AbstractThe guided dispersion characteristics of the fundamental symmetric and asymmetric modes of surface waves along single- and double-negative indexed slab waveguides are investigated, and a comparative analysis made when varying the single- and double-negative permittivity and permeability. While the values of the permittivity and permeability of the slab region are varied to obtain a salient picture of the guided dispersion characteristics, identical absolute product values are used for both slab cases to facilitate a reasonable comparison. In particular, in common ranges where guided mode solutions coexist for both the single- and double-negative indexed slabs, the guided mode characteristics are similar with a lower normalized frequency regime, indicating that the sign of the material parameters has a negligible effect, whereas the characteristics become quite different as the normalized frequency increases. Some other anomalous guided dispersion properties are also discussed and compared with previously reported results.