We present a computational approach, allowing for a self-consistent treatment of three-dimensional fishnet metamaterial coupled to a gain material incorporated into the nanostructure. We show numerically that one can compensate the losses by incorporating gain material inside the fishnet structure. The pump rate needed to compensate the loss is much smaller than the bulk gain and the figure of merit $\left[\text{FOM}=\left|\text{Re}\left(n\right)/\text{Im}\left(n\right)\right|\right]$ increases dramatically with the pump rate. Transmission, reflection, and absorption data, as well as the retrieved effective parameters, are presented for the fishnet structure with and without gain material. Kramers-Kronig relations of the effective parameters are in excellent agreement with the retrieved results with gain.

• Received 23 July 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.82.121102