Enhancement of lateral shift effect in a prism-waveguide system with lossy left-handed material by a loss compensation method

We study the large lateral shift in a prism-waveguide system with lossy left-handed material (LHM) guiding layer by use of a loss compensation method of cladding layer and substrate. The necessary conditions for the appearance of large lateral shift are obtained by theoretical analysis and simulation results demonstrate the validity of these conditions. Further calculation shows that in our system large lateral shift exhibits super-high sensitivity to the thickness change of cladding layer and substrate compared with other prism-waveguide systems with a guiding layer composed of thin metal or other ordinary materials.

► The large lateral shift is studied in a prism-waveguide system with lossy left-handed material.
► Lossy cladding and substrate are utilized to realize large lateral shift.
► Theoretical analysis and conditions for large lateral shift are deduced.
► Simulation results verify the prediction of large positive or negative lateral shift.