Joachim M. Hamm

Active nanoplasmonic metamaterials

Optical metamaterials and nanoplasmonics bridge the gap between conventional optics and the nanoworld. Exciting and technologically important capabilities range from subwavelength focusing and stopped light to invisibility cloaking, with applications across science and engineering from biophotonics to nanocircuitry. A problem that has hampered practical implementations have been dissipative metal losses, but the efficient use of optical gain has been shown to compensate these and to allow for loss-free operation, amplification and nanoscopic lasing. Here, we review recent and ongoing progress in the realm of active, gain-enhanced nanoplasmonic metamaterials. On introducing and expounding the underlying theoretical concepts of the complex interaction between plasmons and gain media, we examine the experimental efforts in areas such as nanoplasmonic and metamaterial lasers. We underscore important current trends that may lead to improved active imaging, ultrafast nonlinearities on the nanoscale or cavity-free lasing in the stopped-light regime.

Overcoming losses with gain in a negative refractive index metamaterial

On the basis of a full-vectorial three-dimensional Maxwell-Bloch approach we investigate the possibility of using gain to overcome losses in a negative refractive index fishnet metamaterial. We show that appropriate placing of optically pumped laser dyes (gain) into the metamaterial structure results in a frequency band where the nonbianisotropic metamaterial becomes amplifying. In that region both the real and the imaginary part of the effective refractive index become simultaneously negative and the figure of merit diverges at two distinct frequency points.

Cavity-free plasmonic nanolasing enabled by dispersionless stopped light

When light is brought to a standstill, its interaction with gain media increases dramatically due to a singularity in the density of optical states. Concurrently, stopped light engenders an inherent and cavity-free feedback mechanism, similar in effect to the feedback that has been demonstrated and exploited in large-scale disordered media and random lasers. Here we study the spatial, temporal and spectral signatures of lasing in planar gain-enhanced nanoplasmonic structures at near-infrared frequencies and show that the stopped-light feedback mechanism allows for nanolasing without a cavity. We reveal that in the absence of cavity-induced feedback, the subwavelength lasing mode forms dynamically as a phase-locked superposition of quasi dispersion-free waveguide modes. This mechanism proves remarkably robust against interface roughness and offers a new route towards nanolasing, the experimental realization of ultra-thin surface emitting lasers, and cavity-free active quantum plasmonics.

Coherent amplification and noise in gain-enhanced nanoplasmonic metamaterials: a Maxwell-Bloch Langevin approach.

Nanoplasmonic metamaterials are an exciting new class of engineered media that promise a range of important applications, such as subwavelength focusing, cloaking, and slowing/stopping of light. At optical frequencies, using gain to overcome potentially not insignificant losses has recently emerged as a viable solution to ultra-low-loss operation that may lead to next-generation active metamaterials. Maxwell-Bloch models for active nanoplasmonic metamaterials are able to describe the coherent spatiotemporal and nonlinear gain-plasmon dynamics. Here, we extend the Maxwell-Bloch theory to a Maxwell-Bloch Langevin approach-a spatially resolved model that describes the light field and noise dynamics in gain-enhanced nanoplasmonic structures. Using the example of an optically pumped nanofishnet metamaterial with an embedded laser dye (four-level) medium exhibiting a negative refractive index, we demonstrate the transition from loss-compensation to amplification and to nanolasing. We observe ultrafast relaxation oscillations of the bright negative-index mode with frequencies just below the THz regime. The influence of noise on mode competition and the onset and magnitude of the relaxation oscillations is elucidated, and the dynamics and spectra of the emitted light indicate that coherent amplification and lasing are maintained even in the presence of noise and amplified spontaneous emission.

Gain and plasmon dynamics in active negative-index metamaterials

Photonic metamaterials allow for a range of exciting applications unattainable with ordinary dielectrics. However, the metallic nature of their meta-atoms may result in increased optical losses. Gain-enhanced metamaterials are a potential solution to this problem, but the conception of realistic, three-dimensional designs is a challenging task. Starting from fundamental electrodynamic and quantum mechanical equations, we establish and deploy a rigorous theoretical model for the spatial and temporal interaction of lightwaves with free and bound electrons inside and around metallic (nano-) structures and gain media. The derived numerical framework allows us to self-consistently study the dynamics and impact of the coherent plasmon–gain interaction, nonlinear saturation, field enhancement, radiative damping and spatial dispersion. Using numerical pump–probe experiments on a double-fishnet metamaterial structure with dye molecule inclusions, we investigate the build-up of the inversion profile and the formation of the plasmonic modes in a low-Q cavity. We find that full loss compensation occurs in a regime where the real part of the effective refractive index of the metamaterial becomes more negative compared to the passive case. Our results provide a deep insight into how internal processes affect the overall optical properties of active photonic metamaterials fostering new approaches to the design of practical, loss-compensated plasmonic nanostructures.

A determination of the cabibbo-kobayashi-maskawa parameter |VUS| using KL decays

We present a determination of the CKM parameter |Vus| based on new measurements of the six largest KL branching fractions and semileptonic form factors by the KTeV (E832) experiment at Fermilab. We find |Vus| = 0.2252 +- 0.0008(KTeV) +- 0.0021(ext), where the errors are from KTeV measurements and from external sources. We also use the measured branching fractions to determine the CP violation parameter |eta+-| = [2.228 +- 0.005(KTeV) +- 0.009(ext)]E-3.

Two Two-Dimensional Materials Are Better than One

Combining 2D materials and 2D metasurfaces enables the fabrication of photonic devices based on extreme interactions between electrons and light. [Also see Report by Britnell et al.] Extraordinary electronic or optical properties can result when layered solids are realized as two-dimensional (2D) materials (single or few-layer sheets), as is the case when graphene is formed from graphite. Optical properties can also be enhanced by restructuring materials at subwavelength scales into metamaterials, such as enhancing the plasmonic properties of gold—the coupling of light to electrons—by forming nanoparticles. Combining these approaches can lead to devices with capabilities that are otherwise difficult to realize. For example, for photovoltaic devices or sensors, materials with high electronic conductivity could be optically thick (to efficiently absorb light) but dimensionally thin (to impart flexibility and light weight). On page 1311 of this issue, Britnell et al. (1) combined highly conductive graphene and optically active 2D transition metal dichalcogenides into a heterostructure that photoexcites electron-hole pairs within a band-gap material. These carriers were separated with a p-n junction and extracted as a photocurrent with transparent graphene electrodes (graphene), and the performance was enhanced with plasmonic gold nanoparticles.

Theory of Light Amplification in Active Fishnet Metamaterials

We establish a theory that traces light amplification in an active double-fishnet metamaterial back to its microscopic origins. Based on ab initio calculations of the light and plasmon fields we extract energy rates and conversion efficiencies associated with gain and loss channels directly from Poyntings theorem. We find that for the negative refractive index mode both radiative loss and gain outweigh resistive loss by more than a factor of 2, opening a broad window of steady-state amplification (free of instabilities) accessible even when a gain reduction close to the metal is taken into account.

Measurements of K(L) branching fractions and the CP violation parameter |eta+-|

We present new measurements of the six largest branching fractions of the KL using data collected in 1997 by the KTeV experiment (E832) at Fermilab. The results are B(KL -> pi e nu) = 0.4067 +- 0.0011 B(KL -> pi mu nu) = 0.2701 +- 0.0009 B(KL -> pi+ pi- pi0) = 0.1252 +- 0.0007 B(KL -> pi0 pi0 pi0) = 0.1945 +- 0.0018 B(KL -> pi+ pi-) = (1.975 +- 0.012)E-3, and B(KL -> pi0 pi0) = (0.865 +- 0.010)E-3, where statistical and systematic errors have been summed in quadrature. We also determine the CP violation parameter |eta+-| to be (2.228 +- 0.010)E-3. Several of these results are not in good agreement with averages of previous measurements.

FDTD analysis of slow light propagation in negative-refractive-index metamaterial waveguides

Using finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations we investigate the propagation of light pulses in waveguides having a core made of a negative-refractive-index metamaterial. In order to validate our model we carry out separate simulations for a variety of waveguide core thickness. The numerical results not only qualitatively confirm that light pulses travel slower in waveguides with thinner cores, but further they reveal that the effective refractive indices experienced by the propagating pulses compare favourably with exact theoretical predictions. We also examine the propagation of light pulses in waveguides with adiabatically, longitudinally varying core refractive index. The effective refractive indices extracted from these simulations confirm previous theoretical predictions while, both a slowing and an increase in the amplitude of the pulses are observed.