Dongheok Shin

Broadband electromagnetic cloaking with smart metamaterials

The ability to render objects invisible with a cloak that fits all objects and sizes is a long-standing goal for optical devices. Invisibility devices demonstrated so far typically comprise a rigid structure wrapped around an object to which it is fitted. Here we demonstrate smart metamaterial cloaking, wherein the metamaterial device not only transforms electromagnetic fields to make an object invisible, but also acquires its properties automatically from its own elastic deformation. The demonstrated device is a ground-plane microwave cloak composed of an elastic metamaterial with a broad operational band (10-12 GHz) and nearly lossless electromagnetic properties. The metamaterial is uniform, or perfectly periodic, in its undeformed state and acquires the necessary gradient-index profile, mimicking a quasi-conformal transformation, naturally from a boundary load. This easy-to-fabricate hybrid elasto-electromagnetic metamaterial opens the door to implementations of a variety of transformation optics devices based on quasi-conformal maps.

Broadband Optical Antireflection Enhancement by Integrating Antireflective Nanoislands with Silicon Nanoconical‐Frustum Arrays

Based on conventional colloidal nanosphere lithography, we experimentally demonstrate novel graded-index nanostructures for broadband optical antireflection enhancement including the near-ultraviolet (NUV) region by integrating residual polystyrene antireflective (AR) nanoislands coating arrays with silicon nano-conical-frustum arrays. This is a feasible optimized integration method of two major approaches for antireflective surfaces: quarter-wavelength AR coating and biomimetic moths eye structure.

Broadband light-trapping enhancement in an ultrathin film a-si absorber using whispering gallery modes and guided wave modes with dielectric surface-textured structures

An embedded nanosphere dielectric structure on an a-Si ultrathin film improves weighted absorption from 23.8% to 39.9%. The PMMA embedding layer offers a guided wave mode as well as mechanical robustness, in addition to the resonant whispering gallery modes coupling. Broadband light-trapping enhancements are observed by dielectric surface textured structures of hemispheres, nanocones, nanospheres, or embedded nanospheres.

A versatile smart transformation optics device with auxetic elasto-electromagnetic metamaterials.

Synergistic integration of electromagnetic (EM) and mechanical properties of metamaterials, a concept known as smart metamaterials, promises new applications across the spectrum, from flexible waveguides to shape-conforming cloaks. These applications became possible thanks to smart transformation optics (STO), a design methodology that utilizes coordinate transformations to control both EM wave propagation and mechanical deformation of the device. Here, we demonstrate several STO devices based on extremely auxetic (Poisson ratio −1) elasto-electromagnetic metamaterials, both of which exhibit enormous flexibility and sustain efficient operation upon a wide range of deformations. Spatial maps of microwave electric fields across these devices confirm our ability to deform carpet cloaks, bent waveguides, and potentially other quasi-conformal TO-based devices operating at 7 ~ 8 GHz. These devices are each fabricated from a single sheet of initially uniform (double-periodic) square-lattice metamaterial, which acquires the necessary distribution of effective permittivity entirely from the mechanical deformation of its boundary. By integrating transformation optics and continuum mechanics theory, we provide analytical derivations for the design of STO devices. Additionally, we clarify an important point relating to two-dimensional STO devices: the difference between plane stress and plane strain assumptions, which lead to elastic metamaterials with Poisson ratio −1 and −∞, respectively.

A systematic approach to enhance off-axis directional electromagnetic wave by two-dimensional structure design

In this study, we propose a two-dimensional (2D) dielectric structure tailored by a systematic design approach on the exit side of a metallic aperture to enhance the off-axis electromagnetic (EM) wave. We adopted a phase field method based topology optimization scheme and designed an arbitrary 2D dielectric structure in order to steer outward beaming through an aperture to a specific direction. Beyond previous one-dimensional structure, we proposed an arbitrary 2D dielectric structure through the introduced design process defining not only x- but also y-directional dielectric structural boundaries simultaneously and experimentally confirmed enhanced EM wave transmission to a desired direction.

Design of 3D isotropic metamaterial device using smart transformation optics

We report here a design method for a 3 dimensional (3D) isotropic transformation optical device using smart transformation optics. Inspired by solid mechanics, smart transformation optics regards a transformation optical medium as an elastic solid and deformations as coordinate transformations. Further developing from our previous work on 2D smart transformation optics, we introduce a method of 3D smart transformation optics to design 3D transformation optical devices by maintaining isotropic materials properties for all types of polarizations imposing free or nearly free boundary conditions. Due to the material isotropy, it is possible to fabricate such devices with structural metamaterials made purely of common dielectric materials. In conclusion, the practical importance of the method reported here lies in the fact that it enables us to fabricate, without difficulty, arbitrarily shaped 3D devices with existing 3D printing technology.

Improvement of Light Extraction Efficiency in Flip-Chip Light Emitting Diodes on SiC Substrate via Transparent Haze Films with Morphology-Controlled Collapsed Alumina Nanorods

We demonstrate GaN-based flip-chip light emitting diodes (FC-LEDs) on SiC substrate achieving high extraction efficiency by simply attaching the optically transparent haze films consisting of collapsed alumina nanorods. Through controlled etching time of alumina nanorods, we obtain four types of films that have different morphologies with different optical transmittance and haze properties. We show that the light output power of the FC-LEDs with film, which has 95.6% transmittance and 62.7% haze, increases by 20.4% in comparison to the bare LEDs. The angular radiation pattern of the LEDs also follows the Lambertian emission pattern without deteriorating the electrical properties of the device. The improvement of light extraction is mainly attributed to the reduced total internal reflection (TIR) via efficient out-coupling of guided light from SiC substrate to air by collapsed alumina nanorod structures in the film. The high transparency of film and reduced Fresnel reflection via graded refractive index transition between the film and SiC substrate also contribute to the extraction enhancement of the device. We systematically investigate the influence of haze films geometrical or optical properties on the extraction efficiency of FC-LEDs, and this study will provide a novel approach to enhance the performance of various optoelectronic devices.

Meta-lens design with low permittivity dielectric materials through smart transformation optics

We report here a design method based on smart transformation optics (STO) to control the range of the permittivity values of the materials required to manufacture transformation optics devices. In particular, we show that it is possible to reduce the maximum electric permittivity value required to realize a STO device with certain functionality by means of a simple conceptual elastic stretching process. We illustrate the design procedure with two types of collimator meta-lens designs, which we call warping space collimator meta-lens and half fisheye collimator meta-lens, respectively. We provide design examples of these two types of lenses with the help of COMSOL Multiphysics software. These two design examples are fabricated with commonly available dielectric materials by means of 3D printing technology. For the functional verification of these two collimator lenses, we provide measurement results obtained with transverse electric waves of frequency range 7–13GHz.

Quasi-conformal transformation optics with elasto-electromagnetic metamaterials: Design algorithm

We report here a design method that is used to determine the initial shapes of elasto-electromagnetic metamaterial blocks with respect to the given shape of a hiding object when these blocks are applied to the problem of carpet cloaking. Starting from the inhomogeneous permittivity distribution of a cloak, derived using transformation optics, we use an inverse process to design the initial shape of a uniform permittivity material for an arbitrary value of Poissons ratio in the range from −1 to 0.5. Then, by elastic compression of the initially uniform metamaterial, we obtain the inhomogeneous permittivity distribution that is required for cloaking. Our design method is then experimentally verified by measurements of the electric field profiles in smart metamaterial cloaks.

Regularly configured structures with polygonal prisms for three-dimensional auxetic behaviour

We report here structures, constructed with regular polygonal prisms, that exhibit negative Poisson’s ratios. In particular, we show how we can construct such a structure with regular n-gonal prism-shaped unit cells that are again built with regular n-gonal component prisms. First, we show that the only three possible values for n are 3, 4 and 6 and then discuss how we construct the unit cell again with regular n-gonal component prisms. Then, we derive Poisson’s ratio formula for each of the three structures and show, by analysis and numerical verification, that the structures possess negative Poisson’s ratio under certain geometric conditions.