Resonant Transmission through Topological Metamaterial Grating

Recently, artificial photonic structures that exhibit nontrivial topological properties have attracted growing attention due to their capability of achieving one‐way backscatter immune transport of light. While photonic crystals are predominantly employed for achieving nontrivial topologies, effective medium approach based on metamaterials has been recently proposed for realizing topologically protected unidirectional surface states. In this article, a microscopic model to investigate the transmission of topological metamaterial grating is constructed based on the scattering processes involving unidirectional surface states. The numerically simulated transmission efficiency of the grating can be precisely reproduced by the model. The model demonstrates that the sharp transmission resonance of the grating results from the constructive interference of the topologically protected one‐way surface states. The present work provides an intuitive picture for understanding the scattering processes and resonance behaviors of the topologically protected one‐way surface states. Benefitting from the sharp spectral features of the supported resonances, the proposed grating structure may be potentially used for sensing applications.     

Controlling Thermal Conduction by Graded Materials

Manipulating thermal conductivities are fundamentally important for controlling the conduction of heat at will. Thermal cloaks and concentrators, which have been extensively studied recently, are actually graded materials designed according to coordinate transformation approaches, and their effective thermal conductivity is equal to that of the host medium outside the cloak or concentrator. Here we attempt to investigate a more general problem: what is the effective thermal conductivity of graded materials? In particular, we perform a first-principles approach to the analytic exact results of effective thermal conductivities of materials possessing either power-law or linear gradation profiles. On the other hand, by solving Laplace's equation, we derive a differential equation for calculating the effective thermal conductivity of a material whose thermal conductivity varies along the radius with arbitrary gradation profiles. The two methods agree with each other for both external and internal heat sources, as confirmed by simulation and experiment. This work provides different methods for designing new thermal metamaterials (including thermal cloaks and concentrators), in order to control or manipulate the transfer of heat.     

新颖材料器件为全息显示带来的新机遇

三维显示是人类获取身临其境视觉信息的有效途径,其中全息技术能够提供人眼所需的全部深度信息,被认为是理想的三维显示方式.然而受目前显示器件的限制,如可刷新调制器件的时间-空间(时空)带宽积受限、海量数据云处理速率限制、图像质量不高的问题等,全息显示技术的发展进入了瓶颈期.为了提高显示质量、扩大时空带宽积、提升系统性能,需要发展崭新的全息显示器件,从根本上解决目前遇到的问题.超颖材料、超构表面以及二维材料等诸多新颖材料的涌现为全息显示带来新的机遇.超颖材料(表面)通过特殊设计,利用远小于波长的超构单元实现对波前各向同性或各向异性的振幅与相位的特异调控,进而将全息信息映射到超颖材料(表面)全息显示器件上,通过调控光波实现各种显示.发展可刷新的超构(表面、二维)材料并应用于动态全息显示中是未来的重要方向.虽然现有的新颖器件还面临着各种问题,但它们可为全息显示的发展提供潜在的可行性和新的视角与发展动力.     

高质量FeSe单晶薄膜的制备及相关性能表征

在铁基超导体中,FeSe具有最简单的晶体结构和化学组成,而且其超导转变温度具有较大的调控空间,因此适合作为超导机理研究和应用的载体.高质量样品的研制是物性研究和器件应用的前提,本文系统地研究了利用激光脉冲沉积技术制备FeSe薄膜的工艺条件,在多种衬底上成功地制备出高质量的β-FeSe薄膜,并首次实现了超导临界转变温度从小于2 K到14 K的连续调控,这为FeSe超导机理研究提供了样品支持.为探究FeSe薄膜超导电性变化的起因,从β-FeSe超导电性与晶格常数c正相关出发,基于简单的费米面填充假设,第一性原理计算可以很好地解释晶格常数c的变化规律,但该假设并不能完全符合角分辨光电子能谱实验给出的电子结构演变过程.因此β-FeSe薄膜的超导电性、晶格结构和电子结构三者之间的关系还有待澄清,该问题的解决将为FeSe超导机理研究提供重要的线索,而上述系列高质量的β-FeSe薄膜样品恰好能为该问题的研究提供理想的载体.本文根据实验和已有的相关研究结果,详细介绍了FeSe薄膜的脉冲激光沉积制备及其优化,以期为后续的薄膜研究应用提供参考.     

多铁性磁电器件研究进展

多铁性材料可以实现力、电、磁等多物理场之间的相互耦合,在小尺寸、快速响应和低功耗的磁电器件领域具有重要的应用前景.在应用需求的推动下,以具有磁电耦合效应的多铁性材料为基础的磁电器件在设计、微纳加工和性能优化等方面的研究取得了持续的进展.本文简要介绍了基于磁电耦合效应的几种原型器件的最新进展,包括可调谐电感、滤波器、磁电存储器、能量回收器、磁电传感器和磁电天线等,分析总结了各种磁电器件的工作原理及其性能表现,讨论了当前多铁性磁电器件研究所面临的问题和挑战,并提出了改进磁电器件性能的研究方向.     

Shape‐Tunable Selective Synthesis of Bismuth Fluoride Nanostructures for Versatile Applications

A facile approach for shape‐tunable synthesis of bismuth fluoride nanoparticles is reported. The approach is based on the homogeneous precipitation of precursor materials in mixed solvents (H₂O and ethylene glycol) and only ethylene glycol. The influencing factors on the morphology of the particles, i.e., solvent ratio, F/Bi ratio, and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, are studied in detail, and are schematically illustrated. The morphology, crystallinity, structure, and optical properties of the prepared samples are characterized by using a field‐emission scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, X‐ray diffractometer, Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, and spectrofluorometer, respectively. The hollow sphere‐shaped nanoparticle doped with Eu³⁺ ions exhibit reddish orange emission under ultraviolet illumination due to the symmetric environment around the dopant ions. Subsequently, the effect of dopant concentration on the optical properties is also evaluated. The temperature‐dependent photoluminescence emission spectra reveal good thermal stability. The obtained results provide an efficient strategy for synthesizing the shape‐tunable nanoparticles with excellent optical properties.     

Magnetoelectric-Field Electrodynamics: Search for Magnetoelectric Point Scatterers

Resonant scattering of electromagnetic (EM) waves by small particles is considered as one of the basic problems in metamaterial science. At present, special subwavelength resonators are considered as structural elements in chiral and bianisotropic metamaterials. There is a general consensus that these small scatterers behave like “artificial atoms” with strong electrical and magnetic responses and an interconnection between these responses. However, the observed effect of magnetoelectric (ME) coupling in these meta-atoms is not associated with the near-field manipulation properties caused by intrinsic magnetoelectricity. This arises the question whether ME point scatterers of EM radiation really exist. In this paper, we show that there are mesoscopic structures with electric and magnetic dipole-carrying excitations that behave like point scatterers with their inherent magnetoelectricity. In such subwavelength resonators, coherent oscillations of the electric polarization and magnetization can be considered as quasistatic oscillations described by electrostatic (ES) and magnetostatic (MS) scalar wave functions. The ME resonance effect arises from the coupling of two, ES and MS, oscillations. The near fields of these resonators, called the ME near fields, are characterized by simultaneous violation of time reversal and inversion symmetry. In study of ME fields and EM problems associated with these fields, we put forward the concept of ME-field electrodynamics.     

Dielectric-Based Electromagnetically Induced Transparency Metamaterial in the Microwave Band

An electromagnetically induced transparency metamaterial (EITM) based on dielectric resonators is presented in this paper, which consists of a cut wire (CW) and ten dielectric columns. Destructive interference between the CW, which is a branch of the microstrip line, and the dielectric resonators causes the EIT phenomenon. The simulation results show that the dielectric-based EITM designed can obtain a transmission peak of 0.938 at 2.17 GHz, and the two-oscillator model is utilized to verify the effectiveness of the structure. In addition, samples of the dielectric-based EITM are also fabricated and the effectiveness of the metamaterial is experimentally verified. The proposed metamaterial has several advantages, including high efficiency, low loss, a simple structure, and ease of manufacture, which has good prospects for application in the fields of electromagnetic switches, sensors, and nonlinear metamaterials.