Philipp Gutsche

Optical Chirality Flux as a Useful Far-Field Probe of Chiral Near Fields

To optimize the interaction between chiral matter and highly twisted light, quantities that can help characterize chiral electromagnetic fields near nanostructures are needed. Here, by analogy with Poynting’s theorem, we formulate the time-averaged conservation law of optical chirality in lossy dispersive media and identify the optical chirality flux as an ideal far-field observable for characterizing chiral optical near fields. Bounded by the conservation law, we show that it provides precise information, unavailable from circular dichroism spectroscopy, on the magnitude and handedness of highly twisted fields near nanostructures.

Time-Harmonic Optical Chirality in Inhomogeneous Space

Optical chirality has been recently suggested to complement the physically relevant conserved quantities of the well-known Maxwells equations. This time-even pseudoscalar is expected to provide further insight in polarization phenomena of electrodynamics such as spectroscopy of chiral molecules. Previously, the corresponding continuity equation was stated for homogeneous lossless media only. We extend the underlying theory to arbitrary setups and analyse piecewise-constant material distributions in particular. Our implementation in a Finite Element Method framework is applied to illustrative examples in order to introduce this novel tool for the analysis of time-harmonic simulations of nano-optical devices.

Locally Enhanced and Tunable Optical Chirality in Helical Metamaterials

We report on a numerical study of optical chirality. Intertwined gold helices illuminated with plane waves concentrate right and left circularly polarized electromagnetic field energy to sub-wavelength regions. These spots of enhanced chirality can be smoothly shifted in position and magnitude by varying illumination parameters, allowing for the control of light-matter interactions on a nanometer scale.

Chiral scatterers designed by Bayesian optimization

The helicity or chirality of scattered light is strongly linked to the dual symmetry of the scatterer. The latter depends on chiral materials or on scatterers which are not superimposable with their mirror image. This inherently yields asymmetric structures of various shapes with many degrees of freedom. In order to explore these high dimensional parameter spaces, numerical simulations and especially optimization strategies are a valueable tool. Here, we optimize the emission of chiral line sources in two-dimensional dimer setups using Bayesian optimization. We deduce relevant objective functions from recent theoretical findings for chiral electromagnetic fields and employ rigorous simulations of Maxwells equations.

Benchmarking five numerical simulation techniques for computing resonance wavelengths and quality factors in photonic crystal membrane line defect cavities

We present numerical studies of two photonic crystal membrane microcavities, a short line-defect cavity with a relatively low quality (Q) factor and a longer cavity with a high Q. We use five state-of-the-art numerical simulation techniques to compute the cavity Q factor and the resonance wavelength λ for the fundamental cavity mode in both structures. For each method, the relevant computational parameters are systematically varied to estimate the computational uncertainty. We show that some methods are more suitable than others for treating these challenging geometries.

Hp-finite-elements for simulating electromagnetic fields in optical devices with rough textures

The finite-element method is a preferred numerical method when electromagnetic fields at high accuracy are to be computed in nano-optics design. Here, we demonstrate a finite-element method using hp-adaptivity on tetrahedral meshes for computation of electromagnetic fields in a device with rough textures. The method allows for efficient computations on meshes with strong variations in element sizes. This enables to use precise geometry resolution of the rough textures. Convergence to highly accurate results is observed.

Benchmarking state-of-the-art numerical simulation techniques for analyzing large photonic crystal membrane line defect cavities

In this work, we perform numerical studies of two photonic crystal membrane microcavities, a short line-defect L5 cavity with relatively low quality (Q) factor and a longer L9 cavity with high Q. We compute the cavity Q factor and the resonance wavelength λ of the fundamental M1 mode in the two structures using five state-of- the-art computational methods. We study the convergence and the associated numerical uncertainty of Q and λ with respect to the relevant computational parameters for each method. Convergence is not obtained for all the methods, indicating that some are more suitable than others for analyzing photonic crystal line defect cavities.

Comparison of five computational methods for computing Q factors in photonic crystal membrane cavities

Five state-of-the-art computational methods are benchmarked by computing quality factors and resonance wavelengths in photonic crystal membrane L5 and L9 line defect cavities. The convergence of the methods with respect to resolution, degrees of freedom and number of modes is investigated. Special attention is paid to the influence of the size of the computational domain. Convergence is not obtained for some of the methods, indicating that some are more suitable than others for analysing line defect cavities.

Benchmarking five computational methods for analyzing large photonic crystal membrane cavities

We benchmark five state-of-the-art computational methods by computing quality factors and resonance wavelengths in photonic crystal membrane L5 and L9 line defect cavities. The convergence of the methods with respect to resolution, degrees of freedom and number of modes is investigated. Convergence is not obtained for some of the methods, indicating that some are more suitable than others for analyzing line defect cavities.

Comparison of five numerical methods for computing quality factors and resonance wavelengths in photonic crystal membrane cavities

The photonic crystal (PhC) membrane represents a platform for planar integration of components, where cavities and waveguides may play a key role in realizing compact optical components with classical functionality such as switches, lasers, and amplifiers or quantum optical functionality such as integrated sources of quantum light. By leaving out a row of holes in an otherwise perfect PhC membrane lattice, a line defect is created in which light may be guided. If the waveguide is terminated at both ends, the finite-length waveguide forms an Ln cavity, where n denotes the length of the cavity. Such Ln cavities support spectrally discrete optical modes, and the fundamental cavity mode profile of an L9 cavity is shown in Fig. 1. Light may be confined to such an Ln cavity for extended periods, as quantified by the quality (Q) factor. For laser applications, the Q factor governs the onset of lasing, and for cavity quantum electrodynamics applications, it governs the onset of strong coupling. The Q factor thus represents a key parameter in the design of a PhC membrane cavity.