Full Control of Nanoscale Optical Transmission with a Composite Metascreen

Monticone, Francesco; Estakhri, Nasim Mohammadi; Alù, Andrea

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.110.203903

Cited by 738 publications

(641 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…May we still obtain the desired parameter values by properly combining and sculpting the two given constituent materials with different parameters, particularly when the desired parameter values are vastly different from those of the constituent materials? Indeed, this quest is consistent with the notion of metamaterials, and many examples of metamaterials constructed in the past decade by various research groups worldwide have been built using a limited number of materials [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] . However, here we develop the notion of digital metamaterials in order to demonstrate that with only two properly chosen elemental materials, coined as "metamaterial bits", at a given range of operating wavelengths, one would, under proper conditions, be able to synthesize composite media with a large range of parameter values.…”

Section: Main Textsupporting

confidence: 56%

Digital metamaterials

2014

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Balancing the complexity and the simplicity has played an important role in the development of many fields in science and engineering. As Albert Einstein was once quoted to say: "Everything must be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler" 1,2 . The simplicity of an idea brings versatility of that idea into a broader domain, while its complexity describes the foundation upon which the idea stands. One of the well-known and powerful examples of such balance is in the Boolean algebra and its impact on the birth of digital electronics and digital information age 3,4 . The simplicity of using only two numbers of "0" and "1" in describing an arbitrary quantity made the fields of digital electronics and digital signal processing powerful and ubiquitous. Here, inspired by the simplicity of digital electrical systems we propose to apply an analogous idea to the field of metamaterials, namely, to develop the notion of digital metamaterials. Specifically, we investigate how one can synthesize an electromagnetic metamaterial with desired materials parameters, e.g., with a desired permittivity, using only two elemental materials, which we call "metamaterial bits" with two distinct permittivity functions, as building blocks. We demonstrate, analytically and numerically, how proper spatial mixtures of such metamaterial bits leads to "metamaterial bytes" with material parameters different from the parameters of metamaterial bits. We also explore the role of relative spatial orders of such digital materials bits in constructing different parameters for the digital material bytes. We then apply this methodology to several design examples such as flat graded-index digital lens, cylindrical scatterers, digital constructs for epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) supercoupling [5][6][7][8] , and digital hyperlens 9-11 , highlighting the power and simplicity of this methodology and algorithm. properties. Our vision, inspired by the Boolean algebra and the digital electrical system, is summarized in Fig. 1. In digital electronics (Fig. 1a), to represent an analog function of time in terms of its digital bits (downward arrow), one first samples the analog signal (sampling

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Section: Main Textsupporting

confidence: 56%

Digital metamaterials

2014

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“…Generally speaking, metasurfaces function as interface discontinuities which, depending on size, shape and composition of scatterers, allow for an abrupt change in the amplitude and/or phase of the impinging light. 7 It should be noted that a single layer of scatterers (due to their Lorentzian-shaped polarizability) only allow for full 2π-phase control of the cross-polarized light component, 8 meaning that such metasurfaces have a theoretical efficiency of maximum 25%, 9 though most realizations show efficiencies of a few percent. 10,11 In order to improve the efficiency of plasmonic metasurfaces, the low-frequency concept of transmit-and reflectarrays has been generalized and adopted to the visible and infrared regimes, where metasurfaces working in transmission consist of several layers in order to reach full phase control and proper impedance matching with surroundings.…”

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confidence: 99%

Analog Computing Using Reflective Plasmonic Metasurfaces

2014

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Motivated by the recent renewed interest in compact analog computing using light and metasurfaces (Silva, A. et al., Science 2014, 343, 160-163), we suggest a practical approach to its realization that involves reflective metasurfaces consisting of arrayed gold nanobricks atop a subwavelength-thin dielectric spacer and optically-thick gold film, a configuration that supports gap-surface plasmon resonances. Using well established numerical routines, we demonstrate that these metasurfaces enable independent control of the light phase and amplitude, and design differentiator and integrator metasurfaces featuring realistic system parameters. Proofof-principle experiments are reported along with the successful realization of a high-quality poor-man's integrator metasurface operating at the wavelength of 800 nm.Keywords: Metasurfaces, plasmonics, analog computing, metamaterials, gap surface plasmons * To whom correspondence should be addressed † In the quest to fully control light at the nanoscale, the year 2000 marks a new epoch in studying light-matter interactions, as researchers, fascinated by the experimental verification of negative refraction 1 and the theoretical work on perfect lensing, 2 in copious amounts ventured into the field of man-made materials, i.e., metamaterials. More than a decade later, several groundbreaking applications have been suggested and verified, such as super-resolution imaging, 3 invisibility cloaks, 4 and metamaterial nanocircuits. 5 In any case, however, and especially at optical frequencies, the general usage of metamaterials seem hindered by difficulties in fabrication and too high losses.As a way to circumvent the drawbacks of metamaterials, the two-dimensional analog, known as metasurfaces, have attracted increasing attention in recent years. 6 Metasurfaces are characterized by a subwavelength thickness in the direction of propagation, while the transverse plane typically consists of an array of metallic scatterers with subwavelength periodicity. Generally speaking, metasurfaces function as interface discontinuities which, depending on size, shape and composition of scatterers, allow for an abrupt change in the amplitude and/or phase of the impinging light. 7 It should be noted that a single layer of scatterers (due to their Lorentzian-shaped polarizability) only allow for full 2π-phase control of the cross-polarized light component, 8 meaning that such metasurfaces have a theoretical efficiency of maximum 25%, 9 though most realizations show efficiencies of a few percent. 10,11 In order to improve the efficiency of plasmonic metasurfaces, the low-frequency concept of transmit-and reflectarrays has been generalized and adopted to the visible and infrared regimes, where metasurfaces working in transmission consist of several layers in order to reach full phase control and proper impedance matching with surroundings. 9,12 Accordingly, such metasurfaces are quite complex to fabricate at near-infrared and visible frequencies, with a moderate efficiency of ∼ 20 − 50% due to ...

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“…Metatronic concepts have provided a useful theoretical framework connecting plasmonics, metamaterials and nanophotonics with conventional electronics [2][3][4][5] . These ideas have guided the efficient design of metasurfaces 6,7 and the modelling of a variety of composite nanostructures, including plasmonic NP clusters [8][9][10] , NP rings exhibiting strong optical magnetism 11 and microcavity lasers 12 . However, the direct application of these concepts to photonic circuits has so far been limited to modelling and tuning optical nanoantennas [13][14][15][16][17][18][19] , and to realizing a ladder network of two-dimensional (2D) nanoinductors and nanocapacitors in the form of a subwavelength grating at mid-infrared frequencies 4 .…”

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confidence: 99%

Modular assembly of optical nanocircuits

et al. 2014

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A key element enabling the microelectronic technology advances of the past decades has been the conceptualization of complex circuits with versatile functionalities as being composed of the proper combination of basic 'lumped' circuit elements (for example, inductors and capacitors). In contrast, modern nanophotonic systems are still far from a similar level of sophistication, partially because of the lack of modularization of their response in terms of basic building blocks. Here we demonstrate the design, assembly and characterization of relatively complex photonic nanocircuits by accurately positioning a number of metallic and dielectric nanoparticles acting as modular lumped elements. The nanoparticle clusters produce the desired spectral response described by simple circuit rules and are shown to be dynamically reconfigurable by modifying the direction or polarization of impinging signals. Our work represents an important step towards extending the powerful modular design tools of electronic circuits into nanophotonic systems.

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Full Control of Nanoscale Optical Transmission with a Composite Metascreen

Cited by 738 publications

References 27 publications

Digital metamaterials

Digital metamaterials

Analog Computing Using Reflective Plasmonic Metasurfaces

Modular assembly of optical nanocircuits

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