THE CORRECT CONSTITUTIVE RELATIONS OF CHIROPLASMAS AND CHIROFERRITES

Chiroplasmas and chiroferrites were originally theoretically conceptua lized as media which combine the properties of isotropic chiral media with those of dielectric / magnetic gyrotropic media. We clarify here a problem concerning the correct characterization of such media throug h their frequency-domain constitutive relations. Furthermore, we show that a homogenized composite medium with isotropic chiral and gyrotrop ic component media is considerably more complicated than envisioned: c hiroplasmas and chiroferrites must be bianisotropic, combining gyrotro pic dielectric / magnetic with gyrotropic-like magnetoelectric propert ies. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.