Electromagnetic wave propagation in (bianisotropic) magnetoelectric materials

The propagation of electromagnetic plane waves in linear magnetoelectric materials is studied. The wave equation is derived as a generalized two-dimensional eigenvalue problem, and a method of calculating the propagating wave modes is presented. An analytic dispersion relation for general bianisotropic materials is given. Additionally, an analytic model is presented, which decomposes electric and magnetic fields into coupled and uncoupled components. This model provides a methodology for characterizing the coupled field parameters in terms of the polarizations induced by cross-coupling effects in magnetoelectric materials. From this formulation, the interactions of applied fields in magnetoelectric materials are contrasted with conventional material counterparts. This is then used to characterize the fields in terms of polarizations induced by the uncoupled components and cross-coupling parameters. Reciprocal and nonreciprocal configurations of magnetoelectric materials are identified. The similarities and differences of nonreciprocal magnetoelectric materials to Faraday materials are described. Directional dependence of the propagating modes is shown graphically and described.