Minimum energy principle of coupled metamaterials

Abstract

The minimum energy principle is the most fundamental principle in physical systems, which is that the evolution of physical systems always tends toward the minimum energy states. Coupled mode theory in metamaterials describes the energy interaction between structures and modes in metamaterials. In this paper, we investigate why the coupled mode theory arises from the minimum energy principle. We theoretically demonstrate our finding from the coupled mode theory and illustrate the full-wave simulations and experiments from the transmission spectra.