Electrodynamics of magnetoelectric media and magnetoelectric fields

Abstract: The relationship between magnetoelectricity and electromagnetism is a subject of a strong interest and numerous discussions in microwave and optical wave physics and material sciences. The definition of the energy and momentum of the electromagnetic (EM) field in a magnetoelectric (ME) medium is not a trivial problem. The question of whether electromagnetism and magnetoelectricity can coexist without an extension of Maxwell theory arises when we study the effects of EM energy propagation and consider group velocity of the waves in a ME medium. The energy balance equation reveals unusual topological structure of fields in ME materials. Together with certain constraints on the constitutive parameters of a medium, definite constraints on the local field structure should be imposed. Analyzing the EM phenomena inside a ME material, we should answer the question: what kind of the near fields arising from a sample of such a material can we measure? Visualization of the ME states requires an experimental technique that is based on an effective coupling to the violation of spatial as well as temporal inversion symmetry. To observe the ME energy in a subwavelength region, it is necessary to assume the existence of first principle near fields, the ME fields. These are non Maxwellian near fields with specific properties of violation of spatial and temporal inversion symmetry. A particular interest to the ME fields arises in studies of metamaterials with artificial atoms ME elements.