Nonradiating current configurations attract attention of physicists for many years as possible models of stable atoms. One intriguing example of such a nonradiating source is known as ‘anapole'. An anapole mode can be viewed as a composition of electric and toroidal dipole moments, resulting in destructive interference of the radiation fields due to similarity of their far-field scattering patterns. Here we demonstrate experimentally that dielectric nanoparticles can exhibit a radiationless anapole mode in visible. We achieve the spectral overlap of the toroidal and electric dipole modes through a geometry tuning, and observe a highly pronounced dip in the far-field scattering accompanied by the specific near-field distribution associated with the anapole mode. The anapole physics provides a unique playground for the study of electromagnetic properties of nontrivial excitations of complex fields, reciprocity violation and Aharonov–Bohm like phenomena at optical frequencies.

The properties of random lasers in π‐conjugated polymer films and solutions infiltrated into opal photonic crystals are reviewed. We show that random lasing is a generic phenomenon that occurs in disordered gain media at an excitation intensity regime higher than that giving rise to amplified spontaneous emission. The emission radiation is coherent as demonstrated by photon statistics methods, and its spectrum contains many laser modes from which a typical cavity length can be obtained using Fourier transform spectroscopy. Since the random cavities are independent from each other, we show that laser emission in several colors is possible when mixing different dyes in the same random cavities. In addition, it is demonstrated that random lasing is formed in many disordered media with various scattering properties ranging from a regime of light prelocalization to that of weak scattering.

An analytical description for plane-wave propagation in metamaterials is presented. It follows the usual approach for describing light propagation in homogeneous media on the basis of Maxwell's equations, although applied to a medium composed of metallic nanostructures. Here, as an example, these nanostructures are double (or cut) wires. In the present approach it is assumed that the carriers perform collective oscillations in a single wire. These oscillations are coupled to those in the adjacent wire; thus, the internal carrier dynamics may be described by a coupled-oscillator model. The multipole expansion technique is used to account for the electric and magnetic dipole as well as the electric quadrupole moments of these carrier oscillations within the nanostructure. It turns out that the symmetric normal mode is related to the electric dipole moment whereas the antisymmetric normal mode evokes simultaneously a magnetic dipole and an electric quadrupole moment. It is shown how effective permittivity and permeability can be derived from analytical expressions for the dispersion relation, the magnetization, and the electric displacement field. The results of the analytical model are compared with rigorous simulations of Maxwell's equations yielding the limitations and the domain of applicability of the proposed model

We show directional light routing and high–bit rate data transmission using a nanoantenna integrated on a low-loss waveguide.

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The plasmonic response of a metal nanoparticle in the presence of surrounding gain elements is studied, using a space and time-dependent model, which integrates a quantum formalism to describe the gain and a classical treatment for the metal. Our model fully takes into account the influence of the system geometry (nanosphere) and offers for the first time, the possibility to describe the temporal evolution of the fields and the coupling among the multipolar modes of the particle. We calculate the lasing threshold value for all multipoles of the spaser, and demonstrate that the dipolar one is lowest. The onset of the lasing instability, in the linear regime, is then studied both with and without external field forcing. We also study the behaviour of the system below the lasing threshold, with the external field, demonstrating the existence of an amplification regime where the nanoparticle’s plasmon is strongly enhanced as the threshold is approached. Finally, a qualitative discussion is provided on later, non-linear stages of the dynamics and the approach to the steady-state of the spaser; in particular, it is shown that, for the considered geometry, the spasing is necessarily multi-modal and multipolar modes are always activated.

We explain the origin of the electric and particular the magnetic polarizabiltiy of metamaterials employing a fully electromagnetic plasmonic picture. As example we study an U-shaped split-ring resonator based metamaterial at optical frequencies. The relevance of the split-ring resonator orientation relative to the illuminating field for obtaining a strong magnetic response is outlined. We reveal higher-order magnetic resonances and explain their origin on the basis of higher-order plasmonic eigenmodes caused by an appropriate current flow in the split-ring resonator. Finally, the conditions required for obtaining a negative index at optical frequencies in a metamaterial consisting of split-ring resonators and wires are investigated.

In this paper, optical properties of coupled silica disk microresonators are investigated. The spectral response and the light intensity distribution along the coupled disks were measured. It was found that the distribution depends on the particular excited resonance, which can be attributed to the formation of normal modes of the coupled resonator system. A developed theoretical model gives quantitative agreement with the experimental observations