  We consider the extension of optical meta-materials to matter waves. We show
that the generic property of pulsed comoving magnetic fields allows us to
fashion the wave-number dependence of the atomic phase shift. It can be used to
produce a transient negative group velocity of an atomic wave packet, which
results into a negative refraction of the matter wave. Application to slow
metastable argon atoms Ar*(3P2) shows that the device is able to operate either
as an efficient beam splitter or an atomic meta-lens. Implications of
"meta-media" in atom optics are considered.
