Metamaterial Cladding Research Articles

Slow-light propagation in a cylindrical dielectric waveguide with metamaterial cladding

Through rigorous analysis of all possible oscillatory guided modes propagating in a dielectric cylindrical waveguide with anisotropic metamaterial cladding, we demonstrate that slow or even stopped electromagnetic wave (or light) can propagate in the waveguide with specially selected parameters of the metamaterial. We propose a linearly tapered cylindrical waveguide which could lead the propagating light to a complete standstill and validate the structure by full-wave simulation based on the finite-difference time-domain method. For practical implementation, we present two possible realizations of the slow-light waveguide structure: one consists of silver and silicon dioxide multilayered thin films as the metamaterial cladding and the other consists of isotropic plasmonic material as the cladding. We demonstrate that slow-light can be supported in the practical structures by theoretical analysis.

Observation of slow-light in a metamaterials waveguide at microwave frequencies

We report an experimental observation of slow-light in the GHz microwave regime utilizing the mechanism of the degeneracy of forward and backward waves in a planar waveguide consisting of a dielectric core cladded by single-negative metamaterial. The metamaterial cladding consists of periodic arrays of metallic split-ring resonators, exhibiting an effective negative permeability. Group delay dispersions obtained from pulsed measurements are in complete agreement with theoretical predictions.

Compensating loss with gain in slow-light propagation along slab waveguide with anisotropic metamaterial cladding

We explore slow-light propagation in a dielectric slab waveguide with anisotropic metamaterial cladding, which could be realized through multilayer structure with alternating metal and dielectric films. We show that although the loss in the realistic metamaterial will destroy the zero-energy velocity condition, the loss effect can be fully compensated by incorporating gain in the core material, which recovers the stopping and storing of light propagation in the waveguide. We demonstrate full-wave electromagnetic simulations on the realistic waveguide that validate our theoretical analysis.

Stopping light by an air waveguide with anisotropic metamaterial cladding

We present a detailed study of oscillating modes in a slab waveguide with air core and anisotropic metamaterial cladding. It is shown that, under specific dielectric configurations, slow and even stopped electromagnetic wave can be supported by such an air waveguide. We propose a linearly tapped waveguide structure that could lead the propagating light to a complete standstill. Both the theoretical analysis and the proposed waveguide have been validated by full-wave simulation based on finite-difference time-domain method.

Low-temperature-sensitivity heterostructure photonic-crystal wavelength-selective filter based on ultralow-refractive-index metamaterials

We propose and numerically investigate the thermal-insensitive properties of a wavelength-selective filter based on heterostructure photonic crystals with ultralow-refractive-index metallic nanowires. The operational principle of the proposed device is based on the photon trapping by total external reflections between the ultralow refractive index metamaterial claddings and the guiding air cores. The low propagation losses, the ultracompact size as well as the temperature-insensitive operation are the main advantages of the proposed metamaterial technology, making the proposed de-multiplexer an excellent candidate for applications in nanophotonic-integrated systems operating in the visible frequency spectrum.