Cross-polarization coupling and switching in an open nano-meta-resonator

Abstract

We demonstrate the reconfiguration process of optical beam fields circulating in an open nano-meta-resonator cavity. The cavity is composed of four corners or quadrants of space filled alternatively with dielectric and metamaterial media. The media are assumed to be lossless, nondispersive and of parameters precluding impedance matching at the boundaries between the subsequent corners. Beam path retracement in the cavity is obtained from a resonance condition of phase compensation along each optical ray contributed to the circulating beam. Cross-polarization coupling between TM and TE components of elegant higher-order Hermite–Gaussian beams propagating in the resonator is analysed. The existence of the phenomena of beam excitation, filtering and switching predicted on these grounds is explicitly confirmed by numerical simulations. All phenomena described depend substantially on a field cross-sectional diameter of the circulating beams.