Self-rectifying magnetoelectric metamaterials for remote neural stimulation and motor function restoration

Magnetoelectric materials convert magnetic fields into electric fields. These materials are often used in wireless electronic and biomedical applications. For example, magnetoelectrics could enable the remote stimulation of neural tissue, but the optimal resonance frequencies are typically too high to stimulate neural activity. Here we describe a self-rectifying magnetoelectric metamaterial for a precisely timed neural stimulation. This metamaterial relies on nonlinear charge transport across semiconductor layers that allow the material to generate a steady bias voltage in the presence of an alternating magnetic field. We generate arbitrary pulse sequences with time-averaged voltage biases in excess of 2 V. As a result, we can use magnetoelectric nonlinear metamaterials to wirelessly stimulate peripheral nerves to restore a sensory reflex in an anaesthetized rat model and restore signal propagation in a severed nerve with latencies of less than 5 ms. Overall, these results showing the rational design of magnetoelectric metamaterials support applications in advanced biotechnology and electronics.

Enhanced second harmonic generation from a quasi-periodic silver dendritic metasurface

The preparation of the vast majority of nonlinear optical metal metasurfaces currently relies on complex top-down methods such as electron beam or ion beam etching, which are expensive and difficult to meet the requirement of large area preparation. In this paper, an easily prepared quasi-periodic silver dendritic metasurface model with highQfactor is established in the near-infrared band based on a simple and easy-to-operate electrochemical deposition method. The simulations prove that the silver dendritic metasurface has a highQfactor (exceeds 104) because of its strong electric field localization ability, which is analogous to the superposition of multiple split-ring resonators. It is demonstrated that the second harmonic generation (SHG) intensity of the dendritic metasurface at a large incident angle (such as 85°) is about 30 times that of the metasurface at a small incident angle when thex-polarized pump light is incident obliquely to break the centrosymmetry of the metasurface. The influences of the incident angle or dendritic structure's dimensions on theQfactor and SHG efficiency have also been researched through a lot of simulation. This easily prepared quasi-periodic silver dendritic metasurface SHG device may provide a new avenue for the development and application of miniature, integratable nonlinear optical devices.

Transmission-type photonic doping for high-efficiency epsilon-near-zero supercoupling

Supercoupling effect is an exotic and counterintuitive physical phenomenon of epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) media, in which the light can be "squeezed" and tunneled through flexible channels substantially narrower than its wavelength. Theoretically, ENZ channels with infinitely small widths perform ideal supercoupling with full energy transmission and zero-phase advance. As a feasible solution to demonstrate ENZ supercoupling through a finite-width channel, photonic doping can assist the light in squeezing, but the resonant dopant introduces inevitable losses. Here, we propose an approach of transmission-type photonic doping to achieve proximate ideal ENZ supercoupling. In contrast to the conventional resonance-type photonic doping, our proposed transmission-type doping replaces high-quality-factor two-dimensional resonant doping modes with low-quality-factor one-dimensional modes, such that obviously high transmission efficiency and zero-phase advance in ENZ supercoupling is achieved and observed in experiments. Benefiting from the high-efficiency ENZ supercoupling, waveguides with near-total energy transmission can be engineered with arbitrary dimensions and shapes, serving as flexible power conduits in the paradigm of waveguide integrated circuits for future millimeter-wave and terahertz integrated circuit innovations.

Simultaneous manipulation of spatial fundamental and harmonic electromagnetic waves by microwave nonlinear metasurfaces

In the area of manipulating the spatial electromagnetic (EM) waves fields, the metasurfaces have become much more attractive and powerful in recent years. Here, we propose a design to realize the simultaneous control of spatial fundamental and harmonic EM waves applying nonlinear metasurfaces in microwave band. The proposed meta-atom composed of three topological layers which are transmitting antenna, nonlinear wave guiding and receiving antenna respectively. And the critical factor of generating the harmonic is the nonlinear chip which is integrated into the middle layer. The microstrip power divider and phase shifter in each meta-atom are preciously tailored to actualize the spatial control of the fundamental and harmonic transmission beams in the far field. One prototype of the nonlinear metasurfaces is fabricated and corresponding radiation patterns of fundamental and harmonic modes are observed very well in the experience that can verify the validity of our proposed method.

Nonlinear optical bistability based on epsilon-near-zero mode in near-infrared band

We propose a simple thin-layer structure based on epsilon-near-zero mode field enhancement to achieve optical bistability in the near-infrared band. The high transmittance provided by the thin-layer structure and the electric field energy limited in the ultra-thin epsilon-near-zero material means that the interaction between the input light and the epsilon-near-zero material can be greatly enhanced, creating favorable conditions for the realization of optical bistability in near-infrared band. The optical bistability hysteresis curve is closely related to the incident angle of light and the thickness of epsilon-near-zero material. This structure is relatively simple and easy to prepare, so we believe that this scheme will have a positive effect on the practicality of optical bistability devices in all-optical devices and networks.

Near-field enhancement of optical second harmonic generation in hybrid gold-lithium niobate nanostructures

Nanophotonics research has focused recently on the ability of nonlinear optical processes to mediate and transform optical signals in a myriad of novel devices, including optical modulators, transducers, color filters, photodetectors, photon sources, and ultrafast optical switches. The inherent weakness of optical nonlinearities at smaller scales has, however, hindered the realization of efficient miniaturized devices, and strategies for enhancing both device efficiencies and synthesis throughput via nanoengineering remain limited. Here, we demonstrate a novel mechanism by which second harmonic generation, a prototypical nonlinear optical phenomenon, from individual lithium niobate particles can be significantly enhanced through nonradiative coupling to the localized surface plasmon resonances of embedded gold nanoparticles. A joint experimental and theoretical investigation of single mesoporous lithium niobate particles coated with a dispersed layer of ~10 nm diameter gold nanoparticles shows that a ~32-fold enhancement of second harmonic generation can be achieved without introducing finely tailored radiative nanoantennas to mediate photon transfer to or from the nonlinear material. This work highlights the limitations of current strategies for enhancing nonlinear optical phenomena and proposes a route through which a new class of subwavelength nonlinear optical platforms can be designed to maximize nonlinear efficiencies through near-field energy exchange.

An Introduction to Nonlinear Integrated Photonics Devices: Nonlinear Effects and Materials

The combination of integrated optics technologies with nonlinear photonics, which has led to the growth of nonlinear integrated photonics, has also opened the way to groundbreaking new devices and applications. Here we introduce the main physical processes involved in nonlinear photonics applications, and we discuss the fundaments of this research area, starting from traditional second-order and third-order phenomena and going to ultrafast phenomena. The applications, on the other hand, have been made possible by the availability of suitable materials, with high nonlinear coefficients, and/or by the design of guided-wave structures, which can enhance the material's nonlinear properties. A summary of the most common nonlinear materials is presented, together with a discussion of the innovative ones. The discussion of fabrication processes and integration platforms is the subject of a companion article, also submitted for publication in this journal. There, several examples of nonlinear photonic integrated devices to be employed in optical communications, all-optical signal processing and computing, or quantum optics are shown, too. We aimed at offering a broad overview, even if, certainly, not exhaustive. We hope that the overall work could provide guidance for those who are newcomers to this field and some hints to the interested researchers for a more detailed investigation of the present and future development of this hot and rapidly growing field.

Strongly Coupled Plasmon Polaritons in Gold and Epsilon-Near-Zero Bifilms

Epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) polaritons in a thin transparent conducting-oxide film exhibit a significant electric field enhancement and localization within the film at frequencies close to their plasma frequency, but do not propagate. Meanwhile, plasmon polariton modes in thin metallic films can propagate for several microns, but are more loosely confined in the metal. Here, we propose a strongly coupled bilayered structure of a thin gold film on a thin indium tin oxide (ITO) film that supports hybrid polariton modes. We experimentally characterize the dispersion of these modes and show that they have propagation lengths of 4-8 μm while retaining mode confinement greater than that of the polariton in gold films by nearly an order of magnitude. We study the tunability of this coupling strength by varying the thickness of the ITO film and show that ultrastrong coupling is possible at certain thicknesses. The unusual linear and nonlinear optical properties of ITO at ENZ frequencies make these bifilms useful for the active tuning of strong coupling, ultrafast switching, and enhanced nonlinear interactions at near-infrared frequencies.

Geometry-independent antenna based on Epsilon-near-zero medium

It is well known that electromagnetic radiation from radiating elements (e.g., antennas, apertures, etc.) shows dependence on the element's geometry shape in terms of operating frequencies. This basic principle is ubiquitous in the design of radiators in multiple applications spanning from microwave, to optics and plasmonics. The emergence of epsilon-near-zero media exceptionally allows for an infinite wavelength of electromagnetic waves, manifesting exotic spatially-static wave dynamics which is not dependent on geometry. In this work, we analyze theoretically and verify experimentally such geometry-independent features for radiation, thus presenting a novel class of radiating resonators, i.e., antennas, with an operating frequency irrelevant to the geometry shape while only determined by the host material's dispersions. Despite being translated into different shapes and topologies, the designed epsilon-near-zero antenna resonates at a same frequency, while exhibiting very different far-field radiation patterns, with beams varying from wide to narrow, or even from single to multiple. Additionally, the photonic doping technique is employed to facilitate the high-efficiency radiation. The material-determined geometry-independent radiation may lead to numerous applications in flexible design and manufacturing for wireless communications, sensing, and wavefront engineering.

Formula Graph Self-Attention Network for Representation-Domain Independent Materials Discovery

The success of machine learning (ML) in materials property prediction depends heavily on how the materials are represented for learning. Two dominant families of material descriptors exist, one that encodes crystal structure in the representation and the other that only uses stoichiometric information with the hope of discovering new materials. Graph neural networks (GNNs) in particular have excelled in predicting material properties within chemical accuracy. However, current GNNs are limited to only one of the above two avenues owing to the little overlap between respective material representations. Here, a new concept of formula graph which unifies stoichiometry-only and structure-based material descriptors is introduced. A self-attention integrated GNN that assimilates a formula graph is further developed and it is found that the proposed architecture produces material embeddings transferable between the two domains. The proposed model can outperform some previously reported structure-agnostic models and their structure-based counterparts while exhibiting better sample efficiency and faster convergence. Finally, the model is applied in a challenging exemplar to predict the complex dielectric function of materials and nominate new substances that potentially exhibit epsilon-near-zero phenomena.

Relaxed Phase-Matching Constraints in Zero-Index Waveguides

The utility of all parametric nonlinear optical processes is hampered by phase-matching requirements. Quasi-phase-matching, birefringent phase matching, and higher-order-mode phase matching have all been developed to address this constraint, but the methods demonstrated to date suffer from the inconvenience of only being phase matched for a single, specific arrangement of beams, typically copropagating, resulting in cumbersome experimental configurations and large footprints for integrated devices. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that these phase-matching requirements may be satisfied in a parametric nonlinear optical process for multiple, if not all, configurations of input and output beams when using low-index media. Our measurement constitutes the first experimental observation of direction-independent phase matching for a medium sufficiently long for phase matching to be relevant. We demonstrate four-wave mixing from spectrally distinct co- and counterpropagating pump and probe beams, the backward generation of a nonlinear signal, and excitation by an out-of-plane probe beam. These results explicitly show that the unique properties of low-index media relax traditional phase-matching constraints, which can be exploited to facilitate nonlinear interactions and miniaturize nonlinear devices, thus adding to the established exceptional properties of low-index materials.

Numerical scheme for a nonlinear optical response of a metallic nanostructure: quantum hydrodynamic theory solved by adopting an effective Schrödinger equation

Quantum hydrodynamic theory (QHT) can describe some of the characteristic features of quantum electron dynamics that appear in metallic nanostructures, such as spatial nonlocality, electron spill-out, and quantum tunneling. Furthermore, numerical simulations based on QHT are more efficient than fully quantum mechanical approaches, as exemplified by time-dependent density functional theory using a jellium model. However, QHT involves kinetic energy functionals, the practical implementation of which typically induces significant numerical instabilities, particularly in nonlinear optical phenomena. To mitigate this problem, we develop a numerical solution to QHT that is quite stable, even in a nonlinear regime. The key to our approach is to rewrite the dynamical equation of QHT using the effective Schrödinger equation. We apply the new method to the linear and nonlinear responses of a metallic nanoparticle and compare the results with fully quantum mechanical calculations. The results demonstrate the numerical stability of our method, as well as the reliability and limitations of QHT.

Fabrication of Self-Assembling Carbon Nanotube Forest Fishnet Metamaterials

The investigation of the preparation of polystyrene (PS) nanosphere monolayers for the fabrication of carbon nanotube (CNT) forest fishnet metamaterial structures is studied in this paper, as a cheap alternative for top-down patterning methods. The precise control of dry etching conditions resulted in a highly controlled diameter of PS nanobeads, which were then used as a shadow mask for CNT fishnet preparation. The change of the size of the holes from 370 nm to 665 nm resulted in a gradual change of the CNT morphology from multi-walled to single-walled CNTs. The ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) reflectance spectra showed that the variation of the hole diameter resulted in the nonlinear light absorption in CNT fishnets that caused the change of the resonance frequency. The change of the fishnet wire width (inductance) and the hole size (capacitance) resulted in the blueshift of the broadband resonance frequency peak. The presented work has a significant potential to allow for the large-scale fabrication of CNT-based fishnet metamaterial structures for applications in energy harvesting, energy storage, solar cells, or optoelectronic devices, such as neuromorphic networks.

Thermal Cloak: Theory, Experiment and Application

In the past two decades, owing to the development of metamaterials and the theoretical tools of transformation optics and the scattering cancellation method, a plethora of unprecedented functional devices, especially invisibility cloaks, have been experimentally demonstrated in various fields, e.g., electromagnetics, acoustics, and thermodynamics. Since the first thermal cloak was theoretically reported in 2008 and experimentally demonstrated in 2012, great progress has been made in both theory and experiment. In this review, we report the recent advances in thermal cloaks, including the theoretical designs, experimental realizations, and potential applications. The three areas are classified according to the different mechanisms of heat transfer, namely, thermal conduction, thermal convection, and thermal radiation. We also provide an outlook toward the challenges and future directions in this fascinating area.

Dirac-like cone-based electromagnetic zero-index metamaterials

Metamaterials with a Dirac-like cone dispersion at the center of the Brillouin zone behave like an isotropic and impedance-matched zero refractive index material at the Dirac-point frequency. Such metamaterials can be realized in the form of either bulk metamaterials with efficient coupling to free-space light or on-chip metamaterials that are efficiently coupled to integrated photonic circuits. These materials enable the interactions of a spatially uniform electromagnetic mode with matter over a large area in arbitrary shapes. This unique optical property paves the way for many applications, including arbitrarily shaped high-transmission waveguides, nonlinear enhancement, and phase mismatch-free nonlinear signal generation, and collective emission of many emitters. This review summarizes the Dirac-like cone-based zero-index metamaterials' fundamental physics, design, experimental realizations, and potential applications.

Far-Field Subwavelength Straight-Line Projection/Imaging by Means of a Novel Double-Near-Zero Index-Based Two-Layer Metamaterial

In this paper, for the first time, tuned near-zero-index materials are used in a structure for the long-distance projection of very closely spaced objects with subwavelength separation. Near-zero-index materials have never been used for subwavelength projection/imaging. The proposed novel structure is composed of a two-layer slab that can project two slits with a subwavelength separation distance to a long distance without diverged/converged interference of the two imaged waves. The two-layer slab consists of a thin double-near-zero (DNZ) slab with an obtained tuned index of 0.05 and thickness of 0.04λ₀ coupled with a high-index dielectric slab with specific thicknesses. Through a parametric study, the non-zero index of the DNZ layer is tuned to create a clear image when it is coupled with the high-index dielectric layer. The minimum size for the aperture of the proposed two-layer slab is 2λ₀ to provide a clear projection of the two slits. The space between the slits is λ₀/8, which is five times beyond the diffraction limit. It is shown that, through the conventional methods (e.g., only with high-index dielectric slabs, uncoupled with a DNZ layer), it is impossible to clearly project slits at a large distance (~λ₀) due to the diffraction limit. An analytical analysis, as well as numerical results in a finite-element-based simulator, confirm the function of the proposed structure.

High-Efficiency Spatial-Wave Frequency Multiplication Using Strongly Nonlinear Metasurface

In the past decades, metasurfaces have opened up a promising venue for manipulating lights and electromagnetic (EM) waves. In the field of nonlinearity, second-harmonic generation (SHG) is a research focus due to its diverse applications. There have been many researches for realizing SHG in optical regime using nonlinear characteristics of optical materials, but its efficiency is low. In microwave frequencies, SHGs are basically studied in the guided-wave systems. Here, high-efficiency SHGs of spatial waves are presented in the microwave frequency using nonlinear metasurface loaded with active chips at the subwavelength scale. The nonlinear meta-atom is composed of receiving antenna, transmitting antenna, and active circuit of frequency multiplier, which can realize strongly nonlinear response and link the EM signals from the receiving to transmitting antennas. Correspondingly, to achieve the function of spatial-wave frequency multiplication, the working frequency of the transmitting antenna in the meta-atom should be twice as that of the receiving antenna, and hence the active chip is well matched to obtain the signal transforming with high efficiency. Good performance of the spatial-wave frequency multiplication is demonstrated in the proof-of-concept experiments with the best transform efficiency of 85.11% under normal incidence, validating the proposed method.

Ultrafast, All Optically Reconfigurable, Nonlinear Nanoantenna

The enhancement of nonlinear optical effects via nanoscale engineering is a hot topic of research. Optical nanoantennas increase light-matter interaction and provide, simultaneously, a high throughput of the generated harmonics in the scattered light. However, nanoscale nonlinear optics has dealt so far with static or quasi-static configurations, whereas advanced applications would strongly benefit from high-speed reconfigurable nonlinear nanophotonic devices. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate ultrafast all-optical modulation of the second harmonic (SH) from a single nanoantenna. Our design is based on a subwavelength AlGaAs nanopillar driven by a control femtosecond light pulse in the visible range. The control pulse photoinjects free carriers in the nanostructure, which in turn induce dramatic permittivity changes at the band edge of the semiconductor. This results in an efficient modulation of the SH signal generated at 775 nm by a second femtosecond pulse at the 1.55 μm telecommunications (telecom) wavelength. Our results can lead to the development of ultrafast, all optically reconfigurable, nonlinear nanophotonic devices for a broad class of telecom and sensing applications.

Tunable Doppler shift using a time-varying epsilon-near-zero thin film near 1550 nm

We experimentally investigate the tunable Doppler shift in an 80 nm thick indium-tin-oxide (ITO) film at its epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) region. Under strong and pulsed excitation, ITO exhibits a time-varying change in the refractive index. A maximum frequency redshift of 1.8 THz is observed in the reflected light when the pump light has a peak intensity of ∼140GW/cm² and a pulse duration of ∼580fs, at an incident angle of 40°. The frequency shift increases with the increase in pump intensity and saturates at the intensity of ∼140GW/cm². When the pump pulse duration increases from ∼580fs to ∼1380fs, the maximum attainable frequency shift decreases from 1.8 THz to 0.7 THz. In addition, the pump energy required to saturate the frequency shift decreases with the increase in pump pulse duration for ∼_x<1ps and remains unchanged for ∼_x>1ps durations. Tunability exists among the pump pulse energy, duration, and incident angle for the Doppler shift of the ITO-ENZ material, which can be employed to design efficient frequency shifters for telecom applications.

Low-Loss Zero-Index Materials

Materials with a zero refractive index support electromagnetic modes that exhibit stationary phase profiles. While such materials have been realized across the visible and near-infrared spectral range, radiative and dissipative optical losses have hindered their development. We reduce losses in zero-index, on-chip photonic crystals by introducing high-Q resonances via resonance-trapped and symmetry-protected states. Using these approaches, we experimentally obtain quality factors of 2.6 × 10³ and 7.8 × 10³ at near-infrared wavelengths, corresponding to an order-of-magnitude reduction in propagation loss over previous designs. Our work presents a viable approach to fabricate zero-index on-chip nanophotonic devices with low-loss.

Backward Phase-Matched Second-Harmonic Generation from Stacked Metasurfaces

We demonstrate phase-matched second-harmonic generation (SHG) from three-dimensional metamaterials consisting of stacked metasurfaces. To achieve phase matching, we utilize a novel mechanism based on phase engineering of the metasurfaces at the interacting wavelengths, facilitating phase-matched SHG in the unconventional backward direction. Stacking up to five metasurfaces,we obtain a phase-matched SHG signal, which scales superlinearly with the number of layers. Our results motivate further investigations to achieve higher conversion efficiencies also with more complex wave fronts.

Ultra-low-loss on-chip zero-index materials

Light travels in a zero-index medium without accumulating a spatial phase, resulting in perfect spatial coherence. Such coherence brings several potential applications, including arbitrarily shaped waveguides, phase-mismatch-free nonlinear propagation, large-area single-mode lasers, and extended superradiance. A promising platform to achieve these applications is an integrated Dirac-cone material that features an impedance-matched zero index. Although an integrated Dirac-cone material eliminates ohmic losses via its purely dielectric structure, it still entails out-of-plane radiation loss, limiting its applications to a small scale. We design an ultra-low-loss integrated Dirac cone material by achieving destructive interference above and below the material. The material consists of a square array of low-aspect-ratio silicon pillars embedded in silicon dioxide, featuring easy fabrication using a standard planar process. This design paves the way for leveraging the perfect spatial coherence of large-area zero-index materials in linear, nonlinear, and quantum optics.

Extremely large third-order nonlinear optical effects caused by electron transport in quantum plasmonic metasurfaces with subnanometer gaps

In this study, a third-order nonlinear optical responses in quantum plasmonic metasurfaces composed of metallic nano-objects with subnanometer gaps were investigated using time-dependent density functional theory, a fully quantum mechanical approach. At gap distances of ≥ 0.6 nm, the third-order nonlinearities monotonically increased as the gap distance decreased, owing to enhancement of the induced charge densities at the gaps between nano-objects. Particularly, when the third harmonic generation overlapped with the plasmon resonance, a large third-order nonlinearity was achieved. At smaller gap distances down to 0.1 nm, we observed the appearance of extremely large third-order nonlinearity without the assistance of the plasmon resonance. At a gap distance of 0.1 nm, the observed third-order nonlinearity was approximately three orders of magnitude larger than that seen at longer gap distances. The extremely large third-order nonlinearities were found to originate from electron transport by quantum tunneling and/or overbarrier currents through the subnanometer gaps.

Planar nonlinear metasurface optics and their applications

Metasurfaces are artificial two-dimensional (2D) planar surfaces that consist of subwavelength 'meta-atoms' (i.e. metallic or dielectric nanostructures). They are known for their capability to achieve better and more efficient light control in comparison to their traditional optical counterparts. Abrupt and sharp changes in the electromagnetic properties can be induced by the metasurfaces rather than the conventional gradual accumulation that requires greater propagation distances. Based on this feature, planar optical components like mirrors, lenses, waveplates, isolators and even holograms with ultrasmall thicknesses have been developed. Most of the current metasurface studies have focused on tailoring the linear optical effects for applications such as cloaking, lens imaging and 3D holography. Recently, the use of metasurfaces to enhance nonlinear optical effects has attracted significant attention from the research community. Benefiting from the resulting efficient nonlinear optical processes, the fabrication of integrated all-optical nano-devices with peculiar functionalities including broadband frequency conversions and ultrafast optical switching will become achievable. Plasmonic excitation is one of the most effective approaches to increase nonlinear optical responses due to its induced strong local electromagnetic field enhancement. For instance, continuous phase control on the effective nonlinear polarizability of plasmonic metasurfaces has been demonstrated through spin-rotation light coupling. The phase of the nonlinear polarization can be continuously tuned by spatially changing the meta-atoms' orientations during second and third harmonic generation processes, while the nonlinear metasurfaces also exhibit homogeneous linear properties. In addition, an ultrahigh second-order nonlinear susceptibility of up to 10⁴ pm V^-1 has recently been reported by coupling the plasmonic modes of patterned metallic arrays with intersubband transition of multi-quantum-well layered substrate. In order to develop ultra-planar nonlinear plasmonic metasurfaces, 2D materials such as graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have been extensively studied based on their unique nonlinear optical properties. The third-order nonlinear coefficient of graphene is five times that of gold substrate, while TMDC materials also exhibit a strong second-order magnetic susceptibility. In this review, we first focus on the main principles of planar nonlinear plasmonics based on metasurfaces and 2D nonlinear materials. The advantages and challenges of incorporating 2D nonlinear materials into metasurfaces are discussed, followed by their potential applications including orbital angular momentum manipulating and quantum optics.

Giant Enhancement of Second-Order Nonlinearity of Epsilon-near- Zero Medium by a Plasmonic Metasurface

Nonlinear frequency conversion at the nanoscale is important for many applications in free space and integrated photonics. In epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) materials, second-harmonic generation (SHG) is significantly enhanced but the oblique incidence is required to address nonlinearity. To circumvent this constraint, we design a hybrid metasurface consisting of plasmonic nanostructures on an ENZ nanofilm generating strongly enhanced SHG at normal incidence in transmission. We show that the Au meta-atoms on an indium-tin-oxide (ITO) layer provide an approximately 10⁴-fold experimentally measured SHG enhancement at normal incidence at the fundamental wavelength near the ENZ condition of ITO. This giant enhancement stems from reshaping the vectorial properties of the incident light near the Au nanostructures and its increased coupling to the ENZ film. The proposed hybrid ENZ metasurface offers a promising platform for developing ultracompact and efficient nonlinear optical sources at the nanoscale.

Experimental demonstration of the magnetic field concentration effect in circuit-based magnetic near-zero index media

The electromagnetic field concentration effect can greatly enhance light-matter interaction and is of practical interest in applications such as wireless power transfer and sensors. Zero-index media, unusual materials with near-zero relative permittivity (ɛ) and/or permeability (µ), play a key role in tailoring the properties of electromagnetic waves in unique ways. In this work, circuit-based isotropic µ-near-zero (MNZ) media were theoretically proposed and constructed based on two-dimensional transmission lines with lumped elements. Magnetic field concentration was experimentally demonstrated in this circuit-based system, which could be realized by using a small MNZ scatterer and the results agreed well with simulations. Moreover, the MNZ scatterer exhibited a robust enhancement of the magnetic field regardless of its position and number. By applying the magnetic field concentration effect of MNZ scatterers, we also study the flexible manipulation of the electromagnetic energy along different paths. These results not only provide a versatile platform to study abnormal scattering phenomena in metamaterials, but also offer a route to enhance the magnetic field in planar systems. Moreover, the manipulation of magnetic field under multiple MNZ scatterers may enable their use in new applications, such as in the robust energy transfer with properties of long-range and multiple receivers.

Adjustable Graphene/Polyolefin Elastomer Epsilon-near-Zero Metamaterials at Radiofrequency Range

While epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) metamaterials have marvelously shown various application prospects, the way to construct intrinsic ENZ metamaterials and adjust their ENZ properties precisely is still uncovered. The realization of stable and broadband ENZ properties at the radiofrequency range is of great significance. Herein graphene/polyolefin elastomer (POE) intrinsic ENZ metamaterials are initially constructed via the nanohybrid process. The metamaterials possess excellent adjustable ENZ properties by adjusting the content and reduction methods of graphene. The permittivities maintain between -1 and 1 steadily with increasing graphene content, which is attributed to the moderated carrier concentration of the conductive networks in the nanohybrids. Besides, different reduction methods also have significant impacts on ENZ properties. The hydrazine hydrate reduction method increases the maximum ENZ frequency region to 126 MHz. Lorentz type resonance is reasonable for the positive-negative transition in the ENZ frequency regions. As a significant indicator of the emergence of ENZ property, the sudden peak of dielectric loss tangent is observed. This work offers novel routes to construct intrinsic ENZ metamaterials with excellent adjustability in both values of permittivity and ENZ frequency regions.

Metasurfaces help lasers to mode-lock

Metasurface saturable absorbers may result in versatile mode-locking that allows one to obtain stable ultrashort laser pulses with high repetition rates and peak powers, along with broadband operation, within fiber to solid-state laser cavities.

Pushing periodic-disorder-induced phase matching into the deep-ultraviolet spectral region: theory and demonstration

Nonlinear frequency conversion is a ubiquitous technique that is used to obtain broad-range lasers and supercontinuum coherent sources. The phase-matching condition (momentum conservation relation) is the key criterion but a challenging bottleneck in highly efficient conversion. Birefringent phase matching (BPM) and quasi-phase matching (QPM) are two feasible routes but are strongly limited in natural anisotropic crystals or ferroelectric crystals. Therefore, it is in urgent demand for a general technique that can compensate for the phase mismatching in universal nonlinear materials and in broad wavelength ranges. Here, an additional periodic phase (APP) from order/disorder alignment is proposed to meet the phase-matching condition in arbitrary nonlinear crystals and demonstrated from the visible region to the deep-ultraviolet region (e.g., LiNbO₃ and quartz). Remarkably, pioneering 177.3-nm coherent output is first obtained in commercial quartz crystal with an unprecedented conversion efficiency above 1‰. This study not only opens a new roadmap to resuscitate those long-neglected nonlinear optical crystals for wavelength extension, but also may revolutionize next-generation nonlinear photonics and their further applications.

Three-Dimensional Acoustic Double-Zero-Index Medium with a Fourfold Degenerate Dirac-like Point

We report the first realization of a three-dimensional (3D) acoustic double-zero-index medium (DZIM) made of a cubic lattice of metal rods. While the past decade has seen several realizations of 2D DZIM, achieving such a medium in 3D has remained an elusive challenge. Here, we show how a fourfold degenerate point with conical dispersion can be induced at the Brillouin zone center, such that the material becomes a 3D DZIM with the effective mass density and compressibility simultaneously acquiring near-zero values. To demonstrate the functionalities of this new medium, we have fabricated an acoustic waveguide of 3D DZIM in form of a "periscope" with two 90° turns and observed tunneling of a normally incident planar wave through the waveguide yielding undistorted planar wave front at the waveguide exit. Our findings establish a practical route to realize 3D DZIM as an effective acoustic "void space" that offers unprecedented control over acoustic wave propagation.

Highly Efficient Super-Continuum Generation on an Epsilon-Near-Zero Surface

The efficient super-continuum (SC) generation on a surface via a high-order photo-electron interaction is a great challenge for integrated optics because the surficial nonlinear optical efficiency is usually limited by finite light-matter interaction length and electric field intensity. Nowadays, epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) materials, showing infinite enhanced electronic field in theory, provide a kind of new platform to obtain a giant nonlinear response on the surface. Here, under the irradiation of a multiwavelength laser, an exotic and efficient SC generation from 406 to 1100 nm on the ENZ aluminum-doped zinc oxide surface was experimentally demonstrated by diversified nonlinear processes, including second harmonic generation, third harmonic generation, four wavelength mixing, and cascading stimulated Raman scattering. Particularly, an unprecedented nonlinear conversion efficiency of 3.94% W^-1, 16 orders of magnitude higher than the common surface case (about 10^-16% W^-1), was presented.

Shape-dependent infrared reflectance properties of CNT forest metamaterial arrays

In this work, shape-dependent mid-infrared properties of novel split ring resonator (SRR) metamaterials composed of single-walled carbon nanotube (CNT) forest are investigated. The introduction of the gap and dip shape to the closed ring geometry reduced the total reflectance by 15%, due to the generation of circular currents and LC resonances in SRRs. The increase of the SRR height reduced the total IR reflectance by 25%. Unique one-dimensional anisotropic electric and photonic properties of CNTs, combined with an artificial refractive index induced in SRR circuits, will stimulate the development of new optoelectronics applications.

Tailorable Dynamics in Nonlinear Optical Metasurfaces

Controlling light with light is essential for all-optical switching, data processing in optical communications and computing. Until now, all-optical control of light has relied almost exclusively on nonlinear optical interactions in materials. Achieving giant nonlinearities under low light intensity is essential for weak-light nonlinear optics. In the past decades, such weak-light nonlinear phenomena have been demonstrated in photorefractive and photochromic materials. However, their bulky size and slow speed have hindered practical applications. Metasurfaces, which enhance light-matter interactions at the nanoscale, provide a new framework with tailorable nonlinearities for weak-light nonlinear dynamics. Current advances in nonlinear metasurfaces are introduced, with a special emphasis on all-optical light controls. The tuning of the nonlinearity values using metasurfaces, including enhancement and sign reversal is presented. The tailoring of the transient behaviors of nonlinearities in metasurfaces to achieve femtosecond switching speed is also discussed. Furthermore, the impact of quantum effects from the metasurface on the nonlinearities is introduced. Finally, an outlook on the future development of this energetic field is offered.

Study on epsilon crossover wavelength tuning of heavily doped germanium-on-silicon in mid-infrared range

In this paper, we demonstrate that n-type heavily doped germanium (Ge) can serve as a sort of CMOS-compatible, permittivity crossover wavelength (at which the real part of permittivity changes sign) wide range adjustable epsilon-zero material in mid-infrared (MIR). The antimony (Sb) doped Ge films with high doping concentrations have been highly crystalline grown on silicon substrates with the molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) process. Our results reveal that the crossover wavelength of doped germanium is highly tunable by adjusting the carrier concentration and crystallinity of the films simultaneously. By optimizing dopant flux and substrate temperature, the maximum carrier concentration can be achieved as high as 1.6×10²⁰ cm^-3, resulting in a very short crossover wavelength of 4.31 µm, which is very difficult to realize in group IV semiconductors. The heavily doping process also enables it possible to observe the room temperature photoluminescence (PL) from direct band transition of germanium films.

Structural dispersion-based reduction of loss in epsilon-near-zero and surface plasmon polariton waves

The field of plasmonics has substantially affected the study of light-matter interactions at the subwavelength scale. However, dissipation losses still remain an inevitable obstacle in the development of plasmonic-based wave propagation. Although different materials with moderate losses are being extensively studied, absorption arguably continues to be the key challenge in the field. Here, we theoretically and numerically investigate a different route toward the reduction of loss in propagating plasmon waves. Rather than focusing on a material-based approach, we take advantage of structural dispersion in waveguides to manipulate effective material parameters, thus leading to smaller losses. The potential of this approach is illustrated with two examples: plane-wave propagation within a bulk epsilon-near-zero medium and surface plasmon polariton propagation at the interface of a medium with negative permittivity. We provide the recipe for a practical implementation at mid-infrared frequencies. Our results might represent an important step toward the development of low-loss plasmonic technologies.

Quasicrystal Photonic Metasurfaces for Radiation Controlling of Second Harmonic Generation

Photonic metasurfaces, a kind of 2D structured medium, represent a novel platform to manipulate the propagation of light at subwavelength scale. In linear optical regime, many interesting topics such as planar meta-lenses, metasurface optical holography, and so on have been widely investigated. Recently, metasurfaces have gone into the nonlinear optical regime. While it is recognized that the local symmetry of the meta-atoms plays a vital role in determining the polarization, phase, and intensity of the nonlinear waves, much less attention has been paid to the global symmetry of the nonlinear metasurfaces. According to the Penrose tiling and the newly proposed hexagonal quasicrystalline tiling, nonlinear optical quasicrystal metasurfaces are designed and fabricated based on the geometric-phase-controlled plasmonic meta-atoms with local rotational symmetry. It is found that the far-field radiation behavior of second harmonic generation waves are determined by both the tiling schemes of quasicrystal metasurfaces and the local symmetry of meta-atoms they consist of. The proposed concept may open new avenues for designing nonlinear optical sources with metasurface crystals.

From Single-Dimensional to Multidimensional Manipulation of Optical Waves with Metasurfaces

Metasurfaces, 2D artificial arrays of subwavelength elements, have attracted great interest from the optical scientific community in recent years because they provide versatile possibilities for the manipulation of optical waves and promise an effective way for miniaturization and integration of optical devices. In the past decade, the main efforts were focused on the realization of single-dimensional (amplitude, frequency, polarization, or phase) manipulation of optical waves. Compared to the metasurfaces with single-dimensional manipulation, metasurfaces with multidimensional manipulation of optical waves show significant advantages in many practical application areas, such as optical holograms, sub-diffraction imaging, and the design of integrated multifunctional optical devices. Nowadays, with the rapid development of nanofabrication techniques, the research of metasurfaces has been inevitably developed from single-dimensional manipulation toward multidimensional manipulation of optical waves, which greatly boosts the application of metasurfaces and further paves the way for arbitrary design of optical devices. Herein, the recent advances in metasurfaces are briefly reviewed and classified from the viewpoint of different dimensional manipulations of optical waves. Single-dimensional manipulation and 2D manipulation of optical waves with metasurfaces are discussed systematically. In conclusion, an outlook and perspectives on the challenges and future prospects in these rapidly growing research areas are provided.

Analog of giant magnetoimpedance in magnetized ε-near-zero plasma

In this Letter, we show that magnetized plasma with properly designed parameters at plasma frequency suffers a large magnetoimpedance change under a moderate external magnetic field. Such an interesting feature can be described as the analog of giant magnetoimpedance (GMI), which is confirmed by detailed calculation. GMI devices based on magnetized ε-near-zero plasma do not require microfabrication, and they are capable of working at tunable frequency, even in terahertz frequency range; more importantly, they can be dynamically controlled by environmental parameters such as temperature and pressure.

Thermal meta-device in analogue of zero-index photonics

Inspired by the developments in photonic metamaterials, the concept of thermal metamaterials has promised new avenues for manipulating the flow of heat. In photonics, the existence of natural materials with both positive and negative permittivities has enabled the creation of metamaterials with a very wide range of effective parameters. In contrast, in conductive heat transfer, the available range of thermal conductivities in natural materials is far narrower, strongly restricting the effective parameters of thermal metamaterials and limiting possible applications in extreme environments. Here, we identify a rigorous correspondence between zero index in Maxwell's equations and infinite thermal conductivity in Fourier's law. We also propose a conductive system with an integrated convective element that creates an extreme effective thermal conductivity, and hence by correspondence a thermal analogue of photonic near-zero-index metamaterials, a class of metamaterials with crucial importance in controlling light. Synergizing the general properties of zero-index metamaterials and the specific diffusive nature of thermal conduction, we theoretically and experimentally demonstrate a thermal zero-index cloak. In contrast with conventional thermal cloaks, this meta-device can operate in a highly conductive background and the cloaked object preserves great sensitivity to external temperature changes. Our work demonstrates a thermal metamaterial which greatly enhances the capability for molding the flow of heat.

Manipulating the flow of light using Dirac-cone zero-index metamaterials

Metamaterials with a refractive index of zero exhibit properties that are important for integrated optics. Possessing an infinite effective wavelength and zero spatial phase change, zero-index metamaterials may be especially useful for routing on-chip photonic processes and reducing the footprint of nonlinear interactions. Zero-index has only been achieved recently in an integrated platform through a Dirac-cone dispersion, enabling some of these more exciting applications in an integrated platform. This paper presents an overview of Dirac-cone zero-index metamaterials, including the fundamental physics, history and demonstration in the optical regime, as well as current challenges and future directions.

Zero-Index Bound States in the Continuum

Metamaterials with an effective zero refractive index associated with their electromagnetic response are sought for a number of applications in communications and nonlinear optics. A promising way that this can be achieved in all-dielectric photonic crystals is through the design of a Dirac cone at zero Bloch wave vector in the photonic band structure. In the optical frequency range, the natural way to implement this design is through the use of a photonic crystal slab. In the existing implementation, however, the zero-index photonic modes also radiate strongly into the environment due to intrinsic symmetry properties. This has resulted in large losses in recent experimental realizations of this zero-index paradigm. Here, we propose a photonic crystal slab with zero-index modes which are also symmetry-protected bound states in the continuum. Our approach thus eliminates the associated radiation loss. This could enable, for the first time, large-scale integration of zero-index materials in photonic devices.

Programmable time-domain digital-coding metasurface for non-linear harmonic manipulation and new wireless communication systems

Optical non-linear phenomena are typically observed in natural materials interacting with light at high intensities, and they benefit a diverse range of applications from communication to sensing. However, controlling harmonic conversion with high efficiency and flexibility remains a major issue in modern optical and radio-frequency systems. Here, we introduce a dynamic time-domain digital-coding metasurface that enables efficient manipulation of spectral harmonic distribution. By dynamically modulating the local phase of the surface reflectivity, we achieve accurate control of different harmonics in a highly programmable and dynamic fashion, enabling unusual responses, such as velocity illusion. As a relevant application, we propose and realize a novel architecture for wireless communication systems based on the time-domain digital-coding metasurface, which largely simplifies the architecture of modern communication systems, at the same time yielding excellent performance for real-time signal transmission. The presented work, from new concept to new system, opens new pathways in the application of metamaterials to practical technology.

Strong Coupling of Epsilon-Near-Zero Phonon Polaritons in Polar Dielectric Heterostructures

We report the first observation of epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) phonon polaritons in an ultrathin AlN film fully hybridized with surface phonon polaritons (SPhP) supported by the adjacent SiC substrate. Employing a strong coupling model for the analysis of the dispersion and electric field distribution in these hybridized modes, we show that they share the most prominent features of the two precursor modes. The novel ENZ-SPhP coupled polaritons with a highly propagative character and deeply subwavelength light confinement can be utilized as building blocks for future infrared and terahertz nanophotonic integration and communication devices.

Gradient metasurfaces: a review of fundamentals and applications

In the wake of intense research on metamaterials the two-dimensional analogue, known as metasurfaces, has attracted progressively increasing attention in recent years due to the ease of fabrication and smaller insertion losses, while enabling an unprecedented control over spatial distributions of transmitted and reflected optical fields. Metasurfaces represent optically thin planar arrays of resonant subwavelength elements that can be arranged in a strictly or quasi periodic fashion, or even in an aperiodic manner, depending on targeted optical wavefronts to be molded with their help. This paper reviews a broad subclass of metasurfaces, viz. gradient metasurfaces, which are devised to exhibit spatially varying optical responses resulting in spatially varying amplitudes, phases and polarizations of scattered fields. Starting with introducing the concept of gradient metasurfaces, we present classification of different metasurfaces from the viewpoint of their responses, differentiating electrical-dipole, geometric, reflective and Huygens' metasurfaces. The fundamental building blocks essential for the realization of metasurfaces are then discussed in order to elucidate the underlying physics of various physical realizations of both plasmonic and purely dielectric metasurfaces. We then overview the main applications of gradient metasurfaces, including waveplates, flat lenses, spiral phase plates, broadband absorbers, color printing, holograms, polarimeters and surface wave couplers. The review is terminated with a short section on recently developed nonlinear metasurfaces, followed by the outlook presenting our view on possible future developments and perspectives for future applications.

Optical Time Reversal from Time-Dependent Epsilon-Near-Zero Media

Materials with a spatially uniform but temporally varying optical response have applications ranging from magnetic field-free optical isolators to fundamental studies of quantum field theories. However, these effects typically become relevant only for time variations oscillating at optical frequencies, thus presenting a significant hurdle that severely limits the realization of such conditions. Here we present a thin-film material with a permittivity that pulsates (uniformly in space) at optical frequencies and realizes a time-reversing medium of the form originally proposed by Pendry [Science 322, 71 (2008)SCIEAS0036-807510.1126/science.1162087]. We use an optically pumped, 500 nm thick film of epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) material based on Al-doped zinc oxide. An incident probe beam is both negatively refracted and time reversed through a reflected phase-conjugated beam. As a result of the high nonlinearity and the refractive index that is close to zero, the ENZ film leads to time reversed beams (simultaneous negative refraction and phase conjugation) with near-unit efficiency and greater-than-unit internal conversion efficiency. The ENZ platform therefore presents the time-reversal features required, e.g., for efficient subwavelength imaging, all-optical isolators and fundamental quantum field theory studies.

Half-sized cylindrical invisibility cloaks using double near zero slabs with realistic material size and properties

A method is introduced to miniaturize invisibility cloaks by 50% using wave tailoring and finite/non-zero wave impedance of double near zero (DNZ) slabs. Unlike previous works, which use thick dielectric matching layers to miniaturize internal cloaks, the proposed technique is applied to both internal and external cylindrical cloaks using a thin and short DNZ slab to change cloaks' shapes to half-cylinder shells. Moreover, sets of structures are introduced for the half sized cloaks to enable using feasible-to-fabricate structures with the help of a rigorous theoretical analysis, which is validated via full-wave simulations. All of the presented results show that the proposed half cloaks can function perfectly well. The sensitivity of half-sized cloaks to the length and material properties of the DNZ slab is investigated to find the shortest length and the highest values of the permittivity and permeability for the slab to have small yet realizable structures. The analysis shows that slabs with length as small as the diameter of the cloaks and constitutive parameters (permittivity and permeability) as high asε_slab=μ_slab=0.1-0.1iand ε_slab=μ_slab=0.05-0.04i for half-sized external cloaks and half-sized internal cloaks, respectively, can still considerably reduce the scattered fields. The effect of the loss and incident angle of the field on the performance of the miniaturized cloaks are also analyzed.

Versatile backconversion-inhibited broadband optical parametric amplification based on an idler-separated QPM configuration

Conversion efficiency and phase-matching (PM) bandwidth are both critical issues for broadband parametric processes. In some sense, they determine the highest peak power achieved via the optical parametric amplification. In this Letter, a versatile idler-separated quasi-phase matching scheme capable of both backconversion circumvention and ultra-broadband PM is presented. Full-dimensional spatial-temporal simulations for the typical optical parametric chirped pulse amplification processes at 800 nm and 3.4 μm were presented in detail. By virtue of the broad PM bandwidth on account of the non-collinear PM configuration, the backconversion circumvention on account of the idler-separated design, and the walk-off self-compensation on account of the symmetrical tilting grating patterns, significantly improved gain bandwidth, extremely high conversion efficiency, and a well-preserved beam profile are simultaneously achieved. Compared with the collinear configuration, the peak power can be potentially enhanced by 5-10 times under the same operation circumstances.

Cross-Polarized Surface-Enhanced Infrared Spectroscopy by Fano-Resonant Asymmetric Metamaterials

Plasmonic metamaterials have overcome fundamental limitations in conventional optics by their capability to engineer material resonances and dispersions at will, holding great promise for sensing applications. Recent demonstrations of metamaterial sensors, however, have mainly relied on their resonant nature for strong optical interactions with molecules, but few examples fully exploit their functionality to manipulate the polarization of light. Here, we present cross-polarized surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) by the Fano-resonant asymmetric metamaterial allowing for strong background suppression as well as significant field enhancement. The metamaterial is designed to exhibit the controlled Fano resonance with the cross-polarization conversion property at 1730 cm⁻¹, which spectrally overlaps with the C=O vibrational mode. In the cross-polarized SEIRA measurement, the C=O mode of poly(methyl methacrylate) molecules is clearly observed as a distinct dip within a Fano-resonant transmission peak of the metamaterial. The vibrational signal contrast is then improved based on the cross-polarized detection scheme where only the light interacting with the metamaterial-molecular coupled system is detected by totally eliminating the unwanted background light. Our metamaterial approach achieves the zeptomole sensitivity with a large signal-to-noise ratio in the far-field measurement, paving the way toward the realization of ultrasensitive IR inspection technologies.