Transformation optics

About: Transformation optics is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2687 publications have been published within this topic receiving 102378 citations.

An infrared invisibility cloak composed of glass

Abstract: We propose to implement a nonmetallic low-loss cloak for the infrared range from identical chalcogenide glass resonators. Based on transformation optics for cylindrical objects, our approach does not require metamaterial response to be homogeneous and accounts for the discrete nature of elementary responses governed by resonator shape, illumination angle, and inter-resonator coupling. Air fractions are employed to obtain the desired distribution of the cloak effective parameters. The effect of cloaking is verified by full-wave simulations of the true multiresonator structure. The feasibility of cloak fabrication is demonstrated by prototyping glass grating structures with the dimensions characteristic for the cloak resonators.

Loss-compensated broadband epsilon-near-zero metamaterials with gain media

Abstract: The concept of loss-compensated broadband epsilon-near-zero metamaterials consisting of step-like metal-dielectric multilayer structures doped with gain media is proposed based on the combination of the Milton representation of the effective permittivity and the optical nonlocality due to the metal-dielectric multilayer structures. With the loss compensation by gain media, broadband epsilon-near-zero metamaterials possesses significantly low material loss in optical frequency range, leading to superior broadband electromagnetic properties for realizing unique functional optical devices, such as the demonstrated prisms for broadband directional emission and S-shaped lenses for phase front shaping.

Materials with constant anisotropic conductivity as a thermal cloak or concentrator

Abstract: An invisibility cloak based on transformation optics often requires material with inhomogeneous, anisotropic, and possibly extreme material parameters. In the present study, on the basis of the concept of neutral inclusion, we find that a spherical cloak can be achieved using a layer with finite constant anisotropic conductivity. We show that thermal localization can be tuned and controlled by anisotropy of the coating layer. A suitable balance of the degree of anisotropy of the cloaking layer and the layer thickness provides a cloaking effect. Additionally, by reversing the conductivities in two different directions, we find that a thermal concentrating effect can be simulated. This finding is of particular value in practical implementation as a material with constant material parameters is more feasible to fabricate. In addition to the theoretical analysis, we also demonstrate our solutions in numerical simulations based on finite element calculations to validate our results.

Steering light by a sub-wavelength metallic grating from transformation optics.

Abstract: Transformation optics has shown great ability in designing devices with novel functionalities, such as invisibility cloaking. A recent work shows that it can also be used to design metasurfaces which usually come from the concept of phase discontinuities. However, metasurfaces from transformation optics have very complicated material parameters. Here in this work, we propose a practical design, a sub-wavelength metallic grating with discrete and gradient index materials. Such a design not only inherits some functionalities of metasurfaces from phase discontinuities, but also shows richer physics. Our work will also provide a guidance to recent activities of acoustic metasurfaces, especially for those made of extremely anisotropic metamaterials.

Design of thin–film photonic metamaterial Lüneburg lens using analytical approach

Abstract: We design an all–dielectric Luneburg lens as an adiabatic space–variant lattice explicitly accounting for finite film thickness. We describe an all–analytical approach to compensate for the finite height of subwavelength dielectric structures in the pass–band regime. This method calculates the effective refractive index of the infinite–height lattice from effective medium theory, then embeds a medium of the same effective index into a slab waveguide of finite height and uses the waveguide dispersion diagram to calculate a new effective index. The results are compared with the conventional numerical treatment – a direct band diagram calculation, using a modified three–dimensional lattice with the superstrate and substrate included in the cell geometry. We show that the analytical results are in good agreement with the numerical ones, and the performance of the thin–film Luneburg lens is quite different than the estimates obtained assuming infinite height.