The propagation of plane waves in a Faraday chiral medium is investigated.
Conditions for the phase velocity to be directed opposite to the direction of
power flow are derived for propagation in an arbitrary direction; simplified
conditions which apply to propagation parallel to the distinguished axis are
also established. These negative phase-velocity conditions are explored
numerically using a representative Faraday chiral medium, arising from the
homogenization of an isotropic chiral medium and a magnetically biased ferrite.
It is demonstrated that the phase velocity may be directed opposite to power
flow, provided that the gyrotropic parameter of the ferrite component medium is
sufficiently large compared with the corresponding nongyrotropic permeability
parameters.Comment: accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.