Alexander N. Poddubny

Photonic spin Hall effect in hyperbolic metamaterials for polarization-controlled routing of subwavelength modes

The routing of light in a deep subwavelength regime enables a variety of important applications in photonics, quantum information technologies, imaging and biosensing. Here we describe and experimentally demonstrate the selective excitation of spatially confined, subwavelength electromagnetic modes in anisotropic metamaterials with hyperbolic dispersion. A localized, circularly polarized emitter placed at the boundary of a hyperbolic metamaterial is shown to excite extraordinary waves propagating in a prescribed direction controlled by the polarization handedness. Thus, a metamaterial slab acts as an extremely broadband, nearly ideal polarization beam splitter for circularly polarized light. We perform a proof of concept experiment with a uniaxial hyperbolic metamaterial at radio-frequencies revealing the directional routing effect and strong subwavelength λ/300 confinement. The proposed concept of metamaterial-based subwavelength interconnection and polarization-controlled signal routing is based on the photonic spin Hall effect and may serve as an ultimate platform for either conventional or quantum electromagnetic signal processing.

Enhancement of Magnetic Resonance Imaging with Metasurfaces

It is revealed that the unique properties of ultrathin metasurface resonators can improve magnetic resonance imaging dramatically. A metasurface formed when an array of metallic wires is placed inside a scanner under the studied object and a substantial enhancement of the radio-frequency magnetic field is achieved by means of subwavelength manipulation with the metasurface, also allowing improved image resolution.

Circular dichroism induced by Fano resonances in planar chiral oligomers

We present a general theory of circular dichroism in planar chiral nanostructures with rotational symmetry. It is demonstrated, analytically, that the handedness of the incident fields polarization can control whether a nanostructure induces either absorption or scattering losses, even when the total optical loss (extinction) is polarization-independent. We show that this effect is a consequence of modal interference so that strong circular dichroism in absorption and scattering can be engineered by combining Fano resonances with planar chiral nanoparticle clusters.

Fano interference governs wave transport in disordered systems

Light localization in disordered systems and Bragg scattering in regular periodic structures are considered traditionally as two entirely opposite phenomena: disorder leads to degradation of coherent Bragg scattering whereas Anderson localization is suppressed by periodicity. Here we reveal a non-trivial link between these two phenomena, through the Fano interference between Bragg scattering and disorder-induced scattering, that triggers both localization and de-localization in random systems. We find unexpected transmission enhancement and spectrum inversion when the Bragg stop-bands are transformed into the Bragg pass-bands solely owing to disorder. Fano resonances are always associated with coherent scattering in regular systems, but our discovery of disorder-induced Fano resonances may provide novel insights into many features of the transport phenomena of photons, phonons, and electrons. Owning to ergodicity, the Fano resonance is a fingerprint feature for any realization of the structure with a certain degree of disorder.

Radiative topological states in resonant photonic crystals.

We present a theory of topological edge states in one-dimensional resonant photonic crystals with a compound unit cell. Contrary to the conventional electronic topological states, the modes under consideration are radiative; i.e., they decay in time due to the light escape through the structure boundaries. We demonstrate that the edge states survive despite their radiative decay and can be detected both in time- and frequency-dependent light reflection.

Magnetic Purcell factor in wire metamaterials

We present an experimental study of the magnetic Purcell effect in finite arrays of the wire metamaterial. By directly measuring the spatial-frequency map of the Purcell factor, we explicitly demonstrate how the Purcell factor is enhanced at the Fabry-Perot resonances of the wire metamaterial block in microwave frequency range. The experimental results are in a good agreement with theoretical and numerical estimations.

Resonant Fibonacci quantum well structures in one dimension

We propose a resonant one-dimensional quasicrystal, namely, a multiple quantum well (MQW) structure satisfying the Fibonacci-chain rule with the golden ratio between the long and short interwell distances. The resonant Bragg condition is generalized from the periodic to Fibonacci MQWs. A dispersion equation for exciton polaritons is derived in the two-wave approximation; the effective allowed and forbidden bands are found. The reflection spectra from the proposed structures are calculated as a function of the well number and detuning from the Bragg condition.

Weak lasing in one-dimensional polariton superlattices

Significance Bose–Einstein condensation of polaritons in periodically modulated cavities is a very interesting fundamental effect of the physics of many-body systems. It is also promising for application in solid-state lighting and information communication technologies. By a simple microassembling method, we created periodically modulated polariton condensates at room temperature, and observed the stabilization of the coherent condensate due to the spontaneous symmetry-breaking transition. This manifests a previously unidentified type of phase transition, leading to a novel state of matter: the weak lasing state. The optical imaging in both direct and reciprocal space provides clear evidence for the weak lasing in the specific range of the pumping intensities. Bosons with finite lifetime exhibit condensation and lasing when their influx exceeds the lasing threshold determined by the dissipative losses. In general, different one-particle states decay differently, and the bosons are usually assumed to condense in the state with the longest lifetime. Interaction between the bosons partially neglected by such an assumption can smear the lasing threshold into a threshold domain—a stable lasing many-body state exists within certain intervals of the bosonic influxes. This recently described weak lasing regime is formed by the spontaneously symmetry breaking and phase-locking self-organization of bosonic modes, which results in an essentially many-body state with a stable balance between gains and losses. Here we report, to our knowledge, the first observation of the weak lasing phase in a one-dimensional condensate of exciton–polaritons subject to a periodic potential. Real and reciprocal space photoluminescence images demonstrate that the spatial period of the condensate is twice as large as the period of the underlying periodic potential. These experiments are realized at room temperature in a ZnO microwire deposited on a silicon grating. The period doubling takes place at a critical pumping power, whereas at a lower power polariton emission images have the same periodicity as the grating.

Edge states and topological phase transitions in chains of dielectric nanoparticles

Recently introduced field of topological photonics aims to explore the concepts of topological insulators for novel phenomena in optics. Here polymeric chains of subwavelength silicon nanodisks are studied and it is demonstrated that these chains can support two types of topological edge modes based on magnetic and electric Mie resonances, and their topological properties are fully dictated by the spatial arrangement of the nanoparticles in the chain. It is observed experimentally and described how theoretically topological phase transitions at the nanoscale define a change from trivial to nontrivial topological states when the edge mode is excited.

Special Frequencies in the Optical Reflectance Spectra of Resonant Bragg Structures

The optical reflectance spectra of resonant Bragg quantum-well structures are studied theoretically. The existence of two special frequencies in the spectra at which the reflectance depends only weakly on the number of quantum wells in the structure is explained analytically. The effect of nonradiative exciton damping on the reflectance spectra in the vicinity of the special frequencies is analyzed. It is shown that the inclusion of the dielectric contrast leads to the appearance of a third special frequency, at which the contributions to the reflectance due to the dielectric contrast and exciton resonance completely cancel each other.