Loss of Invisibility in Metamaterials under Thermal Fluctuation Induced Radiation

Metamaterials have been extensively investigated for the development of invisibility cloaks; however, the role of nonequilibrium thermal fluctuations in the operation of metamaterial‐based cloaking remains an unexplored avenue. Here, an analytical study on nonequilibrium thermal fluctuations induced charges and currents in metamaterials which generate electromagnetic modes is presented. It is argued that thermally induced charges in metamaterials cannot remain shielded from incoming electromagnetic radiation and excitation of such charges, by incoming electromagnetic waves, can enhance specific modes, whose radiation limits the invisibility effects associated with metamaterial‐based cloaking. The analysis leads to the conclusion that thermodynamic equilibrium is an essential condition of the invisibility of metamaterial‐based cloaking.     

电磁编码超材料的理论与应用

本文系统地对编码超材料、数字超材料及现场可编程超材料的新进展进行了综述,讨论其对电磁波的实时调控和构造多功能器件的能力。首先,引入1-bit编码超材料,由"0"和"1"两种编码单元构成,分别对应于相位相反的电磁响应。通过控制不同的"0"和"1"编码序列,可以调控电磁波,并实现不同功能。这种1-bit编码超材料可以扩展到2-bit,甚至更高比特。其次,介绍了一种由开关二极管来控制的数字编码超材料,每个编码单元可通过二极管的开和关来获得不同的相位响应,进而获得不同的数字态。结合现场可编程门阵列(FPGA)控制系统,实现了对数字超材料的实时可编程设计,构造出现场可编程超材料。最后,研究了编码超材料对太赫兹波的调控,包括太赫兹波宽带漫散射及其对目标雷达散射截面(RCS)的缩减、各向异性编码超材料对太赫兹波的极化调控和波束调控等。数值仿真和实验测试结果吻合很好,验证了编码超材料的出色性能,展示了编码超材料调控电磁波的多功能性。编码超材料对微波及太赫兹波的实时控制可用于制作波束分离、波束偏折、极化转换等功能器件,也可在宽带范围内有效缩减目标RCS。     

Two new designs of lamp-type piezoelectric metamaterials for active wave propagation control

A major limitation of current metamaterials is that they control the wave propagation depending on their structure. Active metamaterials in this paper are designed whose physical structure is fixed, yet the position where they control the wave propagation can be changed by piezoelectric conditions. Two kinds of lamp-type piezoelectric metamaterials were assembled from an aluminum base, rubber plate and steel column, the piezoelectric patches were attached on both sides of the steel column, which can change the equivalent elastic modulus of the whole structure when the pair of patches are accessed by an LC circuit. The equivalent elastic modulus becomes zero or negative when the frequency of the circuit varies between 29,000 Hz and 30,000 Hz, in this case the two kinds of lamp-type piezoelectric metamaterials behave as a wave localization and a wave guide, respectively. The advantage of the lamp-type piezoelectric metamaterials is that we can control the wave propagation actively, as long as we change the position of the piezoelectric patches or choose the kind of lamp-type piezoelectric metamaterial. This is more flexible than a traditional passive metamaterial and provides a new way for us to design some acoustic equipment, such as acoustic cloaking, an acoustic black hole, filter or wave guide.     

Illusion optics

The technique of “transformation optics” establishes a correspondence between coordinate transformation and material constitutive parameters. Most of the transformation optics mappings give metamaterials that have graded positive refractive indices that can steer light in curves defined by the coordinate transformation. We will focus on those “folded-geometry mappings” that give negative refractive index materials that have special wave scattering properties. One interesting example is a kind of remote illusion device that can transform the stereoscopic image of an object into the illusion of some other object of our choice. The conceptual device can create the illusion without touching or encircling the object. For any incident wave, the device transforms the scattered waves of the original object into that of the object chosen for illusion outside a virtual boundary. We will illustrate some possible applications of this type of metamaterial remote device, including “cloaking at a distance,” partial cloaking, cloaking from an embedded device, revealing a hidden object inside a container, turning the image of one object into that of another object, and seeing through a wall. The feasibility of building this remote illusion device by metamaterials will also be discussed.     

Illusion optics

The technique of “transformation optics” establishes a correspondence between coordinate transformation and material constitutive parameters. Most of the transformation optics mappings give metamaterials that have graded positive refractive indices that can steer light in curves defined by the coordinate transformation. We will focus on those “folded-geometry mappings” that give negative refractive index materials that have special wave scattering properties. One interesting example is a kind of remote illusion device that can transform the stereoscopic image of an object into the illusion of some other object of our choice. The conceptual device can create the illusion without touching or encircling the object. For any incident wave, the device transforms the scattered waves of the original object into that of the object chosen for illusion outside a virtual boundary. We will illustrate some possible applications of this type of metamaterial remote device, including “cloaking at a distance,” partial cloaking, cloaking from an embedded device, revealing a hidden object inside a container, turning the image of one object into that of another object, and seeing through a wall. The feasibility of building this remote illusion device by metamaterials will also be discussed.     

基于石墨烯编码超构材料的太赫兹波束多功能动态调控

提出了一种基于石墨烯带的太赫兹波段的1 bit编码超构材料,可以实现太赫兹波束的数目、频率、幅度等参数多功能动态调控.该结构由金属薄膜、聚酰亚胺、硅、二氧化硅、石墨烯带组成.通过对石墨烯带施加两种不同的电压,可以实现一定频率范围内相位差接近180?的"0"和"1"数字编码单元,进而构成1 bit动态可控的编码超构材料.全波仿真结果表明,不同序列的编码超构材料能够实现波束数目从单波束、双波束、多波束到宽波束的调控.相同序列的编码超构材料,通过施加石墨烯带的不同电压能够实现宽频段波束频率的偏移.对于000000或者111111周期序列的编码超构材料,通过施加石墨烯带的不同电压还能够实现波束幅度的调控.因此这种基于石墨烯带的编码超构材料为灵活调控太赫兹波提供了一种新的途径,将在雷达隐身、成像、宽带通信等方面具有重要的意义.     

Surface-wave mechanism of subwavelength imaging by a flat left-handed superlens

We develop a theory describing the dynamics and interaction of electromagnetic surface waves (ESWs) resonantly excited by an external source in a slab of left-handed material (LHM) with identical negative (equal to −1) values of dielectric permittivity and magnetic permeability that makes up a so-called perfect lens, or a superlens. We show that subwavelength imaging by a superlens is associated with the degeneracy of the spectrum of eigen electromagnetic surface modes at the interfaces of the metamaterial slab, whereas the dynamic response of the superlens is completely determined by the dynamics of these modes and the dispersion properties of the metamaterial. We obtain conditions that enable one to find out when a superlens produces subwavelength images of an external source. We consider the cases of a stationary and a pulse source, as well as of a source that moves with constant velocity or oscillates in space.     

Super-thin cloaks mediated by spoof surface plasmons

We demonstrated the possibility of designing super-thin electromagnetic cloaks based on spoof surface plasmon (SSP). Using a metamaterial layer, incident waves can be coupled into SSP efficiently at the air/metamaterial interface. Due to the strong surface confinement of SSP, EM waves are squeezed into and propagate in deep sub-wavelength scales. Implementation of an 8.2 GHz cloak less than 1/50 the cloaking diameter was presented using split ring resonator (SRR). Excellent cloaking effect was verified by simulations. Rather than isolating objects from the background, such cloaks can drastically enhance the field intensity around the cloaked object. This is of particular importance in applications such as weak wave detection and near-field sensing.     

Manipulate light polarizations with metamaterials: From microwave to visible

Polarization is an important characteristic of electromagnetic (EM) waves, and efficient manipulations over EM wave polarizations are always desirable in practical applications. Here, we review the recent efforts in controlling light polarizations with metamaterials, at frequencies ranged from microwave to visible. We first presented a 4 × 4 version transfer matrix method (TMM) to study the scatterings by an anisotropic metamaterial of EM waves with arbitrary propagating directions and polarizations. With the 4 × 4 TMM, we discovered several amazing polarization manipulation phenomena based on the reflection geometry and proposed corresponding model metamaterial systems to realize such effects. Metamaterial samples were fabricated with the help of finite-difference-time-domain (FDTD) simulations, and experiments were performed to successfully realize these ideas at both microwave and visible frequencies. Efforts in employing metamaterials to manipulate light polarizations based on the transmission geometry are also reviewed.     

Manipulate light polarizations with metamaterials: From microwave to visible

Polarization is an important characteristic of electromagnetic (EM) waves, and efficient manipulations over EM wave polarizations are always desirable in practical applications. Here, we review the recent efforts in controlling light polarizations with metamaterials, at frequencies ranged from microwave to visible. We first presented a 4 × 4 version transfer matrix method (TMM) to study the scatterings by an anisotropic metamaterial of EM waves with arbitrary propagating directions and polarizations. With the 4 × 4 TMM, we discovered several amazing polarization manipulation phenomena based on the reflection geometry and proposed corresponding model metamaterial systems to realize such effects. Metamaterial samples were fabricated with the help of finite-difference-time-domain (FDTD) simulations, and experiments were performed to successfully realize these ideas at both microwave and visible frequencies. Efforts in employing metamaterials to manipulate light polarizations based on the transmission geometry are also reviewed.     

Photon tunneling in a frustrated total internal reflection structure with a lossy indefinite metamaterial barrier

We study the phenomenon of photon tunneling through a frustrated total internal reflection structure with a dispersive lossy indefinite metamaterial barrier. The tunneling coefficient, lateral shift, and tunneling time for different incident light waves through the barrier are obtained by employing the stationary-phase approximation. The properties of tunneling time and lateral shift are discussed for different metamaterial parameters. It is shown that negative lateral shift and tunneling time can appear in the cutoff and always cutoff metamaterials. The lateral shift can be enhanced by adjusting the light frequency, the barrier thickness, and the permittivity or permeability of the indefinite metamaterial. In addition, it is found that the lateral shift can be resonantly amplified due to the weak loss of the indefinite metamaterial slab. The Hartman effects of the lateral shift and tunneling time are also demonstrated. PACS 42.50.Ct; 42.25.Bs; 73.43.Jn; 73.40.Gk; 42.70.Qs     

Dynamics of amplification in a nanoplasmonic metamaterial

Plasmonic metamaterials form an exciting new class of engineered media that promise a range of important applications, such as subwavelength focusing, cloaking and slowing/stopping of light. Recently it has been shown that the internal losses due to the natural absorption of metals at optical frequencies can be compensated by gain. Here, we employ a Maxwell–Bloch methodology which allows us to study the dynamics of the coherent plasmon-gain interaction, nonlinear saturation, field enhancement and radiative damping. Using numerical pump-probe experiments on a double-fishnet metamaterial with dye-molecule inclusions we investigate the buildup of the inversion and the formation of the plasmonic modes in the low-Q fishnet cavity. We find that loss compensation occurs in the negative-refractive-index regime and that, due to the loss compensation and the associated sharpening of the resonance, the real part of the refractive index of the metamaterial becomes more negative compared to the passive case. Furthermore, we investigate the behavior of the metamaterial above the lasing threshold, and we identify the occurrence of a far-field lasing burst and gain depletion. Our results provide deep insight into the internal processes that affect the macroscopic properties of active metamaterials. This could guide the development of amplifying and lasing plasmonic nanostructures.     

Metamaterials and their application in microwaves: A review

A metamaterial is a composite material that has attracted the attention of researchers since the late 1990s-early 2000s. This material contains an artificial periodic structure, which modifies its permittivity and permeability and, thereby, makes it possible to control the dispersion, refraction, and reflection of electromagnetic waves in the metamaterial. Analytical and experimental studies of the properties of metamaterials, as well as their applications, cover a wide frequency range from radio waves to the visible range. In recent years, considerable progress has been made toward the application of these materials in the microwave range (1–100 GHz). Works on development and application of metamaterials in the microwave range published over the last 8–10 years are reviewed. Artificial transmission lines as 1D metamaterials are discussed. Resonators, filters, and phase shifters based on the “metamaterial philosophy” are considered. Special attention is given to the application of metamaterials in the antenna technology.     

Properties of magnetically coupled metamaterial elements

The birth of the subject of metamaterials, including many early contributions, is briefly reviewed. More specifically, a relatively new topic, the properties of waves on magnetically coupled metamaterial elements are discussed with particular reference to their dispersion characteristics, excitation and applications.     

Exotic properties and potential applications of quantum metamaterials

We discuss here potential venues for applications and exotic features of quantum metamaterials. We explore the coupling of conventional electromagnetic metamaterials with quantum emitters and the wave properties of quantum metamaterials obtained by tailoring their effective band structure. We discuss anomalous enhancement effects in the quantum emission properties of individual and collections of small emitters in the presence of metamaterials, as well as matter-wave cloaking and anomalous tunneling phenomena for quantum mechanical waves in artificial materials with exotic band structures.     

突破衍射极限的超级透镜技术及其应用研究

基于超材料的超级透镜能让携带物体高频信息的倏逝波分量参与成像,从而实现对小于半个工作波长的超精细结构的分辨。分析了几种典型的超透镜,如近场、远场和双曲超透镜的工作原理和研究进展,并对超透镜技术在实时生物成像、高密度光存贮、光刻等方面的应用前景进行了分析和总结。     

Surface waves guided by magnetic metamaterials

We consider electromagnetic waves guided by slabs of anisotropic resonant magnetic metamaterials in free space and in metal waveguides. It is shown that wave propagation is possible in a waveguide below cutoff with an insert of such a metamaterial. The dependence of the dispersion properties of waves on the geometric sizes of the insert and the waveguide are studied. The obtained results can be used for miniaturization of electrodynamic systems. __________ Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 49, No. 7, pp. 618–625, July 2006.     

Active terahertz metamaterials

In this paper we present an overview of research in our group in terahertz (THz) metamaterials and their applications. We have developed a series of planar metamaterials operating at THz frequencies, all of which exhibit a strong resonant response. By incorporating natural materials, e.g., semiconductors, as the substrates or as critical regions of metamaterial elements, we are able to effectively control the metamaterial resonance by the application of external stimuli, e.g., photoexcitation and electrical bias. Such actively controllable metamaterials provide novel functionalities for solid-state device applications with unprecedented performance, such as THz spectroscopy, imaging, and many others.     

Trapping of electromagnetic wave in single-negative metamaterial waveguides

We study the trapping properties of transverse magnetic (TM) waves in single-negative metamaterial waveguides including epsilon-negative (ENG) metamaterial and mu-negative (MNG) metamaterial. The relationship between effective refractive index and reduced core width is analyzed when the permittivities of ENG and MNG metamaterials are different, and the inflection on this curve can be regarded as the trapping point. Simulation results show that the properties in an ENG–MNG–ENG metamaterial waveguide are contrary to that in a MNG–ENG–MNG metamaterial waveguide. The sensitivity of trapping point to the change of permittivity makes the single-negative metamaterial waveguides to be an effective method to detect the permittivity variation and can be used as a new kind of waveguide sensor.