%0 Journal Article %T Broadband Epsilon-Near-Zero Metamaterials with Step-Like Metal-Dielectric Multilayer Structures %A Lei Sun %A Jie Gao %A Xiaodong Yang %J Physics %D 2013 %I arXiv %R 10.1103/PhysRevB.87.165134 %X The concept of the broadband epsilon-near-zero meta-atom consisting of layered stacks with specified metallic filling ratio and thickness is proposed based on the Bergman spectral representation of the effective permittivity. The step-like metal-dielectric multilayer structures are designed to achieve realistic broadband epsilon-near-zero meta-atoms in optical frequency range. These meta-atoms can be integrated as building blocks for unconventional optical components with exotic electromagnetic properties over a wide frequency range, such as the demonstrated broadband directional emission and phase front shaping. %U http://arxiv.org/abs/1304.6634v1