We demonstrate experimentally and numerically that metamaterials based on bilayer cross wires give giant optical activity, circular dichroism, and negative refractive index. The presented chiral design offers a much simpler geometry and more efficient way to realize negative refractive index at any frequency. We also developed a retrieval procedure for chiral materials which works successfully for circularly polarized waves.
The presence of refractive index fluctuations in an optical medium can result in the generation of optical rogue waves. Using numerical simulations and statistical analysis, we have shown that the probability of optical rogue waves increases in the presence of spatial correlations in the fluctuations of the refractive index. We have analyzed the impact of the magnitude and the spatial correlation length of these fluctuations on the probability of optical rogue wave generation.
Recently, gradient index cavities, or so-called transformation cavities, designed by conformal transformation optics have been studied to support resonant modes with both high Q-factors and emission directionality. We propose a new design method for transformation cavities to realize a narrower width of the refractive index profile, a great advantage in experimental implementations, without losing the benefits of conformal mapping. We study the resonant modes with both high Q-factor and directional emission in the newly designed transformation cavities, where the refractive index profile is 50…
We demonstrate a metamaterial that cannot be described by a single set of refractive-index and impedance values, even for fixed frequency and polarization. The metamaterial structure is a stack of dissimilar waveguides with subwavelength width and spacing, which guide light at different phase velocities. This multi-refractive-index metamaterial (MRIM) can be viewed as a spatial superposition of multiple homogeneous materials. Using full-wave simulations, we demonstrate several optical components based on MRIMs, including prisms that deflect light to multiple angles, lenses with multiple focal …
Increasing the refractive index available for optical and nanophotonic systems opens new vistas for design: for applications ranging from broadband metalenses to ultrathin photovoltaics to high-quality-factor resonators, higher index directly leads to better devices with greater functionality. Although standard transparent materials have been limited to refractive indices smaller than 3 in the visible, recent metamaterials designs have achieved refractive indices above 5, accompanied by high losses, and near the phase transition of a ferroelectric perovskite a broadband index above 26 has been…
In this work, we discuss the way in which electric and magnetic dipole resonances arising in the optical scattering spectrum of non-absorbing dielectric nanospheres can be accurately approximated by means of simple explicit expressions that depend on sphere's radius, incident wavelength and relative refractive index. We find such expressions to hold not only for high but also for moderate refractive-index values, thus complementing the results reported in previous studies.
We show that the refractive index modification photoinduced in a biased nonlinear photorefractive crystal can be accurately measured and controlled by means of a background incoherent illumination and an external electric field. The proposed easy-to-implement method is based on the far-field measurement of the diffraction patterns of a laser beam propagating through a self-defocusing medium undergoing spatial self-phase modulation. For various experimental conditions, both saturation intensity and maximum refractive index modification have been measured. We also clearly evidence and characteri…
Sub-wavelength diffractive optics, commonly known as metasurfaces, have recently garnered significant attention for their ability to create ultra-thin flat lenses with extremely short focal lengths. Several materials with different refractive indices have been used to create metasurface lenses (metalenses). In this paper, we analyze the role of material refractive indices on the performance of these metalenses. We employ both forward and inverse design methodologies to perform our analysis. We found that, while high refractive index materials allow for extreme reduction of the focal length, fo…
We consider refractive index sensing with optical bounds states in the continuum (BICs) in dielectric gratings. Applying a perturbative approach we derived the differential sensitivity and the figure of merit of a sensor operating in the spectral vicinity of a BIC. Optimisation design approach for engineering an effective sensor is proposed. An analytic formula for the maximal sensitivity with an optical BIC is derived. The results are supplied with straightforward numerical simulations.
Long cylinders, such as optical fibers, are some of the most widely used photonic devices. The radius and refractive index of these fibers are therefore fundamentally important parameters in determining their performance. We have developed a method to determine the absolute radius, refractive index, and chromatic dispersion of a long cylinder using only the resonance wavelengths of the whispering gallery modes around its circumference for two different polarizations. Since this method only requires the measurement of resonance wavelengths, it is non-destructive and it can be performed using st…
Typically, strong gain saturation and gain dynamics play a crucial role in semiconductor laser mode-locking. While there have been several investigations of the ultrafast gain dynamics in vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VECSELs), little is known about the associated refractive index changes. Yet, such refractive index changes do not only have a profound impact on the pulse formation process leading to self-phase modulation, which needs to be compensated by dispersion, but they are also of particular relevance for assessing the feasibility of Kerr-lens mode-locking of VECSELs.…
Conformal transformation optics provides a simple scheme for manipulating light rays with inhomogeneous isotropic dielectrics. However, there is usually discontinuity for refractive index profile at branch cuts of different virtual Riemann sheets, hence compromising the functionalities. To deal with that, we present a special method for conformal transformation optics based on the concept of geodesic lens. The requirement is a continuous refractive index profile of dielectrics, which shows almost perfect performance of designed devices. We demonstrate such a proposal by achieving conformal tra…
The equations for the effective medium refractive index and for the confinement factor in the waveguide design for quantum cascade lasers are derived.Compared to equations used in prior literature, by applying rigorous perturbation theory and including the effect of the anisotropic optical gain and non-Hermitian properties of the waveguide structure and materials, a few percent correction should be made to the confinement factor and the effective gain. This result can easily be generalized to any optical devices with a layered structure.
The capability to dynamically control the nonlinear refractive index of plasmonic suspensions may enable innovative nonlinear sensing and signaling nanotechnologies. Here, we experimentally determine the effective nonlinear refractive index for gold nanorods suspended in an index matching oil aligned using electric fields, demonstrating an approach to modulate the nonlinear optical properties of the suspension. The nonlinear optical experiments were carried out using a Hartmann-Shack wavefront aberrometer in a collimated beam configuration with a high repetition rate femtosecond laser. The sus…
Besides the well-known negative refraction, a negative refractive-index material can exhibit another two hallmark features, which are the inverse Doppler effect and backward Cherenkov radiation. The former is known as the motion-induced frequency shift that is contrary to the normal Doppler effect, and the latter refers to the Cherenkov radiation whose cone direction is opposite to the source's motion. Here we combine these two features and discuss the Doppler effect inside the backward Cherenkov cone. We reveal that the Doppler effect is not always inversed but can be normal in negative refra…
Uncertainties of refractive and group index in dispersion measurement by spectrally resolved white light interferometry are deeply analyzed. First, the contribution to uncertainty of the different parameters affecting both indices is identified. Afterwards, results are presented for a 1.5 mm thick fused silica sample over a broad spectral range, from 400 to 1000 nm, and the effects that mostly deteriorate the measurement accuracy are established. Finally, the different contributions are quadratically combined to determine the total uncertainty of the two indices.
Temperature-dependent absolute refractive index measurements of synthetic fused silica
利用NASA戈达德航天飞行中心的低温高精度折射测量系统（CHARMS），我们测量了5个样品的绝对折射率，这些样品取自一个非常大的康宁7980熔融石英晶锭，温度范围从30 K到310 K，波长范围从0.4微米到2.6微米，绝对不确定度为+/-1 x 10^-5。热光系数（dn/dT）导出值的统计变化在+/-2 x 10^-8/K水平。绝对折射率，色散和热光系数的图形和表格数据，提出了选定的波长和温度，以及估计的不确定性指数。温度相关的Sellmeier拟合测得的折射率的系数也被提出，以允许准确的插值指数到其他波长和温度。我们将我们的结果与独立调查（使用干涉测量技术测量折射率随温度的变化）的结果进行了比较，该调查的样品是由与我们的棱镜为支持开普勒任务而准备的相同材料制成的。我们还比较了我们的研究结果与稀疏的低温指数数据从测量这种材料的文献。
