Abstract
A new approach for categorizing metamaterials and metasurfaces, which is based on their equivalent dielectric representation, is presented in this paper. The first step in this process is to replace the unit cell of the metasurfaces by a permittivity tensor by using a procedure described in the paper. The procedure is general and is applicable to both isotropic and anisotropic metasurfaces. An important attribute of the present is that it enables one to reduce the simulation time significantly, by replacing the original metasurface, which typically has fine and/or multiscale features, with homogeneous equivalent dielectric materials that are much easier to deal with numerically than is the original metasurface.