Enhancing coherent nonlinear-optical processes in nonmagnetic backward-wave materials

Novel concepts of nonlinear-optical (NLO) photonic metamaterials (MMs) are proposed. They concern with greatly enhanced coherent NLO energy exchange between ordinary and backward waves (BWs) through the frequency-conversion processes. Two different classes of materials which support BWs are considered: crystals that support optical phonons with negative group velocity and MMs with specially engineered spatial dispersion. The possibility to replace plasmonic NLO MMs enabling magnetic response at optical frequencies, which are very challenging to engineer, by the ordinary readily available crystals, are discussed. The possibility to mimic extraordinary NLO frequency-conversion propagation processes attributed to negative-index MMs (NIMs) is shown in some of such crystals, if optical phonons with negative group velocity and a proper phase-matching geometry are implemented. Here, optical phonons are used as one of the coupled counterparts instead of backward electromagnetic waves (BEMWs). The appearance of BEMWs in metaslabs made of carbon nanotubes, the possibilities and extraordinary properties of BW second harmonic generation in such MMs is another option of nonmagnetic NIMs, which is described too. Among the applications of the proposed photonic materials is the possibility of creation of a family of unique BW photonic devices such as frequency doubling metamirror and Raman amplifiers with greatly improved efficiency.     

Negative group velocity and three-wave mixing in dielectric crystals

We investigate extraordinary features of optical parametric amplification of Stokes electromagnetic waves that originate from the three-wave mixing of a backward phonon wave with negative group velocity and two ordinary electromagnetic waves. Such properties were earlier shown to exist only in plasmonic negative-index metamaterials that are very challenging to fabricate. Nonlinear optical photonic devices with properties similar to those predicted for negative-index metamaterials are proposed.     

基于电磁超表面的透镜成像技术研究进展

电磁超表面属于超材料的一种,是由许多亚波长纳米结构单元组成的二维功能性平面结构.根据惠更斯原理,超表面阵列可以任意调控光波的相位、振幅和偏振.与传统器件相比,基于这种超材料设计的光学功能器件最大的优势是其具有极薄的厚度.本文首先介绍了广义斯涅耳定律以及纳米单元结构调控相位的基本原理,重点归纳了电磁超表面在透镜成像技术方面的研究进展,包括等离子体超表面、全介质超表面以及金属/介质混合式超表面在成像方面的应用,最后指出了超表面在成像方面尚未解决的前沿问题以及与实际应用接轨的重要问题,希望能为以后的深入研究提供一定的参考和借鉴.     

Source transformation device formed by one-dimensional photonic crystal

Photonic bandgap structures can also be utilized for the realization of transformational optical devices like metamaterials. In this Letter, the possibility of cylindrical to plane wave source transformation in an open cavity formed by one dimensional photonic crystal is demonstrated. It is observed that the gap solitary wave behavior at the near-bandgap regime is fair enough to produce highly directional plane waves out of the point source placed inside the open cavity. The limitations of such a source transformation device are governed by the strength of the bandgap that decides the amplitude of the emitted plane waves.     

超构表面高效调控电磁波

实现自由调控电磁波不仅具有重要的科学研究意义,而且是通讯、能源、国防等领域的迫切需求。为了解决自然材料调控电磁波能力受限的问题,人们提出了人工超构材料这一新概念,实现了负折射、光学隐身等奇异的电磁效应。然而,经过多年的发展,超构材料仍存在结构复杂、损耗偏高、难以集成调谐等挑战。最近,本团队与国际同行一起提出了超构表面的新概念。超构表面基于电磁波在平面微结构上散射时获得的界面相位突变,充分利用人工微结构的"排列序构"这一自由度,实现了对电磁波振幅、相位、偏振及波前分布的有效调控,克服了超构材料遇到的瓶颈问题。本文主要回顾了本团队在偏振调控、波前调控及动态调控等方面开展的创新性研究。     

拉曼效应对负折射介质中超短脉冲传输的影响

通过数值法对包含拉曼延迟响应的(3+1)维非线性薛定谔方程进行求解,研究了超短脉冲激光在负折射介质中传输时拉曼效应对自聚焦传输特性的影响,着重分析其不同与常规介质的反常传输现象.结果表明:由于负的折射率影响,拉曼效应将导致超短脉冲在自聚焦过程中频谱发生蓝移现象,这与常规介质对应情形相反;而它对负折射介质中超短脉冲的自聚焦特性的影响与常规介质相同,即拉曼效应将诱导自聚焦效应首先发生在脉冲的前沿.本文研究工作对将来利用负折射介质来操控超短光脉冲串产生、自聚焦等许多实际应用领域研究具有重要的指导意义.     

Phase effects at second-harmonic generation in metamaterials

We develop the theory of second-harmonic generation in metamaterials where fundamental radiation is considered in the constant-intensity approximation taking into account the phase changes of interacting waves. We investigate the second-harmonic wave intensity in metamaterials at different parameters of the problem under consideration. We consider a self-action effect of the light wave in metamaterials in view of the phase changes of all the interacting waves and compare this effect with an analogous effect in usual homogeneous quadratic media. We show that it is possible to change the phase velocity of the pump wave by varying such parameters as the pump intensity, nonlinear medium length, and phase mismatch between the interacting waves. The metamaterials under consideration provide a possibility to change the phase of the fundamental radiation of order of magnitude higher than those in the usual homogeneous quadratic media.     

Four-wave mixing, quantum control, and compensating losses in doped negative-index photonic metamaterials

The possibility of compensating absorption in negative-index metamaterials (NIMs) doped by resonant nonlinear-optical centers is shown. The role of quantum interference and the extraordinary properties of four-wave parametric amplification of counterpropagating electromagnetic waves in NIMs are discussed.     

平面金属等离激元美特材料对光学Tamm态及相关激射行为的增强作用

本文对具有类EIR色散特性的平面金属等离激元美特材料(planar plasmonic metamaterials, PPM)对光学Tamm态及相关激射行为的增强作用进行了研究. 我们首先运用传输矩阵方法分析了利用PPM结构的色散来增强光学Tamm态对应模式电磁局域密度的可能性. 其次, 我们将具有类EIR特性的PPM与一维光子晶体(photonic crystal, PC)合在一起设计了一种平面等离激元美特材料-光子晶体(PPM-PC)异质结构. 研究发现, 通过在电磁局域密度最高的PPM结构中(或附近)加入增益介质, 可观察到比通常光学Tamm态更强的激射增强效应及更明显的单色性响应. 这些特性使得这种PPM-PC结构有望被应用于低阈值激光器、荧光增强等方面.     

Waves in magnetic metamaterials with strong coupling of elements

The properties of magnetic metamaterials composed of microresonators have been studied. Coupling of meta-atoms induces magnetoinductive waves, which determine the features of propagation of electromagnetic radiation in metamaterials. The complication of the coupling mechanism due to the radiation when the element sizes decrease as frequencies tend to optical ones is discussed.     

Nonlinear optics of backward waves and extraordinary features of plasmonic nonlinear-optical microdevices

Extraordinary properties and unique features of coherent nonlinear-optical coupling of ordinary and backward electromagnetic waves in negative-index metamaterials are described and numerically simulated. The possibility for design of unique microscopic photonic devices and all-optical data processing chips is shown.     

Making structured metals transparent for ultrabroadband electromagnetic waves and acoustic waves

In this review, we present our recent work on making structured metals transparent for broadband electromagnetic waves and acoustic waves via excitation of surface waves. First, we theoretically show that one-dimensional metallic gratings can become transparent and completely antireflective for extremely broadband electromagnetic waves by relying on surface plasmons or spoof surface plasmons. Second, we experimentally demonstrate that metallic gratings with narrow slits are highly transparent for broadband terahertz waves at oblique incidence and high transmission efficiency is insensitive to the metal thickness. Further, we significantly develop oblique metal gratings transparent for broadband electromagnetic waves (including optical waves and terahertz ones) under normal incidence. In the third, we find the principles of broadband transparency for structured metals can be extended from one-dimensional metallic gratings to two-dimensional cases. Moreover, similar phenomena are found in sonic artificially metallic structures, which present the transparency for broadband acoustic waves. These investigations provide guidelines to develop many novel materials and devices, such as transparent conducting panels, antireflective solar cells, and other broadband metamaterials and stealth technologies.     

超构天线:原理、器件与应用

自从电磁波被发现和应用以来,利用各种材料或者结构调节电磁波的辐射行为、构造高性能的电磁辐射器件一直是研究人员的追求目标.经过百余年的发展,电磁辐射器件的方向性提高、带宽拓展等技术逐渐达到瓶颈.受自然材料电磁特性的限制,微带天线、喇叭天线等传统电磁辐射器件存在体积重量大、工作带宽窄、无法快速动态调控等缺陷,难以满足日益发展的通信技术的需求.近年来出现的亚波长结构可在深度亚波长尺度下调控电磁波的传输行为,出现了多种奇异的电磁现象,完善了传统的电磁学理论,在一定程度上突破了传统材料电磁特性的限制,形成全新的电磁辐射技术,有效解决了传统天线存在的口径大、厚度高、带宽窄等难题,促进了电磁学、光子学、材料学等领域的发展.这种基于超构材料的新型天线可以被称为超构天线,具有高方向性、低副瓣、超宽带、可重构等传统天线难以实现的功能.本文主要回顾了近年来基于亚波长超构材料的超构天线技术的发展现状和取得的成果,介绍了超构材料在亚波长尺度下对电磁波振幅、相位、偏振态等的衍射调控机理,以及在此基础上形成的新型辐射器件,例如相控阵天线、高方向性天线、低雷达散射截面天线,基于亚波长结构的多种偏振调控器件及其在天线中的应用等.在衍射极限尺度下,这种亚波长结构的调控行为可有效提升电磁辐射器件的方向性、带宽,并可重构天线的工作频率、偏振态等性能.     

Dynamic study and applications of metamaterial systems

We investigate the dynamic characteristics of metamaterial systems, such as the temporal coherence gain of the superlens, the causality limitation on the ideal cloaking systems, the relaxation process and essential elements in the dispersive cloaking systems, and the extending of the working frequency range of cloaking systems. The key point of our study is the physical dispersive properties of metamaterials, which are well-known to be intrinsically strongly dispersive. With physical dispersion, new physical pictures can be obtained for the waves propagating inside metamaterial, such as the “group retarded time” for waves inside the superlens and cloak, the causality limitation on real metamaterial systems, and the essential elements for design optimization. Therefore, we believe the dynamic study of metamaterials will be an important direction for further research. All theoretical derivations and conclusions are demonstrated by powerful finite-difference time-domain simulations.     

基于聚酰亚胺基底的太赫兹滤波器

超材料是通过人工方式做成的具有特殊电磁特性的亚波长周期性金属结构,通过合理的设计样品结构,可以实现自然界中传统材料无法实现的电磁现象。超材料可以广泛用于电磁隐身、完美吸收、负折射率等研究领域,近些年,随着太赫兹技术的发展,太赫兹超材料器件被广泛研究。由于硅（Si）对于太赫兹波的透过率较高,通常选取Si作为基底材料。但Si硬度较高、不易弯曲且易碎等缺点限制了THz超材料的应用。聚合物材料聚酰亚胺具有柔性,作为基底,克服了传统硅基底的缺点,透过率可以与Si匹敌,而且其表面光滑,适合传统光刻技术加工。对聚酰亚胺在太赫兹波段光学性质的测试结果表明,此种材料的折射率在1.9左右,透过率达到80%以上。设计了一种双开口谐振环结构,研究了其太赫兹波透射性质以及随太赫兹波的入射角度和样品曲率的变化规律,发现透射峰强度和峰位均不发生改变。此结果展示了将平面滤波延伸到曲面滤波领域的可能性,若将聚酰亚胺基底做薄,为今后太赫兹频段隐身衣的研究提供基础。将不同结构的两种样品叠加在一起制成宽谱滤波器, 50%的带宽达到181 GHz。此种宽带滤波器制作简单,滤波效果显著,为太赫兹波段宽带滤波器的制作提供一种新思路。     

A discrete model of damped acoustic metamaterials

For damped acoustic metamaterials, a discrete model is proposed in the form of a periodic structure with cells of the simplest type. The effective parameters of the model are determined by criteria based on the equality of dispersion of waves. The general properties of the model are studied. An example of one negative type of metamaterials is presented. The model is useful for analyzing wave properties and creating metamaterials with given acoustic properties.     

Fabrication of multilayer metamaterials by femtosecond laser‐induced forward‐transfer technique

A novel method based on femtosecond laser‐induced forward transfer for high‐throughput and efficient fabrication of periodic multilayer plasmonic metamaterials is demonstrated. With precisely controlling laser raster path applied on sputtered multilayer thin films, the laser‐ablated materials can be transferred to another substrate leaving the fabricated multilayer structure on the original substrate. Subsequently, three‐dimensional metamaterials can be made by multilayer structuring. Moreover, all the experimental results show that to create such multilayer split resonant rings (SRRs) with uniform profile, the laser fluence should be fine controlled under proper conditions. The optical property of fabricated multilayer SRR array is investigated by optical measurements and finite‐difference time‐domain simulations, showing various resonant modes in the middle‐IR region. The calculated induced current distributions exhibit rich resonance properties of the structures as well. This work markedly extends the laser direct writing technique to a wide application in fabricating complicated metamaterials and plasmonic devices efficiently.     

Raman Scattering Modification in Monolayer ReS_2 Controlled by Strain Engineering

Regulation of optical properties and electronic structure of two-dimensional layered ReS_2 materials has attracted much attention due to their potential in electronic devices.However,the identification of structure transformation of monolayer ReS_2 induced by strain is greatly lacking.In this work,the Raman spectra of monolayer ReS_2 with external strain are determined theoretically based on the density function theory.Due to the lower structural symmetry,deformation induced by external strain can only regulate the Raman mode intensity but cannot lead to Raman mode shifts.Our calculations suggest that structural deformation induced by external strain can be identified by Raman scattering.