Bending the laws of diffraction with hyperbolic metamaterials

COFFEE_KLATCH · Invited

Abstract

Diffraction strongly affects our everyday life as well as our future progress. It provides the resolution limit for microscopy, photography, and other imaging techniques; it determines the scattering and emission properties of small objects; it affects the propagation of telecom signals in bent fibers. The diffraction can be understood as the ability of the relatively small, wavelength-scale, structures to change the direction of the beam of light propagating in the surrounding medium. The resulting change in the propagation of the beam is determined by the complex interplay between the shape and size of the structures and of the beam, and, to the large degree, by the properties of the material surrounding the obstacles. Here we show that a subclass of metamaterials, nanostructured composites with strong anisotropy of their optical response, known as hyperbolic media, are capable of providing unique modifications to the well-known diffraction laws. In particular, hyperbolic media open the door for negative refraction, sub-wavelength focusing, super-resolution imaging, and introduce new mechanisms for nonlinear interaction of optical beams. In the talk we will discuss theoretical foundations of optics of hyperbolic metamaterials and will also present the results of recent experimental studies of these unique systems.

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Authors

  • Richard D. Averitt

    Trinity College, Department of Physics, Joint appointment in Teacher Education, Wright State University, Graduate School of Education, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Littleton High School, Department of Physics, Boston College, Department of Physics and Applied Physics, University of Massachusetts Lowell, North Carolina State University, University of Massachusetts at Lowell, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, Harvard University, Department of Chemistry University of Massachusetts Amherst, Center for Advanced Materials and Department of Plastics Engineering University of Massachusetts Lowell, Center for Advanced Materials and Department of Physics and Applied Physics University of Massachusetts Lowell, RMD Inc., Watertown MA, UMass Lowell, Lowell MA, Radiation Monitoring Devices Inc., Watertown, MA, USA, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA, USA, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL, USA, ANL, IL, UMass Lowell, Brown University / Department of Chemistry, Sciprint.org, Physics Department, LESIMS Laboratory, Badji Mokhtar University, 23000 Annaba, Algeria, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Physics Department, Boston University