Negative Index Metamaterial Lens for Subwavelength Microwave Detection

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Negative Index Metamaterial Lens for Subwavelength Microwave Detection sensors Article Negative Index Metamaterial Lens for Subwavelength Microwave Detection Srijan Datta 1,* , Saptarshi Mukherjee 2, Xiaodong Shi 1, Mahmood Haq 1, Yiming Deng 1, Lalita Udpa 1 and Edward Rothwell 1 1 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA; [email protected] (X.S.); [email protected] (M.H.); [email protected] (Y.D.); [email protected] (L.U.); [email protected] (E.R.) 2 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, USA; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: Metamaterials are engineered periodic structures designed to have unique properties not encountered in naturally occurring materials. One such unusual property of metamaterials is the ability to exhibit negative refractive index over a prescribed range of frequencies. A lens made of negative refractive index metamaterials can achieve resolution beyond the diffraction limit. This paper presents the design of a metamaterial lens and its use in far-field microwave imaging for subwavelength defect detection in nondestructive evaluation (NDE). Theoretical formulation and numerical studies of the metamaterial lens design are presented followed by experimental demonstration and characterization of metamaterial behavior. Finally, a microwave homodyne receiver-based system is used in conjunction with the metamaterial lens to develop a far-field microwave NDE sensor system. A subwavelength focal spot of size 0.82λ was obtained. The system is shown to be sensitive to a defect of size 0.17λ × 0.06λ in a Teflon sample. Consecutive positions of Citation: Datta, S.; Mukherjee, S.; the defect with a separation of 0.23λ was resolvable using the proposed system. Shi, X.; Haq, M.; Deng, Y.; Udpa, L.; Rothwell, E. Negative Index Keywords: metamaterial; lenses; refractive index; microwave sensors; nondestructive testing Metamaterial Lens for Subwavelength Microwave Detection. Sensors 2021, 21, 4782. https:// doi.org/10.3390/s21144782 1. Introduction In 1968, V. Veselago theoretically introduced the electrodynamics of materials having Academic Editor: Anthony N. Sinclair simultaneous negative values of permittivity and permeability µ [1]. He showed that such materials will exhibit unusual properties such as negative refraction, reversal of Doppler Received: 1 June 2021 shift and backward Cherenkov radiation. The electric field, magnetic field, and wave vector Accepted: 10 July 2021 of a plane wave form a left-handed triplet in such a medium, instead of the conventional Published: 13 July 2021 right-handed one. The word “metamaterial” was coined for such materials, alluding to their unusual properties, not generally encountered in nature. The first left-handed metamaterial Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral (LHM) structure was realized by Smith et al., in their seminal paper of 2000, where they with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- showed that an alternating periodic array of split-ring resonators (SRRs), and thin wires iations. can produce an effective medium having a negative refractive index in the microwave regime [2]. Extensive research demonstrating and characterizing the left-handed behavior of such structures followed [3–5]. Early on, negative refractive index structures were a controversial topic, and their existence was disputed by researchers [6,7]. However, over the past two decades, there has been significant evidence that certain periodic structures can Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. indeed have an effective negative refractive index over a limited range of frequencies [8–10]. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Such periodic structures, even though inhomogeneous, can behave as a homogeneous This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and medium in response to electromagnetic (EM) waves with appropriately long wavelength. conditions of the Creative Commons The homogenized negative index behavior of inhomogeneous metamaterial structures has Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// been described by an effective negative and µ of the periodic arrays [11]. creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ Metamaterials have inspired many novel applications based on their negative refrac- 4.0/). tive index. One of the most ingenious applications of LHM structures was put forward Sensors 2021, 21, 4782. https://doi.org/10.3390/s21144782 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors Sensors 2021, 21, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 18 Sensors 2021, 21, 4782 2 of 16 Metamaterials have inspired many novel applications based on their negative refrac- tive index. One of the most ingenious applications of LHM structures was put forward by J.B.by J.B.Pendry, Pendry, where where he showed he showed that a that negative a negative refractive refractive index indexmaterial material can act can as a act “super as a “superlens”, capable lens”,capable of achieving of achieving subwavelength subwavelength focusing focusing in the far in field the farby fieldrestoring by restoring the am- plitudethe amplitude of evanescent of evanescent wave components wave components [12]. The [ 12highest]. The resolution highest resolution that can be that obtained can be usingobtained a conventional using a conventional lens in the lens far in field the faris limited field is by limited the operating by the operating wavelength, wavelength, due to thedue physics to the physics of diffraction. of diffraction. The breaking The breaking of this diffraction of this diffraction limit using limit point using source point focusing source (Figurefocusing 1a) (Figure and evanescent1a) and evanescent wave amplification wave amplification of a LHM oflens a LHMhas been lens one has of been the onesignifi- of cantthe significant driving factors driving for factorsmetamaterial for metamaterial research. Various research. metamaterial Various metamaterial designs, operating designs, fromoperating radio from to optical radio frequencies, to optical frequencies, have been havedeveloped been developed and shown and to achieve shown tosubwave- achieve lengthsubwavelength focusing focusing[13–17]. [13–17]. (a) (b) Figure 1.1. (a) RayRay diagramdiagram showingshowing reversalreversal ofof Snell’sSnell’s lawlaw inin aa metamaterialmetamaterial medium.medium. For a conventionalconventional medium,medium, the diverging beams from from a a point point source source will will not not come come into into focus. focus. (b) (Printedb) Printed circuit circuit board board (PCB) (PCB) implementation implementation of a met- of a amaterial consisting of alternating periodic arrangement of SRRs and wires. The structure will exhibit an effective negative metamaterial consisting of alternating periodic arrangement of SRRs and wires. The structure will exhibit an effective refractive index over a range of frequencies under specific incident wave polarization. negative refractive index over a range of frequencies under specific incident wave polarization. This paper reports thethe designdesign ofof aa metamaterialmetamaterial lens lens and and its its experimental experimental implementa- implemen- tationtion for for far-field far-field microwave microwave detection detection of subwavelength of subwavelength defects. defects. Far-field Far-field microwave microwave NDE NDEoffers offers the advantage the advantage of rapid of scanrapid times, scan buttimes, is constrained but is constrained by the diffraction by the diffraction limit from limit de- fromtecting detecting smaller subwavelengthsmaller subwavelength defects [18 defects]. A single [18]. SRRA single coupled SRR with coupled a transmission with a trans- line missionbehaves line as a LCbehaves tank circuit,as a LC whose tank resonantcircuit, whose frequency resonant can be frequency changed incan the be presence changed of in a theload. presence Although of a extensive load. Although research extensive on such metamaterial-inspiredresearch on such metamaterial-inspired near-field sensors near- have fieldbeen sensors described have in literature,been described they do innot literature, offer the they advantages do not offer of far-field the advantages systems [ 19of– far-22]. Whilefield systems numerical [19–22]. studies While of LHMsnumerical as lenses studies in of the LHMs far field as lenses have been in the undertaken far field have [23 been–26], undertakenthe practical [23–26], feasibility the ofpractical their use feasibility has not of been their widely use has demonstrated. not been widely One demonstrated. study of far- Onefield study microwave of far-field imaging microwave is reported imaging by Shrieber is reported et al., by who Shrieber present et subwavelength al., who present defect sub- wavelengthdetection in defect fiberglass detection composites in fiberglass [27]. composites An LHM lens-based [27]. An LHM microwave lens-based hyperthermia microwave hyperthermiascheme for treatment scheme offor tumors treatment is proposed of tumors in is[ proposed28]. The metamaterial in [28]. The metamaterial lens concept lens has conceptbeen extended has been to extended ultrasonics to ultrasonics as well [29], as with well various [29], with studies various demonstrating studies demonstrating subwave- subwavelengthlength imaging imaging using acoustic using acoustic LHM lenses LHM being lenses reported being reported [30–32]. [30–32]. The authors The authors of the ofpresent the present paper recentlypaper recently reported reported a numerical a numerical study on study enhancement on enhancement of far-field of far-field microwave mi-
Recommended publications
  • High-Efficiency, Wideband GRIN Lenses with Intrinsically Matched Unit-Cells
    1 High-efficiency, Wideband GRIN Lenses with Intrinsically Matched Unit-cells Nicolas Garcia, Student Member, IEEE, Jonathan Chisum, Senior Member, IEEE, Abstract—We present an automated design procedure for the rapid realization of wideband millimeter-wave lens antennas. The design method is based upon the creation of a library of matched unit-cells which comprise wideband impedance matching sections on either side of a phase-delaying core section. The phase accu- mulation and impedance match of each unit-cell is characterized over frequency and incident angle. The lens is divided into rings, each of which is assigned an optimal unit-cell based on incident angle and required local phase correction given that the lens must collimate the incident wavefront. A unit-cell library for a given realizable permittivity range, lens thickness, and unit-cell stack-up can be used to design a wide variety of flat wideband lenses for various diameters, feed elements, and focal distances. A demonstration GRIN lens antenna is designed, fabricated, and measured in both far-field and near-field chambers. The antenna functions as intended from 14 GHz to 40 GHz and is therefore suitable for all proposed 5G MMW bands, Ku- and Ka-band fixed satellite services. The use of intrinsically matched unit- cells results in aperture efficiency ranging from 31% to 72% over the 2.9:1 bandwidth which is the highest aperture efficiency demonstrated across such a wide operating band. Index Terms—GRIN lens antenna, matched unit-cell, unit-cell Fig. 1. Each lens has rotational symmetry about the central axis (z^-axis) library and mirror symmetry across the center of the lens (x^y^-plane).
    [Show full text]
  • Plasmonic and Metamaterial Structures As Electromagnetic Absorbers
    Plasmonic and Metamaterial Structures as Electromagnetic Absorbers Yanxia Cui 1,2, Yingran He1, Yi Jin1, Fei Ding1, Liu Yang1, Yuqian Ye3, Shoumin Zhong1, Yinyue Lin2, Sailing He1,* 1 State Key Laboratory of Modern Optical Instrumentation, Centre for Optical and Electromagnetic Research, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China 2 Key Lab of Advanced Transducers and Intelligent Control System, Ministry of Education and Shanxi Province, College of Physics and Optoelectronics, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, 030024, China 3 Department of Physics, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 310012, China Corresponding author: e-mail [email protected] Abstract: Electromagnetic absorbers have drawn increasing attention in many areas. A series of plasmonic and metamaterial structures can work as efficient narrow band absorbers due to the excitation of plasmonic or photonic resonances, providing a great potential for applications in designing selective thermal emitters, bio-sensing, etc. In other applications such as solar energy harvesting and photonic detection, the bandwidth of light absorbers is required to be quite broad. Under such a background, a variety of mechanisms of broadband/multiband absorption have been proposed, such as mixing multiple resonances together, exciting phase resonances, slowing down light by anisotropic metamaterials, employing high loss materials and so on. 1. Introduction physical phenomena associated with planar or localized SPPs [13,14]. Electromagnetic (EM) wave absorbers are devices in Metamaterials are artificial assemblies of structured which the incident radiation at the operating wavelengths elements of subwavelength size (i.e., much smaller than can be efficiently absorbed, and then transformed into the wavelength of the incident waves) [15]. They are often ohmic heat or other forms of energy.
    [Show full text]
  • All-Metal Terahertz Metamaterial Absorber and Refractive Index Sensing Performance
    hv photonics Communication All-Metal Terahertz Metamaterial Absorber and Refractive Index Sensing Performance Jing Yu, Tingting Lang * and Huateng Chen Institute of Optoelectronic Technology, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou 310018, China; [email protected] (J.Y.); [email protected] (H.C.) * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: This paper presents a terahertz (THz) metamaterial absorber made of stainless steel. We found that the absorption rate of electromagnetic waves reached 99.95% at 1.563 THz. Later, we ana- lyzed the effect of structural parameter changes on absorption. Finally, we explored the application of the absorber in refractive index sensing. We numerically demonstrated that when the refractive index (n) is changing from 1 to 1.05, our absorber can yield a sensitivity of 74.18 µm/refractive index unit (RIU), and the quality factor (Q-factor) of this sensor is 36.35. Compared with metal–dielectric–metal sandwiched structure, the absorber designed in this paper is made of stainless steel materials with no sandwiched structure, which greatly simplifies the manufacturing process and reduces costs. Keywords: metamaterial absorber; stainless steel; refractive index sensing; sensitivity 1. Introduction Metamaterials are new artificial materials that are periodically arranged according to certain subwavelength dimensions [1,2]. Owing to their unique properties of perfect absorption, perfect transmission, and stealth, metamaterials show promising applications Citation: Yu, J.; Lang, T.; Chen, H. in sensors [3–11], absorbers [12,13], imaging [14,15], etc. Among them, in biomolecular All-Metal Terahertz Metamaterial sensing, metamaterial devices are spurring unprecedented interest as a diagnostic protocol Absorber and Refractive Index for cancer and infectious diseases [10,11].
    [Show full text]
  • A Metamaterial Frequency-Selective Super-Absorber That Has Absorbing Cross Section Significantly Bigger Than the Geometric Cross Section
    A metamaterial frequency-selective super-absorber that has absorbing cross section significantly bigger than the geometric cross section Jack Ng*, Huanyang Chen*,†, and C. T. Chan Department of Physics, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China Abstract Using the idea of transformation optics, we propose a metamaterial device that serves as a frequency-selective super-absorber, which consists of an absorbing core material coated with a shell of isotropic double negative metamaterial. For a fixed volume, the absorption cross section of the super-absorber can be made arbitrarily large at one frequency. The double negative shell serves to amplify the evanescent tail of the high order incident cylindrical waves, which induces strong scattering and absorption. Our conclusion is supported by both analytical Mie theory and numerical finite element simulation. Interesting applications of such a device are discussed. I. Introduction It is possible for a particle to absorb more than the light incident on it. Bohren gave explicit examples in which a small particle can absorb better than a perfect black body of the same size. Examples of such type include a silver particle excited at its surface plasmon resonance and a silicon carbide particle at its surface phonon polariton resonance.1 However, such mechanism is typically limited to very small particles, and for a fixed particle volume, the absorption cross section cannot increase without bound. We shall show in this article that it is possible to design, within the framework of transformation optics,2,3 a device whose absorption efficiency can be arbitrarily large, at least in principle.
    [Show full text]
  • High Efficiency Near Diffraction-Limited Mid- Infrared Flat Lenses Based on Metasurface Reflectarrays
    Vol. 24, No. 16 | 8 Aug 2016 | OPTICS EXPRESS 18024 High efficiency near diffraction-limited mid- infrared flat lenses based on metasurface reflectarrays 1,8 2,3,8 4 SHUYAN ZHANG, MYOUNG-HWAN KIM, FRANCESCO AIETA, ALAN 1 5 1 SHE, TOBIAS MANSURIPUR, ILAN GABAY, MOHAMMADREZA 1 1,6 7 KHORASANINEJAD, DAVID ROUSSO, XIAOJUN WANG, MARIANO 7 2 1,* TROCCOLI, NANFANG YU, AND FEDERICO CAPASSO 1John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, 9 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA 2Department of Applied Physics & Applied Mathematics, Columbia University, 500 West 120th St, New York, NY 10027, USA 3Department of Physics, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Brownsville, TX 78520, USA 4LEIA 3D, Menlo Park CA 94025, USA 5Department of Physics, Harvard University, 17 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA 6University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada 7AdTech Optics, Inc., 18007 Courtney Court, City of Industry, CA 91748, USA 8These authors contributed equally. *[email protected] Abstract: We report the first demonstration of a mid-IR reflection-based flat lens with high efficiency and near diffraction-limited focusing. Focusing efficiency as high as 80%, in good agreement with simulations (83%), has been achieved at 45° incidence angle at λ = 4.6 μm. The off-axis geometry considerably simplifies the optical arrangement compared to the common geometry of normal incidence in reflection mode which requires beam splitters. Simulations show that the effects of incidence angle are small compared to parabolic mirrors with the same NA. The use of single-step photolithography allows large scale fabrication. Such a device is important in the development of compact telescopes, microscopes, and spectroscopic designs.
    [Show full text]
  • Design of an Acoustic Superlens Using Single-Phase Metamaterials with a Star-Shaped Lattice Structure
    www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN Design of an acoustic superlens using single-phase metamaterials with a star-shaped lattice structure Received: 3 October 2017 Meng Chen1,2, Heng Jiang1,2, Han Zhang3, Dongsheng Li4 & Yuren Wang1,2 Accepted: 27 December 2017 We propose a single-phase super lens with a low density that can achieve focusing of sound beyond the Published: xx xx xxxx difraction limit. The super lens has a star-shaped lattice structure made of steel that ofers abundant resonances to produce abnormal dispersive efects as determined by negative parameter indices. Our analysis of the metamaterial band structure suggests that these star-shaped metamaterials have double-negative index properties, that can mediate these efects for sound in water. Simulations verify the efective focusing of sound by a single-phase solid lens with a spatial resolution of approximately 0.39 λ. This superlens has a simple structure, low density and solid nature, which makes it more practical for application in water-based environments. Achieving high-resolution super focusing of sound has been a longstanding challenge. Te critical issue in solving super-resolution imaging centers around how to detect evanescent waves1, and this problem has been considera- bly ameliorated by the recent development of sonic metamaterials2–5. Sonic metamaterials are usually engineered in a complex fashion through subwavelength-scale resonant units to produce exotic physical properties through negative moduli6,7 and a negative mass density8,9. Tese properties enable the focusing of sound to overcome the difraction limit according to the negative refraction and surface states2. Based on the super-resolution imaging approach ofered by metamaterials1, a series of super lenses has been developed using a variety of sonic metamate- rials with double-negative10–13, single-negative14–17 or near-zero mass properties18,19.
    [Show full text]
  • Bringing Optical Metamaterials to Reality
    UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Bringing Optical Metamaterials to Reality Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5d37803w Author Valentine, Jason Gage Publication Date 2010 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Bringing Optical Metamaterials to Reality By Jason Gage Valentine A dissertation in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering – Mechanical Engineering in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Xiang Zhang, Chair Professor Costas Grigoropoulos Professor Liwei Lin Professor Ming Wu Fall 2010 Bringing Optical Metamaterials to Reality © 2010 By Jason Gage Valentine Abstract Bringing Optical Metamaterials to Reality by Jason Gage Valentine Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering University of California, Berkeley Professor Xiang Zhang, Chair Metamaterials, which are artificially engineered composites, have been shown to exhibit electromagnetic properties not attainable with naturally occurring materials. The use of such materials has been proposed for numerous applications including sub-diffraction limit imaging and electromagnetic cloaking. While these materials were first developed to work at microwave frequencies, scaling them to optical wavelengths has involved both fundamental and engineering challenges. Among these challenges, optical metamaterials tend to absorb a large amount of the incident light and furthermore, achieving devices with such materials has been difficult due to fabrication constraints associated with their nanoscale architectures. The objective of this dissertation is to describe the progress that I have made in overcoming these challenges in achieving low loss optical metamaterials and associated devices. The first part of the dissertation details the development of the first bulk optical metamaterial with a negative index of refraction.
    [Show full text]
  • Far-Field Optical Imaging of Viruses Using Surface Plasmon Polariton
    Magnifying superlens in the visible frequency range. I.I. Smolyaninov, Y.J.Hung , and C.C. Davis Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA Optical microscopy is an invaluable tool for studies of materials and biological entities. With the current progress in nanotechnology and microbiology imaging tools with ever increasing spatial resolution are required. However, the spatial resolution of the conventional microscopy is limited by the diffraction of light waves to a value of the order of 200 nm. Thus, viruses, proteins, DNA molecules and many other samples are impossible to visualize using a regular microscope. The new ways to overcome this limitation may be based on the concept of superlens introduced by J. Pendry [1]. This concept relies on the use of materials which have negative refractive index in the visible frequency range. Even though superlens imaging has been demonstrated in recent experiments [2], this technique is still limited by the fact that magnification of the planar superlens is equal to 1. In this communication we introduce a new design of the magnifying superlens and demonstrate it in the experiment. Our design has some common features with the recently proposed “optical hyperlens” [3], “metamaterial crystal lens” [4], and the plasmon-assisted microscopy technique [5]. The internal structure of the magnifying superlens is shown in Fig.1(a). It consists of the concentric rings of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) deposited on the gold film surface. Due to periodicity of the structure in the radial direction surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) [5] are excited on the lens surface when the lens is illuminated from the bottom with an external laser.
    [Show full text]
  • Optical Negative-Index Metamaterials
    REVIEW ARTICLE Optical negative-index metamaterials Artifi cially engineered metamaterials are now demonstrating unprecedented electromagnetic properties that cannot be obtained with naturally occurring materials. In particular, they provide a route to creating materials that possess a negative refractive index and offer exciting new prospects for manipulating light. This review describes the recent progress made in creating nanostructured metamaterials with a negative index at optical wavelengths, and discusses some of the devices that could result from these new materials. VLADIMIR M. SHALAEV designed and placed at desired locations to achieve new functionality. One of the most exciting opportunities for metamaterials is the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Birck Nanotechnology development of negative-index materials (NIMs). Th ese NIMs bring Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA. the concept of refractive index into a new domain of exploration and e-mail: [email protected] thus promise to create entirely new prospects for manipulating light, with revolutionary impacts on present-day optical technologies. Light is the ultimate means of sending information to and from Th e arrival of NIMs provides a rather unique opportunity for the interior structure of materials — it packages data in a signal researchers to reconsider and possibly even revise the interpretation of zero mass and unmatched speed. However, light is, in a sense, of very basic laws. Th e notion of a negative refractive index is one ‘one-handed’ when interacting with atoms of conventional such case. Th is is because the index of refraction enters into the basic materials. Th is is because from the two fi eld components of light formulae for optics.
    [Show full text]
  • Flat Lens Criterion by Small-Angle Phase
    Flat Lens Criterion by Small-Angle Phase Peter Ott,1 Mohammed H. Al Shakhs,2 Henri J. Lezec,3 and Kenneth J. Chau2 1Heilbronn University, Heilbronn, Germany 2School of Engineering, The University of British Columbia, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada 3Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA We show that a classical imaging criterion based on angular dependence of small-angle phase can be applied to any system composed of planar, uniform media to determine if it is a flat lens capable of forming a real paraxial image and to estimate the image location. The real paraxial image location obtained by this method shows agreement with past demonstrations of far-field flat-lens imaging and can even predict the location of super-resolved images in the near-field. The generality of this criterion leads to several new predictions: flat lenses for transverse-electric polarization using dielectric layers, a broadband flat lens working across the ultraviolet-visible spectrum, and a flat lens configuration with an image plane located up to several wavelengths from the exit surface. These predictions are supported by full-wave simulations. Our work shows that small-angle phase can be used as a generic metric to categorize and design flat lenses. 2 I. INTRODUCTION Glass lenses found in cameras and eyeglasses have imaging capabilities derived from the shapes of their entrance and exit faces. Under certain conditions, it is possible to image with unity magnification using a perfectly flat lens constructed from planar, homogeneous, and isotropic media. Unlike other lenses that are physically flat (such as graded-index lenses or meta-screens), a flat lens has complete planar symmetry and no principle optical axis, which affords the unique possibility of imaging with an infinite aperture.
    [Show full text]
  • Tunable Infrared Metamaterial Emitter for Gas Sensing Application
    nanomaterials Article Tunable Infrared Metamaterial Emitter for Gas Sensing Application Ruijia Xu and Yu-Sheng Lin * State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Electronics and Information Technology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Received: 17 June 2020; Accepted: 22 July 2020; Published: 24 July 2020 Abstract: We present an on-chip tunable infrared (IR) metamaterial emitter for gas sensing applications. The proposed emitter exhibits high electrical-thermal-optical efficiency, which can be realized by the integration of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) microheaters and IR metamaterials. According to the blackbody radiation law, high-efficiency IR radiation can be generated by driving a Direct Current (DC) bias voltage on a microheater. The MEMS microheater has a Peano-shaped microstructure, which exhibits great heating uniformity and high energy conversion efficiency. The implantation of a top metamaterial layer can narrow the bandwidth of the radiation spectrum from the microheater to perform wavelength-selective and narrow-band IR emission. A linear relationship between emission wavelengths and deformation ratios provides an effective approach to meet the requirement at different IR wavelengths by tailoring the suitable metamaterial pattern. The maximum radiated power of the proposed IR emitter is 85.0 µW. Furthermore, a tunable emission is achieved at a wavelength around 2.44 µm with a full-width at half-maximum of 0.38 µm, which is suitable for high-sensitivity gas sensing applications. This work provides a strategy for electro-thermal-optical devices to be used as sensors, emitters, and switches in the IR wavelength range.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Analysis of Nonlinear Electromagnetic Metamaterials
    Analysis of Nonlinear Electromagnetic Metamaterials Ekaterina Poutrina, Da Huang, David R. Smith Center for Metamaterials and Integrated Plasmonics and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Duke University, Box 90291, Durham, NC 27708 Abstract We analyze the properties of a nonlinear metamaterial formed by integrating nonlinear components or materials into the capacitive regions of metamaterial elements. A straightforward homogenization procedure leads to general expressions for the nonlinear susceptibilities of the composite metamaterial medium. The expressions are convenient, as they enable inhomogeneous system of scattering elements to be described as a continuous medium using the standard notation of nonlinear optics. We illustrate the validity and accuracy of our theoretical framework by performing measurements on a fabricated metamaterial sample composed of an array of split ring resonators (SRRs) with packaged varactors embedded in the capacitive gaps in a manner similar to that of Wang et al. [Opt. Express 16 , 16058 (2008)]. Because the SRRs exhibit a predominant magnetic response to electromagnetic fields, the varactor-loaded SRR composite can be described as a magnetic material with nonlinear terms in its effective magnetic susceptibility. Treating the composite as a nonlinear effective medium, we can quantitatively assess the performance of the medium to enhance and facilitate nonlinear processes, including second harmonic generation, three- and four-wave mixing, self-focusing and other well-known nonlinear phenomena. We illustrate the accuracy of our approach by predicting the intensity- dependent resonance frequency shift in the effective permeability of the varactor-loaded SRR medium and comparing with experimental measurements. 1. Introduction Metamaterials consist of arrays of magnetically or electrically polarizable elements.
    [Show full text]