Giant Kerr nonlinearity and low-power gigahertz solitons via plasmon-induced transparency

Zhengyang Bai,Shuang Zhang,Lixiang Liu,Guoxiang Huang

doi:10.1038/srep13780

Zhengyang Bai, Shuang Zhang + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/srep13780

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Abstract

We propose a method to enhance Kerr nonlinearity and realize low-power gigahertz solitons via plasmon-induced transparency (PIT) in a new type of metamaterial, which is constructed by an array of unit cell consisting of a cut-wire and a pair of varactor-loaded split-ring resonators. We show that the PIT in such metamaterial can not only mimic the electromagnetically induced transparency in coherent three-level atomic systems, but also exhibit a crossover from PIT to Autler-Townes splitting. We further show that the system suggested here also possess a giant third-order nonlinear susceptibility and may be used to create solitons with extremely low generation power. Our study raises the possibility for obtaining strong nonlinear effect of gigahertz radiation at very low intensity based on room-temperature metamaterials.

Highlights

We propose a method to enhance Kerr nonlinearity and realize low-power gigahertz solitons via plasmon-induced transparency (PIT) in a new type of metamaterial, which is constructed by an array of unit cell consisting of a cut-wire and a pair of varactor-loaded split-ring resonators
We have suggested a method for enhancing Kerr nonlinearity and realizing low-power gigahertz solitons via PIT in a new type of metamaterial, which can be constructed by an array of unit cell consisting of a cut-wire and a pair of varactor-loaded split-ring resonator (SRR)
We have demonstrated that the PIT in such system can mimic the electromagnetically induced transparency in coherent three-level atomic systems, and exhibit a crossover from PIT to Autler-Townes splitting

Summary

Introduction

We propose a method to enhance Kerr nonlinearity and realize low-power gigahertz solitons via plasmon-induced transparency (PIT) in a new type of metamaterial, which is constructed by an array of unit cell consisting of a cut-wire and a pair of varactor-loaded split-ring resonators. Our study raises the possibility for obtaining strong nonlinear effect of gigahertz radiation at very low intensity based on room-temperature metamaterials. We suggest a new type of metamaterial and show that the system can mimic the EIT of three-level atomic systems, and display a crossover to Autler-Townes splitting (ATS) (i.e. PIT-ATS crossover) when the bright and dark modes of the system is changed from weak to strong coupling regions. We further show that the system can possess giant third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility and soliton pulses with very low generation power can be produced. Our work raises the possibility for obtaining strong nonlinear effect for gigahertz radiation at very low intensity based on room-temperature metamaterials.

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