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.     

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.     

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.     

Generating terahertz radiation via optical rectification in nonlinear crystals: Theory and experimental results

Key principles of terahertz radiation generation via laser pulse optical rectification are reviewed. The development of theoretical concepts is considered in connection with recent experimental results. The usability of resonant effects and metamaterials for the further development of this technique of generation is analyzed.     

A generator of far-infrared and terahertz radiation in nonlinear metamaterials exhibiting negative index of refraction

Laser oscillation conditions are analyzed in nonlinear composite metamaterials exhibiting a negative index of refraction. It is demonstrated that strong quadratic and cubic nonlinearities can be simultaneously realized in such structures. Based on the described composite material, a scheme of an optically pumped parametric generator of terahertz radiation is proposed.     

Doppler radiation emitted by an oscillating dipole moving inside a photonic band-gap crystal

We study the radiation emitted by an oscillating dipole moving with a constant velocity in a photonic crystal, and analyze the effects that arise in the presence of a photonic band gap. It is demonstrated through numerical simulations that the radiation strength may be enhanced or inhibited according to the photonic band structure, and anomalous effects in the sign and magnitude of the Doppler shifts are possible, both outside and inside the gap. We suggest that this effect could be used to identify the physical origin of the backward waves in recent metamaterials.     

From electromagnetically induced transparency to superscattering with a single structure: a coupled-mode theory for doubly resonant structures

We observe from simulations that a doubly resonant structure can exhibit spectral behavior analogous to electromagnetically induced transparency, as well as superscattering, depending on the excitation. We develop a coupled-mode theory that explains this behavior in terms of the orthogonality of the radiation patterns of the eigenmodes. These results provide insight in the general electromagnetic properties of photonic nanostructures and metamaterials.     

光学超材料的制备方法与参数提取

在光学超材料研究过程中,其微观结构的控制制备技术至关重要。综述了国内外在光学超材料制备方法方面的大致发展历程。重点介绍了二维光学超材料的制备技术,并分析对比了各种经典制备方法的优缺点。在二维光学超材料制备方法基础上,进一步叙述了三维光学超材料的传统制备和新的研究制备方法。简要介绍了均匀介质光学超材料的介电常数、磁导率、折射率和阻抗等有效电磁参数的提取过程。     

Lowering plasma frequency by enhancing the effective mass of electrons： A route to deep sub-wavelength metamaterials

Deep sub-wavelength metamaterials are the key to the further development of practical metamaterials with small volumes and broadband properties. We propose to reduce the electrical sizes of metamaterials down to more sub-wavelength scales by lowering the plasma frequencies of metallic wires. The theoretical model is firstly established by analyzing the plasma frequency of continuous thin wires. By introducing more inductance elements, the effective electron mass can be enhanced drastically, leading to significantly lowered plasma frequencies. Based on this theory, we demonstrate that both the electric and the magnetic plasma frequencies of metamaterials can be lowered significantly and thus the electrical sizes of metamaterials can be reduced to more sub-wavelength scales. This provides an efficient route to deep sub-wavelength metamaterials and will give rigorous impetus for the further development of practical metamaterials.     

基于双环开口谐振环对的平面周期结构左手超材料

通过理论分析和实验仿真,研究了用双环开口谐振环对（double split-ring resonator pairs,DSRRP）实现平面左手超材料的原理,用等效电路理论解释并描述了其负介电常数和负磁导率的产生机理,并对DSRRP在3维左手超材料设计的应用进行了探索性研究.结果表明,DSRRP可以实现小尺寸的平面左手超材料,此外,DSRRP还可以作为用以实现3维左手超材料负磁导率的3维各向异性磁超材料. 关键词： 双环开口谐振环对 平面左手超材料 3维磁超材料     

Conception of a 90-GHz metamaterial-based coupler for astrophysical applications

Designed for astrophysical applications, this coupler must be as small as possible to be integrated in a low temperature superconducting detection chain. By using metamaterials, dimensions can be reduced and performances enhanced compared with a conventional coupler. The novelty of the work presented in this paper is a coupler that operates at millimeter waves (W band) and cryogenic temperatures (4 K) for astrophysics applications and more precisely for the detection of the cosmological microwave background radiation.     

复合左右手技术的二元阵天线的计算及测量

为了克服微带天线的横向尺寸需要满足半个波长的限制,本文提出了一种基于复合左右手传输线技术的二元阵天线.该天线阵由结构相同的两个天线阵单元构成:天线阵单元由3个辐射片、辐射片之间的交指电容和导通辐射片和接地板的短路针组成.辐射片、短路针、天线阵的基片和接地板构成了复合左右手传输线结构.天线阵单元之间通过弓形连接线连接,通过调节弓形连接线两个端口到馈源之间的距离来调节天线阵单元之间的初始相位差.在关心频段内,数值计算得到的二元阵天线的S参数与实际测量结果符合得很好,并且零阶谐振频率与用等效电路理 关键词： 天线 异向介质 左右手传输线 增益     

THz metamaterials made of phonon-polariton materials

In this paper, we demonstrate numerically various phenomena and possibilities that can be realized in THz metamaterials made of phonon-polariton materials. Such phenomena include hyperbolic dispersion relation, subwavelength imaging using backward propagation and backward radiation, total transmission and subwavelength guiding exploiting Mie-resonant scattering in permittivity near zero host, and toroidal dipolar response. The systems that we use to demonstrate most of these phenomena are two-dimensional periodic systems of μm-scale rods in a host, where both rods and host are made of polaritonic alkali-halide materials.     

Metamaterials and metasurfaces for designing metadevices:Perfect absorbers and microstrip patch antennas

In the past twenty years, electromagnetic metamaterials represented by left-handed metamaterials(LHMs) have attracted considerable attention due to the unique properties such as negative refraction, perfect lens, and electromagnetic cloaks. In this paper, we present a comprehensive review of our group's work on metamaterials and metasurfaces. We present several types of LHMs and chiral metamaterials. As a two-dimensional equivalent of bulk three-dimensional metamaterials, metasurfaces have led to a myriad of devices due to the advantages of lower profile, lower losses, and simpler to fabricate than bulk three-dimensional metamaterials. We demonstrate the novel microwave metadevices based on metamaterials and metasurfaces: perfect absorbers and microwave patch antennas, including novel transmission line antennas,high gain resonant cavity antennas, wide scanning phased array antennas, and circularly polarized antennas.     

On focusing of terahertz radiation beams and pulses

We show that, for terahertz (THz) radiation, the effective focal length of a lens differs significantly from its geometrical-optics (nominal) focal length. As a pulse of THz radiation with a bell-shaped (Gaussian) transverse profile is incident on a lens, the field-amplitude distribution in the nominally focal plane of the lens may radically change, up to the formation of dips in the paraxial region. These changes in the spatiotemporal shape of the beam (pulse) may considerably distort the results of pulsed THz spectroscopy. These distortions can be minimized by using media with anomalous dispersion, including metamaterials.     

Research technique of metamaterials with the controlled effective negative refractive index and their characteristics

A design of the two-beam hybrid microwave interferometer for measuring refractive indices of metamaterials is described. It is based on the branching of radiation using a waveguide directional coupler. Radiations of the interferometer waveguide arms are summed and the phase disbalance of the interferometer arms is counted on the waveguide measuring line. The frequency dispersion of the negative refractive indices of the metamaterial samples with a variable distance between its constituent plates is experimentally investigated. A possibility of controlling the refractive index of a metamaterial is demonstrated.     

Retrieval of high-order susceptibilities of nonlinear metamaterials

Active metamaterials embedded with nonlinear elements are able to exhibit strong nonlinearity in microwave regime.However, existing S-parameter based parameter retrieval approaches developed for linear metamaterials do not apply in nonlinear cases. In this paper, a retrieval algorithm of high-order susceptibilities for nonlinear metamaterials is derived.Experimental demonstration shows that, by measuring the power level of each harmonic while sweeping the incident power,high-order susceptibilities of a thin-layer nonlinear metamaterial can be effectively retrieved. The proposed approach can be widely used in the research of active metamaterials.     

Terahertz spectroscopy of quantum phase transitions and the temperature-frequency scaling

In the last few decades, significant progress has been achieved in the development of generators and detectors of terahertz radiation (at frequencies in the range from ≈300 GHz to ≈3 THz). Different terahertz spectroscopic techniques have been widely used now in investigating semiconductors, superconductors, molecular magnets, multiferroics, metamaterials, and other promising objects. It has been demonstrated that terahertz spectroscopy offers wide but not completely realized possibilities for studying quantum phase transitions in electron-correlated systems.