Stability bounds on superluminal propagation in active structures

Active materials have been explored in recent years to demonstrate superluminal group velocities over relatively broad bandwidths, implying a potential path towards bold claims such as information transport beyond the speed of light, as well as antennas and metamaterial cloaks operating over very broad bandwidths. However, causality requires that no portion of an impinging pulse can pass its precursor, implying a fundamental trade-off between bandwidth, velocity and propagation distance. Here, we clarify the general nature of superluminal propagation in active structures and derive a bound on these quantities fundamentally rooted into stability considerations. By applying filter theory, we show that this bound is generally applicable to causal structures of arbitrary complexity, as it applies to each zero-pole pair describing their response. As the system complexity grows, we find that only minor improvements in superluminal bandwidth can be practically achieved. Our results provide physical insights into the limitations of superluminal structures based on active media, implying severe constraints in several recently proposed applications.

Radio Frequency Angular Momentum Biased Quasi-LTI Nonreciprocal Acoustic Filters

We report on the design and operation of a novel class of nonreciprocal acoustic filters operating in the radio frequency (RF) range. These devices use the spectral characteristics of commercial acoustic filters placed in angular momentum biased networks to achieve large nonreciprocity, low insertion loss (I.L.), and wideband operation. Owing to the high rejection exhibited by acoustic filters, these novel devices can achieve an unprecedented suppression of undesired intermodulation products, thus approaching the spectral purity attained by conventional linear-time-invariant (LTI) filtering components. In addition, a new analytical model suitable to capture the behavior of any angular-momentum-biased nonreciprocal device is presented. This model allows us to identify the main characteristics of the transfer function (poles and zeroes) relative to this new class of nonreciprocal filters, thus enabling new synthesis capabilities through standard numerical methods. Ultimately, the performance of a built 1.1-GHz nonreciprocal acoustic filter prototype is reported. This device relies on a modulation implemented through switched capacitors and shows I.L., isolation, and half-power bandwidth values of 4.5 dB, 28 dB, and 20 MHz, respectively, achieved through the use of a 40-MHz modulation frequency. Moreover, by showing an intermodulation distortion lower than -34 dBc, it approaches the operation of LTI circuits.

Nonreciprocal Willis Coupling in Zero-Index Moving Media

Mechanical motion can break the symmetry in which sound travels in a medium, but significant nonreciprocity is typically achieved only for large motion speeds. We combine moving media with zero-index acoustic propagation, yielding extreme nonreciprocity and induced bianisotropy for modest applied speeds. The metamaterial is formed by an array of waveguides loaded by Helmholtz resonators, and it exhibits opposite signs of the refractive index sustained by asymmetric Willis coupling for propagation in opposite directions. We use this response to induce nonreciprocal positive-to-negative sound refraction, and we propose a nonreciprocal metamaterial lens focusing only with excitation from one side based on asymmetric Willis coupling.

Nonreciprocal acoustic propagation and leaky-wave radiation in a waveguide with flow

Isolators, devices with unidirectional wave transmission, are integral components in computing networks, enabling a one-way division of a large system into independent subunits. Isolators are created by breaking the inversion symmetry between a source and a receiver, known as reciprocity. In acoustics, a steady flow of the background medium in which sound travels can break reciprocity, but significant isolation is typically achieved only for large, often impractical speeds. This article proposes acoustic isolator designs enabled by duct flow that do not require large flow velocities. A basic isolator design is simulated based on the acoustic analogue of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, with monomodal entry and exit ports. The simulated device footprint is then reduced by using bimodal ports. Further, a nonuniform velocity profile combined with a grating to induce phononic transitions is considered, which, combined with filters, can provide significant isolation. By coupling a waveguide with flow to free space through an array of small apertures, largely nonreciprocal leaky-wave radiation is demonstrated, breaking the symmetry between reception and transmission patterns of an acoustic linear aperture array. These investigations open interesting pathways towards efficient acoustic isolation, which may be translated into integrated acoustic and surface acoustic waves, as well as phononic technology.

Maximum Willis Coupling in Acoustic Scatterers

Willis coupling in acoustic materials defines the cross-coupling between strain and velocity, analogous to bianisotropic phenomena in electromagnetics. While these phenomena have been garnering significant attention in recent years, to date their effects have been considered mostly perturbative. Here, we derive general bounds on the Willis response of acoustic scatterers, show that these bounds can be reached in suitably designed scatterers, and outline a systematic venue for the realistic implementation of maximally bianisotropic acoustic inclusions. We then employ these inclusions to realize acoustic metasurfaces for bending and steering of sound with unitary efficiency.

Metagratings: Beyond the Limits of Graded Metasurfaces for Wave Front Control

Graded metasurfaces exploit the local momentum imparted by an impedance gradient to mold the impinging wave front. This approach suffers from fundamental limits on the overall conversion efficiency, and it is challenged by fabrication limitations on the spatial resolution. Here, we introduce the concept of metagratings, formed by periodic arrays of carefully tailored bianisotropic inclusions and show that they enable wave front engineering with unitary efficiency and significantly lower fabrication demands. We employ this concept to design reflective metasurfaces for wave front steering without limitations on efficiency. A similar approach can be extended to transmitted beams and arbitrary wave front transformation, opening opportunities for highly efficient metasurfaces for extreme wave manipulation.

Time-Reversal Symmetry Bounds on the Electromagnetic Response of Asymmetric Structures

Asymmetric structures support different field distributions and electromagnetic responses when excited from different directions. Here we show that time-reversal symmetry imposes fundamental constraints on their overall response, beyond those dictated by reciprocity. For two-port devices, the asymmetry in field distribution for opposite excitations is shown to be fundamentally bounded by the reflection at the ports, and the fields are identical everywhere in space in the case of full transmission. In multiport and open scenarios, these bounds have implications on radiation and scattering at different ports and towards different directions. Beyond their theoretical significance, these results provide relevant insights into the operation of nonlinear isolators, metasurfaces, and other nanophotonic devices.

Negative refraction and planar focusing based on parity-time symmetric metasurfaces

We introduce a new mechanism to realize negative refraction and planar focusing using a pair of parity-time symmetric metasurfaces. In contrast to existing solutions that achieve these effects with negative-index metamaterials or phase conjugating surfaces, the proposed parity-time symmetric lens enables loss-free, all-angle negative refraction and planar focusing in free space, without relying on bulk metamaterials or nonlinear effects. This concept may represent a pivotal step towards loss-free negative refraction and highly efficient planar focusing by exploiting the largely uncharted scattering properties of parity-time symmetric systems.

Extinction symmetry for reciprocal objects and its implications on cloaking and scattering manipulation

Using Lorentz reciprocity and power conservation, we prove that the extinction cross section of an arbitrarily shaped scatterer is always the same when illuminated from opposite directions and with the same polarization. For lossless and passive objects, this finding implies identical scattering cross sections for opposite excitations, with relevant implications on cloaking designs and scattering suppression schemes. This scattering symmetry can be broken by introducing absorption into the system, providing a path toward large scattering asymmetries when combined with Fano interference.

Sound isolation and giant linear nonreciprocity in a compact acoustic circulator

Acoustic isolation and nonreciprocal sound transmission are highly desirable in many practical scenarios. They may be realized with nonlinear or magneto-acoustic effects, but only at the price of high power levels and impractically large volumes. In contrast, nonreciprocal electromagnetic propagation is commonly achieved based on the Zeeman effect, or modal splitting in ferromagnetic atoms induced by a magnetic bias. Here, we introduce the acoustic analog of this phenomenon in a subwavelength meta-atom consisting of a resonant ring cavity biased by a circulating fluid. The resulting angular momentum bias splits the ring's azimuthal resonant modes, producing giant acoustic nonreciprocity in a compact device. We applied this concept to build a linear, magnetic-free circulator for airborne sound waves, observing up to 40-decibel nonreciprocal isolation at audible frequencies.

Systematic surface waves analysis at the interfaces of composite DNG/SNG media

The efficient analysis of practical metamaterial slabs, formed by networks of diverse split-ring resonators, is presented in this paper, concerning their competence to guide surface waves. Dispersion curves of the supported modes are consistently derived through closed-form expressions with average constitutive parameters of the slab's medium, estimated in terms of finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulations of the metamaterial's unit cell. Then, the resonant frequencies in the first Brillouin zone are computed via a rigorous FDTD model of the structure's unit cell and results are elaborately collated with their theoretical counterparts. The comparison reveals the lack of the analytical method to provide relatively correct outcomes for high Bloch numbers due to the nonlocal phenomena which become dominant near the Brillouin zone edge.

Temporal characteristics of resonant surface polaritons in superlensing planar double-negative slabs: development of analytical schemes and numerical models

The temporal behavior of electric fields in arbitrary double-negative planar slabs is systematically investigated in this paper, from both analytical and numerical perspectives. Concerning infinite slabs, a set of exact expressions for an exponential current excitation is derived through an efficient complex analysis, and an integrated study of surface polariton frequencies is performed. Subsequently, the significant case of a source with a random spatial profile is explored in order to obtain rigorous relations for the field and transient phenomena damping time with respect to problem parameters. On the other hand, a robust finite-difference time-domain methodology is introduced for the comprehensive examination of finite slabs, whose numerical simulations dictate the adoption of a resonatorlike discipline. This inevitable, yet very instructive, convention is physically justified by the almost perfect surface mode reflections at the edges of the slab. In this manner, the proposed formulation reveals a prominent increase in the excited polariton amplitude, relative to the corresponding infinite arrangements, which leads to larger transient times.