  A bulk left-handed metamaterial with fishnet structure is investigated to
show the optical loss compensation via surface plasmon amplification, with the
assistance of a Gaussian gain in PbS quantum dots. The optical resonance
enhancement around 200 THz is confirmed by the retrieval method. By exploring
the dependence of propagation loss on the gain coefficient and metamaterial
thickness, we verify numerically that the left-handed response can endure a
large propagation thickness with ultralow and stable loss under a certain gain
coefficient.
