Perfectly matched layer absorbing boundary condition for truncating the boundary of the left‐handed medium

The increasing interest in left-handed medium (LHM) requires a formulation capable of a full analysis of wave propagation in such materials. However, the conventional perfectly matched layer (PML) absorbing boundary condition (ABC) is unstable when it is extended to truncate the boundary of LHM. This is a consequence of the opposite directions of the Poynting and phase-velocity vectors of plane waves propagating in such material. In this paper, we derive a modified PML which is stable for the LHM. The effectiveness of the modified PML is demonstrated by the numerical results. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 48: 57–63, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.21260