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Plasmonic Metasurface "Bullets" and other "Moving Objects": Spatiotemporal Dispersion Cancellation for Linear Passive
Aristeidis Karalis1, J D Joannopoulos1,2
1Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
Physical Review Letters
|September 7, 2019
Summary
New plasmonic metasurfaces enable novel dispersion shapes, including flat surfaces for slow, lossless wave packet propagation. This breakthrough offers unique control over light-matter interactions at the nanoscale.
Area of Science:
- Condensed matter physics
- Nanophotonics
- Metamaterials
Background:
- Plasmon-polaritons are crucial for nanoscale light manipulation.
- Tailoring plasmonic metasurface dispersion is key to controlling wave propagation.
- Existing metasurfaces have limitations in achieving desired dispersion properties.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce a new class of plasmonic metasurfaces.
- To demonstrate the ability to engineer plasmon-polariton dispersion surfaces into novel shapes.
- To achieve unprecedented control over wave packet propagation characteristics.
Main Methods:
- Design and fabrication of plasmonic metasurfaces.
- Theoretical modeling of plasmon-polariton dispersion.
- Characterization of wave propagation properties.
Main Results:
- Achieved hyperbolic dispersion surfaces.
- Created dispersion surfaces with multiple van Hove singularities.
- Demonstrated simultaneous spatiotemporal dispersion cancellation for extreme surface flatness.
- Observed slow propagation of ultrasubwavelength wave packets without broadening.
Conclusions:
- The developed plasmonic metasurfaces offer unprecedented control over light dispersion.
- Simultaneous spatiotemporal dispersion cancellation leads to novel wave propagation phenomena.
- These findings open new avenues for advanced photonic devices and applications.