title: Left-handed properties of erbium-doped crystals.
abstract: We show that lanthanide-doped crystals can be made left handed for a finite spectral range. The electronic transitions in the dopant ions are both dipolar electric and dipolar magnetic allowed. This enables tuning the permittivity and the permeability at the same frequency. The analysis focuses on erbium-doped crystals where left-handed properties are predicted inside an experimentally reachable domain of parameters.
authors.affiliation: Optique Nonlinéaire Théorique, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Campus Plaine CP 231, 1050 Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium. quentin.thommen@phlam.univ-lille1.fr
authors.forename: Quentin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Thommen
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mandel