VOLUME 78, NUMBER 21 PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 26 MAY 1997

Pendry et al. Reply: The effect we describe of a plasma I can see no logical justification for the identification
oscillation generated in the 3D lattice of wires is essen- made in (3). Why is the wave vector to be frozen at pya
tially and irreducibly a three dimensional problem: the when our Letter gives a theory for all wave vectors?
wires couple together extremely strongly and the result- Finally it is worth emphasizing that in our original Let-
ing plasmon is not at all related to the 1D version quoted ter [2] our formula for the plasma frequency was com-
by Mikhailov [1] for a single cylinder. In our theory [2] pared to a completely independent numerical solution of
the dispersion relation for a plasmon, wave vector q, is Maxwells equations and agreed within better than 5%.
truly analogous to a bulk plasmon in a metal, More recently we have conducted microwave transmis-
2pc02 sion experiments on wire structures and a similar level of
vp2 sqd . (1) agreement is found with the theory. The weight of evi-
a2 lnsayrd dence does appear to be on our side.
Note that this is a longitudinal mode and that the
frequency is independent of the wave vector q. J. B. Pendry
In contrast the formula that Mikhailov quotes could not The Blackett Laboratory
be more different, Imperial College
London SW7 2BZ, United Kingdom
n1D e2 2
2
vmel sqd q lnf1yqrg , (2)
0 meff A. J. Holden and W. J. Stewart
GEC-Marconi Materials Technology Ltd.
and shows rather strong dispersion with q. However he
Caswell, Towcester, Northamptonshire NN12 8EQ
then identifies the lattice spacing of our wires a with his United Kingdom
wave vector q through
q pya 3 integer . (3) I. Youngs
Defence Research Agency Holton Heath
Thus by a sleight of hand he eliminates the q dependence Poole, Dorset BH16 6JU, United Kingdom
2
of vmel . Even so the expression he obtains still falls short
of our expression by a factor of Received 30 August 1996 [S0031-9007(97)03156-6]
ln2 sayrd . (4) PACS numbers: 61.85.+ p, 41.20.Jb, 77.22.d, 84.90. +a

This factor is an important ingredient in our structure for

reasons explained in the original Letter. It is not small: [1] S. A. Mikhailov, preceding Comment, Phys. Rev. Lett. 78,
for our example, r 1 mm, a 5 mm, it would be 72.5. 4135 (1997).
It results from the self-inductance of the wires and is not [2] J. B. Pendry, A. J. Holden, W. J. Stewart, and I. Youngs,
related to retardation as claimed in the Comment. Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 4773 (1996).

4136 0031-9007y97y78(21)y4136(1)$10.00 1997 The American Physical Society