This book presents a modern theory of so-called weak spatial dispersion (WSD) in composite media of optically small inclusions without natural magnetism and optical nonlinearity. WSD manifests in two important phenomena called bianisotropy and artificial magnetism, whose microscopic origin is thoroughly studied in this book. The theory of this book is applicable to the natural media with WSD, such as chiral materials. However, emphasis is given to artificial media, too, with the idea to engineer needed electromagnetic properties. The text describes a homogenization model of effectively continuous media with multipole electromagnetic response, taking into account the interface effects. Another model is developed for so-called metamaterials in which artificial magnetism can be a resonant phenomenon and may result in the violation of Maxwell’s boundary conditions and other challenges. The book will hopefully improve the understanding of WSD and help readers to correctly describe and characterize metamaterials.

Constantin Simovski is full professor at Aalto University (former Helsinki University of Technology), Finland. He has also held a position at ITMO University, Russia. Prof. Simovski has worked in both industry and universities in several countries. His current research is focused on new metamaterials for optical sensing and energy harvesting, advanced solar cells, radiative heat transfer and thermophotovoltaics, and homogenization and electromagnetic characterization of bulk metamaterials and metasurfaces.