We discuss electromagnetic modes in cavities formed by metamaterials with negative refraction and demonstrate that the straightforward approach to substitute negative values of the electric permittivity and the magnetic permeability leads to quasibound states with a negative quality factor. To ensure positive quality factors and a consistent physical interpretation of the quasibound states it is essential to include the frequency dispersion of the permittivity and the permeability, as required by positive field energy and causality. The basic mode equation and the boundary conditions including linear frequency dispersion are derived. As an example we consider a disklike cavity with deformed cross-sectional shape. The transition from the unphysical nondispersive case with negative quality factors to the dispersive case with positive quality factors is demonstrated numerically and in an analytical perturbative treatment.
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