Scattering of electromagnetic waves by cylinder inside uniaxial hyperbolic medium.

Abstract

We study electromagnetic wave scattering inside a hyperbolic medium by a circular cylinder. The hyperbolic medium's unique properties result in scattering behaviors that differ greatly from scattering by the same cylinder inside a positive isotropic medium. Incident wave polarization is preserved for all angles of incidence and the scattered waves have the same polarization in the far-field region. TM-polarized plane wave scattering is highly anisotropic. At any given frequency, the dielectric cylinder's scattering properties can vary from the Rayleigh regime, to the resonant regime, to the evanescent regime, by simply changing the angle of incidence. At a given angle, as a function of frequency, the scattering efficiency exhibits narrow resonant features associated with Fano interference. We also show that a magnetic cylinder's scattering can be suppressed. All of these effects stem from the hyperbolic medium's properties, as well as point to the interesting opportunities of tailoring scattering properties by controlling the surrounding medium.