Andriy E. Serebryannikov

Asymmetric chiral metamaterial circular polarizer based on four U-shaped split ring resonators

An asymmetric chiral metamaterial structure is constructed by using four double-layered U-shaped split ring resonators, which are each rotated by 90° with respect to their neighbors. The peculiarity of the suggested design is that the sizes of the electrically and magnetically excited rings are different, which allows for equalizing the orthogonal components of the electric field at the output interface with a 90° phase difference when the periodic structure is illuminated by an x-polarized wave. As a result, left-hand circular polarization and right-hand circular polarization are obtained in transmission at 5.1 GHz and 6.4 GHz, respectively. The experiment results are in good agreement with the numerical results.

Asymmetric transmission of linearly polarized waves and polarization angle dependent wave rotation using a chiral metamaterial

An electrically thin chiral metamaterial structure composed of four U-shaped split ring resonator pairs is utilized in order to realize polarization rotation that is dependent on the polarization of the incident wave at 6.2 GHz. The structure is optimized such that a plane wave that is linearly polarized at an arbitrary angle is an eigenwave of the system at this frequency. The analytical relation between the incident polarization and the polarization rotation is derived using transmission matrices. Furthermore, the proposed structure exhibits an asymmetric transmission of linearly polarized waves at 6.2 GHz. Plane waves traveling in opposite but perpendicular directions to the material plane are rotated by different angles. On the other hand, four incident polarization angles have been found for the same structure, at which the transmission is symmetric. The experiment results are in good agreement with the numerical results.

Experimental validation of strong directional selectivity in nonsymmetric metallic gratings with a subwavelength slit

Strong directional selectivity is theoretically predicted and experimentally validated at the microwave frequencies in the beaming regime for a single subwavelength slit in nonsymmetric metallic gratings with double-side corrugations. The operation regime can be realized at a fixed angle of incidence when the surface-plasmon assisted transmission is significant within a narrow range of observation angles, if illuminating one of the grating interfaces, and tends to vanish for all observation angles, if illuminating the opposite interface. The studied effect is connected with asymmetry (nonreciprocity) in the beaming that occurs if the surface plasmon properties are substantially different for the two interfaces being well isolated from each other.

Unidirectional transmission in non-symmetric gratings containing metallic layers

The mechanism of achieving unidirectional transmission in the gratings, which only contain isotropic dielectric and metallic layers, is suggested and numerically validated. It is shown that significant transmission in one direction and nearly zero transmission in the opposite direction can be obtained in the same intrinsically isotropic gratings as those studied recently in A. E. Serebryannikov and E. Ozbay, Opt. Express 17, 278 (2009), but at a non-zero angle of incidence. The tilting, non-symmetric features of the grating and the presence of a metallic layer with a small positive real part of the index of refraction are the conditions that are necessary for obtaining the unidirectionality. Single- and multibeam operational regimes are demonstrated. The frequency and angle ranges of the unidirectional transmission can be estimated by using the conventional framework based on isofrequency dispersion contours and construction lines that properly take into account the periodic features of the interfaces, but should then be corrected because of the tunneling arising within the adjacent ranges. After proper optimization, this mechanism is expected to become an alternative to that based on the use of anisotropic materials.

Fast iterative, coupled-integral-equation technique for inhomogeneous profiled and periodic slabs.

A fast coupled-integral-equation (CIE) technique is developed to compute the plane-TE-wave scattering by a wide class of periodic 2D inhomogeneous structures with curvilinear boundaries, which includes finite-thickness relief and rod gratings made of homogeneous material as special cases. The CIEs in the spectral domain are derived from the standard volume electric field integral equation. The kernel of the CIEs is of Picard type and offers therefore the possibility of deriving recursions, which allow the computation of the convolution integrals occurring in the CIEs with linear amounts of arithmetic complexity and memory. To utilize this advantage, the CIEs are solved iteratively. We apply the biconjugate gradient stabilized method. To make the iterative solution process faster, an efficient preconditioning operator (PO) is proposed that is based on a formal analytical inversion of the CIEs. The application of the PO also takes only linear complexity and memory. Numerical studies are carried out to demonstrate the potential and flexibility of the CIE technique proposed. Though the best efficiency and accuracy are observed at either low permittivity contrast or high conductivity, the technique can be used in a wide range of variation of material parameters of the structures including when they contain components made of both dielectrics with high permittivity and typical metals.

One-way transmission through the subwavelength slit in nonsymmetric metallic gratings

An approach for obtaining one-way transmission in the beaming regime is suggested that is based on the directional radiation of surface plasmons in nonsymmetric metallic gratings with a single slit. In contrast to the various nonsymmetric one-way diffraction gratings that have recently been proposed, the possibility of obtaining of narrow beams is demonstrated. Strong directional selectivity can appear a wide range of the observation angles, while the angle of incidence is retained.

Toward photonic crystal based spatial filters with wide angle ranges of total transmission

Spatial filters with steep switching between wide ranges of total transmission and total reflection can be obtained by using two-dimensional dielectric photonic crystals, which are a few wavelengths thick. The guidelines for engineering bandpass and bandstop filters are given. The flatness of isofrequency contours that are localized around a periphery point of the first Brillouin zone is a necessary but insufficient condition for the existence of wide angle ranges of total transmission at intermediate and large angles of incidence. Such ranges that are wider than 20° are demonstrated.

Unidirectional transmission in photonic-crystal gratings at beam-type illumination

Unidirectional transmission is studied theoretically and experimentally for the gratings with one-side corrugations (non-symmetric gratings), which are based on two-dimensional photonic crystals composed of alumina rods. The unidirectional transmission appears at a fixed angle of incidence as a combined effect of the peculiar dispersion features of the photonic crystal and the properly designed corrugations. It is shown that the basic unidirectional transmission characteristics, which are observed at a plane-wave illumination, are preserved at Gaussian-beam and horn antenna illuminations. The main attention is paid to the single-beam unidirectional regime, which is associated with the strong directional selectivity arising due to the first negative diffraction order. An additional degree of freedom for controlling the transmission of the electromagnetic waves is obtained by making use of the asymmetric corrugations at the photonic crystal interface.

Multichannel optical diode with unidirectional diffraction relevant total transmission

We will show that broadband unidirectional optical transmission with a total transmission maximum inside the band can be obtained for linearly polarized incident waves in the nonsymmetric photonic crystal gratings made of isotropic linear materials at a fixed nonzero or zero angle of incidence. Being based on the merging of diffraction and dispersion effects, the basic physical mechanism studied exploits the transmission channels associated with higher orders, for which asymmetry in the coupling conditions at the two grating interfaces appears when spatial inversion symmetry is broken. Total transmission in one direction and zero transmission in the opposite direction can be obtained due to hybridization of Fabry-Perot type resonances with a diffraction anomaly that yields a diode-like operation regime. Single-beam deflection and two-beam splitting can be obtained, for which transmission can be (nearly) total, if the corrugated side is illuminated. In contrast to the previous studies, it is also shown that unidirectional transmission can appear only at a fixed frequency and only due to diffractions, when total transmission occurs at the noncorrugated-side illumination, being in agreement with the Lorentz Lemma.

Spatial filtering using dielectric photonic crystals at beam-type excitation

Spatial filtering is demonstrated at beam-type excitations by utilizing finite thickness slabs of two-dimensional dielectric photonic crystals (PCs) showing exotic Fabry–Perot resonances that are preserved over a wide range of variation of the incidence angle. Bandstop and dual-bandpass filtering effects are illustrated theoretically and the corresponding filters are validated in the microwave experiments by using square-lattice PCs. It is shown that the basic transmission features that were observed earlier for a plane-wave illumination are also recognizable at beam-type excitations. The proposed spatial filtering mechanism exhibits directional beaming. The desired widths and the locations of the passbands and stopbands are attainable in the angle domain with a proper choice of the operating frequency for the given excitation characteristics.