Optical properties of metal nanowires

Optical properties of metal nanowires and nanowire composite materials are studied experimentally and theoretically. We suggest that a nanowire composite, constructed from parallel pairs of nanowires has both effective magnetic permeability and dielectric permittivity negative in the visible and near-infrared spectral ranges due to resonant excitation of surface plasmon polaritons. Experimental results confirm excitation of surface plasmons polaritons in periodical array of nanowires.