked like the
leading villain. It's commonly hinted he christened himself. He's a would-be
devil, a gen-u-ine bad actor—in his own mind. Alkali'd rather be called that
than get his man on the draw. It saves a lot o' shooting—and it's less
dangerous, a rep like that.
"And this one—where's your flapper, Muck?—he's Muck Norsley.

Nothing's too dirty for muck—hence, Muck.
"The Dude there has been known to take a bath, comb his hair with axle
grease, and change his shirt, all in the same year. Dude, you ain't doing us
justice. Your neckerchief—well, it's a bit mussed, and a tailor might
improve them chaps. Look nifty for the gent.
"General Jones derives his cognomen, so to speak—not from the army,
bless you, no, but because he's generally drunk, generally loafing, generally
a cuss. No one thinks his name's Jones, least of all the Police. And that's
why General's so popular.
"Bean Slade, here, forced his name on us. He has to stand up seven times
to make a shadow. When the wind's ripping things to kingdom-come we
send Bean out to do the punching; he just turns sideways. Truth is, Bean's
the lady-killer o' the bunch, that is, when Dude's not in glamorous garb. Oh,
Bean's the sly one. There's only one lady in ten miles here, and Bean's her
lady's-maid. Meaning nothing vulgar," he added hastily at sight of Bean's
glowering brows. "Even in town Bean looks at every female as if she's
val'able china and li'ble to be broke."
Stamford, conscious of his incapacity to reply in kind, solemnly shook

the offered hands; which tickled them. The Dude first rubbed his palm on
the side of his chaps, General Jones pumped his arm until his head shook,
and Muck Norsley murmured something he'd heard somewhere about being
glad to meet him. Bean Slade muttered a sheepish "Ta-ta!" and preferred his
package of cigarettes.
The frowsy-headed cook thrust his face through the back doorway and
announced that "chuck" was on, and, in the fading light of a late summer
night—where the sun sinks about ten o'clock in mid-summer—Stamford
seated himself before his first meal with a family of cowboys, a bit
uncertain of the good taste of dining with an unwilling host, but determined
now to carry the adventure to the end.
Throughout the meal, which seemed to Stamford's hungry but as yet

fastidious taste to consist largely of pork and beans, with a later stratum of
pie, there was a disposition among the others to show off, developing
quickly, as Stamford's interest grew, to an effort at fun at his expense—not
meanly, but with a twisted idea of sustaining their reputations before a
tenderfoot. Stamford felt something of it but, not knowing how to receive it,
concentrated on the meal. In that he unconsciously did well; so that when
the pie was well washed down with strong coffee he remained the butt of
their fun, but with less malice than before.
Muck Norsley's appetite seemed insatiable. When the others had drawn
back and were smoking the package of cigarettes that was a special
recognition of visitors, he continued to munch at the last piece of pie—his
fourth, Stamford was certain—swallowing noisily from his coffee cup, the
spoon held in the practised crook of his first finger.
"Muck always was delicate," said Dakota, by way of apology. "Don't

you know, Muck Norsley, that it ain't good manners to eat when everyone's
through?"
"Everyone ain't through," replied Muck. "I ain't. It mightn't be good

manners, but it's good pie. Anyway, this is supper, not sassiety. If that isn't
so, tell yer pal and fellow-villain to take his feet outen my coffee."
Alkali pushed his feet further on the table, brushing aside the dishes, and
relit his cigarette.
"You big lubber, you!" yelled Muck. "Can't yer see this is comp'ny? You
know yer dassent do it when we're alone, you—you insult ter decency!"
"Muck," warned Alkali gravely, tossing the match over his shoulder, "yo
know how easy I'm roused. I've et bigger men'n yo fer breakfast."
"Alkali Sam," returned Muck, with equal gravity, "I ast yer tuh remove
them blots on the innercent habits o' the H-Lazy Z seminary fer perlite
young ladies. I don't often ask twice."
Alkali ostentatiously loosened his Colt.
"Here, Dakota, take this toy while I'm good-tempered. We ain't got time
fer no funeral."
Stamford caught the wink that accompanied Alkali's toss of the revolver
before his face, but it did not prepare him for the explosion that filled the
room the instant it touched Dakota's hand. The bullet whistled so close that
he ducked.
When he straightened, Dakota was looking into the smoking muzzle of
the Colt with an air of intense surprise.
"Funny things, guns!" murmured the foreman.
"Darn funny!" growled Stamford, taking fresh hold of himself.
The smile he saw flitting over the faces of the cowboys had warned him
that he was the victim of a bit of gun-play dangerous in the hands of less
expert gunmen than Alkali and Dakota.
Muck Norsley swept his hand over the table, scooping up a sample of
the flies that had all through the meal been robbing Stamford of some of his
appetite, fished two from his coffee, and carried them to the door, where he
gravely released them.
"I never did like the flavour of them flies," he muttered. "Now over in
Dakota they come——"
During his absence at the door Alkali had liberally replenished the
supply of flies in his cup, and Muck, noticing the disturbance in the liquid
as he was about to swallow it, promptly despatched it into Alkali's face.
Before he could defend himself, Alkali was on his shoulders, punching

wildly. Muck heaved himself to his feet, caught Alkali about the waist in a
bearlike hug and, burying his face in his tormentor's stomach, seemed to be
eating him alive.
Alkali beat himself free, howling all the time, and rubbed his stomach as
if in terrible pain.
"Gi' me the gun, Dakota, gi' me the gun! Quick! I'll fill the ring-boned,
wind-galled, spavined son-of-a-gun so full o' holes——"
"Alkali always was fluent," applauded Dakota.
The two men were fighting round and round the room, striking
awkwardly, cursing, bunting with their heads. The others retreated to the
two doorways and the corners, making no move to separate them. Stamford
circled the table with bulging eyes; he had never seen anything so furious
and brutal before.
Alkali fell over a chair, and Muck, seizing another, whirled it aloft. But
Alkali squirmed beneath the table, grabbed Muck by the feet, and brought
him down with a crash. Seated astride him, he leaned over his victim,
punching with both fists. Muck struggled vainly for a moment, then seemed
to give up in sheer weariness. Alkali gave a blood-curdling yell and jabbed
his fingers at the helpless man's eyes.
In the dimming light Stamford seemed to see the horrible gouging as in a

dream.
"Stop him! Stop him!" he screamed.
Alkali whooped his triumph and reached to the table for a knife. High
above his victim he drew it back, gloating over the blow that would clench
his victory.
"Not by a darn sight!" yelled Stamford, hurdling a fallen chair and

kicking with all his might at the uplifted wrist.
Alkali uttered a howl of real pain and clambered to his feet. To

Stamford's bewilderment Muck followed him, grinning, but sidling between
the irate Alkali and his new foe. The injured man cursed volubly, holding
his wrist with the other hand, then he plunged toward his gun, which lay on
the table. But Bean Slade's long leg flashed out, and the gun rattled away to
a corner.
"Yu got what was comin' tuh yu, you goat. Swallow yer medicine.
Thought yu was puttin' it over on the li'l fellow, eh? Looks 's if he's got the
last laugh."
"He's broke my wrist!" howled Alkali, hopping about.
"Get out!" jeered Bean. "Yer shure a soft bad-man. A li'l scrunt like him
put yu out o' business! Haw! Haw!"
Stamford was squirming beneath a burden of chagrin at the revelation
that all the time they had been poking fun at the tenderfoot.
"Funny thing, feet!" he murmured, contemplating his small shoes.
"Darn funny!" growled Dakota.
Stamford slept at the ranch-house and took his meals in the cook-house.
It suited him perfectly—in spite of flies and mosquitoes. His search for
health was accepted without question among cowboys who imagined that
poor health was the curse of every tenderfoot, the dose being multiplied in
one of such limited proportions. General Jones expressed the conviction
that a month of roughing it would make him so eager for "home and
mother" that bad health would look attractive by comparison; and Bean
slyly suggested that what Stamford needed to buck him up was a few more
rough-and-tumbles like the lickin' he gave Alkali.
Dakota looked into his guileless eyes and ridiculed himself for having
tried to get rid of him.
Early next morning, before Stamford had made up for the sleeplessness
of the first part of the night in a lone house on the prairie, surrounded by a
million shrieking coyotes, a conference took place in the cook-house. The
result of it was reported in part to him by the information that he and Bean
Slade and the cook would have the ranch to themselves for the next few
days. Stamford asked a few questions, but his ignorance of ranching
deprived the replies of most of their significance. For four days, therefore,
he and Bean developed the strange friendship that had commenced with
Dakota's personal attack in the shooting-up of Medicine Hat, and had been
strengthened by the scenes of his first evening on the ranch.
At the end of that time Dakota returned with three strange cowboys in
the best of spirits. The three strangers, Stamford learned, were other
members of the outfit whose work was in more intimate touch with the
herds.
"Ten bucks for you, Bean!" Dakota announced jubilantly.

Stamford looked his enquiry.
"He's raisin' my wages fer lookin' after you," Bean explained; and
everyone laughed.
CHAPTER IX
COCKNEY'S MYSTERIOUS RIDE
Long after midnight of the short summer night, Cockney Aikens and his
wife drove up to the Provincial Hotel, the team in a lather but Pink Eye with
lots of the devil left. Mary climbed down and pounded up the night clerk,
and Cockney, given the stable key, took the team back himself.
As he emerged from the lane leading to the stables, a Mounted

Policeman, riding in late from patrol, pulled up before him and stooped to
see his face.
"What's on at this hour, Cockney?"
The big rancher straightened furiously.
"Say! Some day I want to get somewhere where a bunch of interfering

red-coats aren't dogging my steps."
The Policeman laughed. "I'm afraid you'll have trouble doing that in this
country."
"Then I'll go back home, where a man's his own boss."
"It didn't seem to suit you so well when you were there."
"What do you mean?" Cockney's tone was almost a bellow.

"Sh-h!" soothed the Policeman. "Everyone's in bed but ourselves. I
suppose if you'd liked England so well you'd have stayed there. No one in
Canada sent for you, did they?"
Cockney wheeled about and stalked up the Provincial steps, the

Policeman watching him until the door closed behind him.
Cockney Aikens hated the Mounted Police. In all his life nothing had so
roused the depths of hatred usually dormant in his big body. If one came
within sight he swore beneath his breath—or aloud, according to the
company. He thought and spoke the worst of them, and his unqualified
dislike was unwilling to accord them any credit, would grant no
conceivable purpose they fulfilled. On the trail he passed them without so
much as nodding, and the very few patrols that wandered at long intervals
to the vicinity of the H-Lazy Z avoided the sullen hospitality of its owner.
The cause of this settled hatred was as simple and unreasonable as that
which lay at the root of most of Cockney's emotions.
Early in his career in the Medicine Hat district, when he was "going the
pace" more recklessly than since his marriage, one of his uncontrolled
orgies of drinking and gambling had brought him hard against the red-coats,
and he had learned what a ruthless wall they are for wrong-doers to butt
against.
Medicine Hat was not a wild town, as cow-towns go. Drinking that
threw a man on the street in a condition dangerous to himself or others was
discouraged with a firm hand, but gambling, so long as it kept under cover,
was winked at by the town policeman as the least objectionable of the many
vices common to a section that lived largely on its nerve.
Whether there was more in it than that for the policeman was open to
question. Poker, and other card games of less skill and more manipulation,
were available to anyone who knew the ropes. A daring stranger to town
had reported to a local friend, who happened to be an usher in the Methodist
Church, that the town policeman himself had directed him to a game in
progress—but this was challenged when it came up before the town
council. One resort, the basement under a barber shop on Toronto Street,
was Cockney's favourite den; and, with the gambling instincts of the
Englishman, and copious additions developed within himself, his evenings
in the fetid atmosphere of smoke and whisky were times of fever to more
than himself.
One night, unlucky, urged to stake more than he had ready money to
meet, he emerged from the den in a vile temper, convinced that the cards
had been stacked but unable to prove it before a crowd of blood-suckers
frankly hostile to him. At the moment the town policeman happened to be
on his rounds in that quarter, and in sheer wantonness, Cockney banged his
helmet into the roadway; and when the policeman seemed to show
resentment, he was tossed after his helmet. But a Western policeman, town
or Mounted, faces such contingencies with the donning of his uniform, and
Mason returned to the attack with drawn baton. Mason, baton and all,
proved scarcely exercise for big Cockney Aikens.
Unfortunately two Mounted Policemen, attracted by the crowd that had

trickled up from nowhere, arrived on the scene.
It was a brave struggle while it lasted, and four bodies ached from it for
several days, but it ended with Cockney securely locked in the cells. In the
cells! The big fellow came to himself and cried like a child.
But his shame was only commencing. Next morning the scene of his
disgrace was transferred to the police court, where Cockney, with bowed
head, scarcely heard the sentence of fifty dollars or thirty days. He realised
it when he discovered that his account at the bank was drained to the last
ten dollars to pay the fine, owing to heavy recent drafts thereon in
settlement of his winter accounts and the purchase of new stock for the
ranch.
And there remained unpaid his gambling losses of the previous night.
That was most terrible of all. When that afternoon he slunk from town
with forty dollars of gambling debts recognised only in IOU's, his shame
was complete.
In his mind the Mounted Police were entirely to blame. Before they
interfered he was having only an exhilarating frolic with Mason. It was that
strange hold of one of the red-coats—it almost broke his neck, and twisted
his arm so that it still ached—that did the thing.
And so, with the capacity for stubborn hatred that required much rousing
but defied conciliation, he never forgave them. They had besmirched his
honour—for four months he was ashamed to show himself in the den under
the barber shop—and nothing could remove the stain. He would grind his
teeth and swear that if a Mounted Policeman were dying at his feet for a
glass of water he would not stoop to give it to him.
When Cockney entered their bedroom in the hotel he was too angry to
speak. Mary was waiting for him, thoughtfully rocking in an old rocker that
was supposed to make cosy a room that had outlasted its decorations and
furnishings years ago. He glanced at her swiftly, but whatever she had in
mind, his sullen mood seemed to alter it.
The clerk knocked and enquired if anything was wanted.
"Yes," cried Cockney, "a big whisky—straight."
His wife studied him anxiously as she went about preparing to retire.
The hideous life that would be hers for the next few days was commencing
earlier than usual. Yet she was thankful to be there to look after him.
Me seized the glass when it was handed through the crack of the door,
stared at it a second, and placed it on the washstand untouched.
"I'll be away for a few days," he told Mary casually, as he washed.

"You'd better sleep in; it's been a stiff day for you."
"You've had seventy miles of Pink Eye to hold," she reminded him. "You
need the rest more than I do."
He laughed bitterly. "Rest? There's no rest for me now for—maybe for

months. I'll be back about—about Saturday, I think."
She knew the folly of asking questions, but she noticed that the whisky
was not touched.
She seemed to have been asleep only a few minutes when she felt him
lean over and gently kiss her. She did not open her eyes until he was fully
dressed in his ranch clothes.
"Don't worry," he muttered, seeing she was awake; and went out on
tiptoe. Though it was broad daylight, no one was yet stirring about the
hotel.
When she awakened later and realised how thoughtlessly in her

weariness she had let him go without trying to wring from him his
destination, she dressed hurriedly and went to the stables. Pink Eye was
gone—Pink Eye, like his master, untirable. It made her thoughtful, and with
thought came a sigh that deepened the lines about her eyes.
On Saturday he returned. He rode quietly into the stable yard, handed his
horse to the ostler, and sought his room. He was clear-eyed, but heavy with
fatigue. Without undressing he dropped to the bed and was asleep before
Mary could draw the curtains.
Out in the stable Pink Eye was as weary as his master.
Mary Aikens went into the streets, and in the post office heard the latest
gossip—a new case of cattle-thieving off toward Irvine. For hours she
walked up and down the streets with a terrible ache at her heart.
That night her husband sent her to a show in the "opera house," while he
broke loose up in the Toronto Street den and lined the pockets of the usual
sharpers on the look-out for reckless fools. Through a wretched
performance she sat without grasping even its general idea, miserable,
lonely, trembling with indecision. On her return to the hotel she borrowed a
railway time-table from the hotel clerk and took it to her room. For a long
time she sat rocking, staring into space, her face pale, her little fists
clenched in the fight she was making, and at last carried the time-table
down unopened.
She hungered to get away from it all, to sink her streaming eyes in a
mother's lap, to feel about her arms that sympathised without questioning.
But her pride, and a curious feeling about Jim, kept her to the duty she had
undertaken when she stood beside Jim Aikens at the altar.
CHAPTER X
STAMFORD'S SURPRISES COMMENCE
Cockney and Mary Aikens returned home to find Morton Stamford

established at the ranch. He had enlisted Bean Slade's special interest in an
effort to maintain himself in a saddle long enough to sink asleep at night,
sore but happy, with the thrill of having ridden a horse. For his use Bean
had selected a broncho burdened with the name of Hobbles, "because she
acts that way," Bean explained. Not a cowboy on the ranch would bind
himself to Hobbles' limited capacities—more correctly, to Hobbles' mild
manner of getting about. When Stamford had learned that the horn was not
a handle, he discovered, as he thought, unsuspected resources in Hobbles.
He confided it to Bean.
"Humph!" replied the cowboy. "Yu can't tell me nothin' about Hobbles'
speed. She can cover the ground, but look at the way she does it. No self-
respectin' cow-puncher wants to get about in a rocking-chair—an' that's
about how much life she has."
So Stamford was content to reserve Hobbles' unconventionalities for

himself, convinced that under his developing horsemanship Hobbles and he
might yet be able to face a ten-mile ride without quailing.
His reception by his host and hostess was bewildering in its fluctuations.
At first Mary welcomed him with enthusiasm that was almost pathetic.
Cockney closed his lips and went about the chores in the house necessary
after a protracted absence.
"I guess the Provincial meals got too much for me," Stamford explained.
"My doctor prescribed rest, exercise, no worry. It's the cheapest treatment I
ever took. I remembered your invitation, Mrs. Aikens."
Cockney examined his wife with raised brows.
"Or rather," Stamford hastened to correct, "the invitation I twisted your

words into that day at Dunmore Junction. Already I feel rewarded, not only
in a new vigour that has made me almost reckless——"
"Don't let your recklessness run away with you." advised Cockney
quietly, pausing in his efforts to blow the kitchen fire into a flame.
"Already," continued Stamford, "I can ride—ride. At least, to-day I stuck

to Hobbles for ten minutes, and almost chose my spot to fall on. Only I
didn't see the cactus. If you don't mind, I'll eat off the piano to-night."
"I can assure you, Mr. Stamford," said Mrs. Aikens, "that the H-Lazy Z
will be your debtor as long as you can stay. Jim will say the same."
But Jim did not say the same—at least not then. Though Bean Slade and
the cook had arrived from the cook-house, Cockney bore the brunt of the
kitchen fire. He remained bent over it, blowing and watching, until the
flame burned bright.
"There isn't a ranch in the country closed to strangers at any time," he

said, slowly rising from his knees and bending to brush them off.
A sensible embarrassment filled the room. Stamford felt the chill of it,
but the look he surprised on Mary Aikens' face prompted him to ignore it.
"Of course there's danger of a tenderfoot out-Westing the West when he

gets started," he said lightly.
"Don't worry," said Cockney, more genially. "We'll hold you to the
conventions."
Stamford was indignant inwardly. Though he had made himself
Cockney's guest to prove his faith in his host justified, he felt a twinge of
shame at accepting such lukewarm hospitality.
"You know, Mary, I thought I noticed a difference in the last issue of the
Journal." Cockney's spirits were unaccountably rising. "It seemed newsier,
better written."
"I suppose," said Stamford, "like an old employer of mine, you consider
editors necessary evils to justify the existence of the advertising man. Smith
will get along all right with the Journal. I figured that an anæmic paper for
a few weeks is better than a dead editor for a long time—at least from my
point of view. In my efforts to uplift Western journalism I seem to have
pitted a puny constitution against a vigorous tradition that all stomachs look
alike to the Provincial. This little body was beginning to buck."
Mary Aikens had brought from town another visitor, a small fox-terrier
that Cockney had picked up somewhere, he did not remember where. He
only knew that when he woke one morning he was forty-seven dollars out
and a fox-terrier in. Mary was delighted. It surprised her that she had not
thought of it before. Cockney was less enthusiastic. He was oppressed with
sundry misgivings of the manner in which he had come by the dog, and out
there on the Red Deer was no place for a miserable little creature no decent
coyote would make two bites of.
Imp had accepted the ranch from the moment of his arrival as his own
special possession, and its occupants as created for his exclusive
amusement. He was as keenly interested in the rousing of the kitchen fire as
was Cockney, considered Bean Slade a rather boring plaything, favoured
Stamford with a tentative sniff, but for his mistress had a deep though
undemonstrative affection.
Dakota Fraley lounged over from the bunk-house and stood in the front
doorway, tapping on the frame to attract attention.
"Here's something you'll be interested in, Dakota," called Mrs. Aikens. "I
managed to get a couple of Montana papers for you. Why, look at Imp!"
Imp, christened more in hope than descriptively, was crawling to
Dakota's feet, head outstretched, tail invisible.
Dakota smiled. "They all do it. Never seen the dog yet didn't get on his
belly to me. Here! Up you get! Better go back to your missus; she's
jealous."
The dog raised himself obediently, but with cringing body, and slunk
back to Mrs. Aikens, where he seated himself sideways in the shadow of her
skirts, watching Dakota.
"Just came to tell you, Mr. Aikens, that I'd best get Pink Eye out of
harness instanter or he'll get himself out, and mess up the ranch in doing it."
Stamford remembered then that, in the fever of his new ranch life, he
had forgotten to shave that day. He excused himself and retired to his room,
which adjoined the sitting-room on the ground floor. Cockney went with
Dakota to the front door.
"Thanks, Dakota!" he was saying. "Pink Eye's going to make a driver all
right. I may use him a lot. He's got——"
The rest of the sentence was drowned in the closing of the door, but
more of their conversation came to Stamford through the open window.
"Get those cattle, Dakota?"
Dakota shouted to Pink Eye before replying:
"Found a dozen or so."
"Far away?"
"Down toward the railway—east."
The cowboy busied himself pulling Pink Eye to an even keel.
"Funny thing happened," he said. "Spooky rider got through the night-
hawks the first night and pretty near stampeded the bunch. General got a
shot at him—a big fellow, the boys say, riding a devil of a broncho—but we
couldn't find any trace of him when it got light.... We found some tracks
though," he added slowly.
There was an appreciable period of silence before Dakota went on: "I got
my eye peeled for him. He'll be bucking better shooting eyes than General's
next time."
The whip cracked and the buggy rattled off to the stables. Stamford,
peeping through the window, his cheeks in a lather, saw Cockney look after
the retreating team a moment, then strike away to the stables.
Shaved and freshly clad in a white tennis shirt, Stamford emerged from
his room and found Mary Aikens superintending the preparations for the
night meal. Bean Slade was peeling potatoes, a big grin on his blushing
face, and a large blue apron before him that Mary had insisted on tying
under his chin. The cook from the ranch cook-house was mixing something
on the table, while the mistress was diving into cupboards and shelves with
the stores she had brought from town.
She hastened to meet Stamford in the sitting-room, a strange constraint

in her manner. While she nervously set about laying the table, he occupied
himself with Imp. He wondered what she had to say to him that required so
much courage.
"I'm afraid you'll find time hang heavily on your hands here."
She was leaning across to straighten a corner of the tablecloth, and he

could not see her face.
"I'm not afraid of that," he replied, giving Imp a poke.
"We've—we've never had visitors before." A flush stole softly into her
cheeks. "You've selected the last ranch to suit your purpose—though it's
healthy enough, I suppose. The Double Bar-O now—there are young people
there. And the Circle-Arrow further east."
Apparently he was busy poking Imp's fat sides, but beneath his brows he
glanced at her again and again as she spoke. For some sudden reason she
did not wish him to stay. That suspicion determined his course.
"In five days," he declared, "there have been no premonitory twinges of

lonesomeness. And if, with only three of us on the ranch for three days
——"
"Only three? What do you mean?"
"Bean Slade, cookie, and I—that was all."
"Weren't—— Where were Dakota and the others?"
"Down south somewhere—Irvine way, I think they said, in search of

strays."
"O-oh!"
She stopped on her way to the kitchen and turned into her bedroom.
Stamford became suddenly aware of Bean Slade's lanky, blue-aproned

figure lolling in the kitchen doorway.
"Yer shure lucky," said Bean, "gettin' the missus to cook yer meals,
'stead o' cookie. Mebbe we'll miss yu—fer the meals. Not to say cookie here
ain't a real shuff when he likes, but he don't like nowhar 'ceptin' here at the
ranch-house. Look at that, now!" He turned to watch the cook relentlessly
pursue a stray fly that had managed to squirm through the screen door at the
back, where a great number of its fellows, attracted by the odour and heat,
were jealously prying about for entrance. "One measly li'l insec' gi's him the
pip here; out at the cook-house he can sarve flies twenty-seven different
ways without overlappin'. But lookee here, Mr. Stamford"—he leaned into
the room and spoke in a whisper—"don't yu go fer to tell all yu heard us
croakin' out there. The boss mightn't like it."
Stamford felt a glow of elation that Bean, in his innocence, had

furnished him with a clue, but before he could follow it up, Mary Aikens
came thoughtfully back and went about her work. Bean slunk back into the
kitchen and nosed about for his own special fly.
Mary was in the act of reaching to a cupboard, when her hand stopped
and she turned to the window. An exciting sense of nervousness and unrest
about the ranch made Stamford's heart leap. He moved restlessly in his
chair.
"Listen!"
The dull thud of hoofs and the rattle of wheels drew them both to the
door. A buckboard was coming drunkenly down the eastern trail, its horses,
under the direction of an inexpert—or drunken—driver, uncertain of what
was expected of them. The smallest deviation from the beaten track meant
that one horse was mounting the ridge and the other the prairie at the side,
the wheels following them in jerks from the deep ruts in the black loam
worn by the unanimous track of every previous vehicle and horse.
CHAPTER XI
THE FOSSIL-HUNTERS
Stamford raised his eyes from the wobbling wheels to the seat of the
buckboard. Instantly he felt, rather than saw, that it was the Professor and
his sister. Beside him Mary Aikens was puzzled, with a nervous mingling of
surprise and amusement. With the instinct of her sex her hand went to her
dark hair, and a quick eye fell to the spotless apron and moved on to her
neatly clad feet.
When the buckboard was near enough to make out the Professor's
extended hands on the lines, his fierce concentration on the horses' ears, his
braced feet, and the threatening bounce of his body as the wheel mounted
the ridge, the spectators in the ranch-house could not control their laughter.
For the sake of politeness Mary temporarily withdrew.
With several stentorian and anxious "whoas" the buckboard came to a

stop at the end of the gravel walk, and Isabel Bulkeley, with a sigh of relief,
bounded out.
"Amos," she announced, "hereafter I drive."
The Professor, an amusing figure of mingled satisfaction and relief,

protested.
"Now I think I did that rather well. Take the exact end of the walk and
the centre of the buggy—I'm not more than a yard or two out. It's that left
horse that dislikes me. I feel as if I must expend myself on that line—and
the other horse responds too. When I get time I'm going to invent a separate
line for each horse—if only for the use of amateurs. As it is now, if one
horse is of a contrary disposition——"
He had leaped over the wheel and was diving a hand into a box in the
back of the buckboard, rummaging among bits of rock.
"Isabel! Isabel Bulkeley! Where's that Allosaurus vertebra? Oh—yes,

here it is. Goodness, how it frightened me!" He raised his head and beamed
on them through his large spectacles. "Do you know, I don't believe I've lost
a thing—except confidence in my driving."
An enormous handkerchief emerged from his coat pocket and mopped

his forehead. The hand that held the lines gripped them so firmly that the
horses were backing on him.
"Whoa!" he shouted, pulling harder. "Mr.—Mr. Stamford, will you give

to this equine problem the touch I seem to lack? If you don't, I'm going to
drop these flimsy bits of leather and take the brutes in my arms.
"Some day," he went on, when Stamford had taken the reins, "I hope
posterity will unearth the bones of that brute on the left—and grind them to
dust. Yes, I do. Sometimes I can be really blood-thirsty. But," he grinned, "I
wouldn't be surprised if they found mine at the same time, with Gee-Gee—
what funny names you give your horses!—with Gee-Gee sitting on my
chest enjoying his last laugh."
Mary Aikens, her eyes brimming with tears, had rushed to meet Isabel
with a hungry welcome that was pathetic, seizing her hand in both her own;
and Isabel, after a moment of surprise she could not conceal, flushed a little
and responded with moisture in her eyes. But the few moments of the
Professor's dilemmas had served to conceal the little scene that recorded
more of the story of Mary Aikens' lonely life than she would willingly have
exposed.
They were standing now, hand in hand, laughing on the two men. To
Mary it was enough that, for the first time, another woman was to cross the
threshold of the H-Lazy Z. Isabel was still, Stamford thought, the fond
sister who took as much amusement as anyone from her brother's
artlessness.
She turned to her hostess. "This is not merely a flying visit, Mrs. Aikens.
Amos—my brother—was dissatisfied with his searching down the river. We
hoped you wouldn't mind letting us camp on your ranch here while he
pokes about the banks."
Beside the buckboard Professor Bulkeley was making the same request
of Cockney, who had come hurriedly up from the stables.
"The Double Bar-O—that is, I believe, the technical name—seems to

have been unpopular among dying dinosaurs and their forbears. Whether
one should infer from that that they avoided the locality as unhealthy, or
found it so healthy they couldn't die there, does not appear in the evidence.
All I found there we know as much about already as about last year's
weather or the origin of mumps. The further I prodded west, the more
promising the outlook. This bit of bone, for instance, is, I believe, of the
Upper Jurassic period. The Double Bar-O region is by comparison
disreputably modern—not earlier than the Miocene. This bone appears to be
blood-cousin to a megalosaurus we received once from England. It has all
the——"

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Edited by Pankaj K. Choudhury

ISBN: 978-0-367-50508-0 (hbk)

Chapter 1 Progress in Metamaterial and Metasurface Technology and

Chapter 2 Review of Effective Medium Theory and Parametric Retrieval

2.3.4 Simulation and Experimental Validation of

Chapter 3 Engineered Metamaterials through the Material-by-Design

Chapter 4 Tunable Metamaterials ...................................................................83

4.5 Flexible Metamaterials .........................................................101

Chapter 5 Metamaterials-based Near-perfect Absorbers in the Visible

Chapter 6 Advances in Metamaterials in Conventional Low-frequency

6.6 Conclusions and Perspective ................................................162

Chapter 7 Photonic Metamaterials ................................................................ 169

Chapter 8 Active Hyperbolic Metamaterials and Their Applications:

Chapter 9 Graphene-supported Nanoengineered Metamaterials –

Chapter 10 Asymmetric Split-H Based Metasurfaces for Identification of

Chapter 11 Acoustic Spoof Surface Waves Control in Corrugated

Chapter 12 The Principle of Miniaturization of Microwave Patch

12.3.2 Main Relations for Evaluating the Performance

Chapter 13 Review of Metamaterial-assisted Vacuum Electron

theoretical background and strategies to achieve metamaterial-based near-perfect

characteristics and functionalities of metamaterials. Such artificial material is rea­

where n2 = r r and Ψ represent the electric or magnetic field.

1.2 DEVELOPMENT OF METAMATERIAL TECHNOLOGY – FROM

1.2.1 MICROWAVE TO INFRARED METAMATERIAL

LR 41.5 1.000 0.670

avoid bi-anisotropic effects. In inter-digital capacitor loaded ring resonator (ICRR),

1.2.2 OPTICAL METAMATERIAL

1.2.4 ALL-DIELECTRIC METAMATERIAL

is controlled as opposed to conventional photonic devices, which manipulate

metamaterial having hyperbolic dispersion characteristics in which the en­

1.3 APPLICATION SCENARIO OF METAMATERIALS

FIGURE 1.14 Demonstration of cloaking. (a) First cloaking device at microwave

FIGURE 1.15 Concept of carpet cloaking [ 7].

refractive index in 2001 at UCSD (USA). Following this, the applications of

Property CRLH BPF Edge coupled BPF

In addition to this, a waveguide-loaded SRR is also capable of exhibiting pass-

FIGURE 1.19 Metamaterial-based microwave passive components [ 7].

THz sensors are now using metamaterial assistance to significantly improve

FIGURE 1.22 Structure of bi-material THz sensor using metamaterial absorber.

the incoming THz radiation to heat, which is eventually transmitted by conduction

1.4 METASURFACES AND APPLICATION POTENTIALS

Metamaterials are difficult to fabricate because a useful and practical metama­

FIGURE 1.24 Metasurface vs. metamaterial. (a) periodic structure of metamaterial

surface refractive index provided by metasurfaces can also be applied to lenses. In

1.4.1 APPLICATIONS OF METASURFACES

non-linear response and tunable resonant frequency. A tunable metasurface ab­

1.4.1.2 Transformation Optics Applications

1.4.1.3 Metasurface in Antenna Design

characteristics and functionalities of metamaterials. Such artificial material is rea

metamaterial having hyperbolic dispersion characteristics in which the en

Metamaterials are difficult to fabricate because a useful and practical metama

non-linear response and tunable resonant frequency. A tunable metasurface ab