The local electric field distribution has been investigated in a core-shell
cylindrical metamaterial structure under the illumination of a uniform incident
optical field. The structure consists of a homogeneous dielectric core, a shell
of graded metal-dielectric metamaterial, embedded in a uniform matrix. In the
quasi-static limit, the permittivity of the metamaterial is given by the graded
Drude model. The local electric potentials and hence the electric fields have
been derived exactly and analytically in terms of hyper-geometric functions.
Our results showed that the peak of the electric field inside the cylindrical
shell can be confined in a desired position by varying the frequency of the
optical field and the parameters of the graded profiles. Thus, by fabricating
graded metamaterials, it is possible to control electric field distribution
spatially. We offer an intuitive explanation for the gradation-controlled
electric field distribution