论文标题
可见频率下分层的Epsilon-Near-Zero超材料的增强的非线性光学响应
Enhanced Nonlinear Optical Responses of Layered Epsilon-Near-Zero Metamaterials at Visible Frequencies
论文作者
论文摘要
具有消失的介电介电常数的光学材料,称为Epsilon-near-Zero(ENZ)材料,已证明在其ENZ区域具有增强的非线性光学响应。这些强大的非线性光学特性已在均质材料中牢固地建立。但是,目前尚不清楚具有有效光学参数的超材料是否可以表现出类似的增强。 Here, we probe an optical ENZ metamaterial composed of a subwavelength periodic stack of alternating Ag and SiO$_2$ layers and measure a nonlinear refractive index $n_2 = (1.2 \pm 0.1) \times 10^{-12}$ m$^2$/W and nonlinear absorption coefficient $β= (-1.5 \pm 0.2) \times 10^{ - 5} $ m/w在其有效的零透明度波长下。测量的$ N_2 $是$ 10^7 $倍,大于$ n_2 $的熔融二氧化硅大,比$ n_2 $的白银大四倍。我们观察到$ N_2 $ scales中的非线性增强为$ 1/(N_0 \ Mathrm {re} [n_0])$,其中$ n_0 $是线性有效的折射率索引。与均匀的enz材料相反,其光学特性由它们的固有材料特性决定,因此并非可调性,可以选择通过选择可见的频谱中的任何地方,通过选择子波长层的正确厚度,可以选择在可见光谱中的任何地方。因此,我们的结果提供了一种方法,可以在任何指定的光波长下设计具有较大非线性的超材料的方法。
Optical materials with vanishing dielectric permittivity, known as epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) materials, have been shown to possess enhanced nonlinear optical responses in their ENZ region. These strong nonlinear optical properties have been firmly established in homogeneous materials; however, it is as of yet unclear whether metamaterials with effective optical parameters can exhibit a similar enhancement. Here, we probe an optical ENZ metamaterial composed of a subwavelength periodic stack of alternating Ag and SiO$_2$ layers and measure a nonlinear refractive index $n_2 = (1.2 \pm 0.1) \times 10^{-12}$ m$^2$/W and nonlinear absorption coefficient $β= (-1.5 \pm 0.2) \times 10^{-5}$ m/W at its effective zero-permittivity wavelength. The measured $n_2$ is $10^7$ times larger than $n_2$ of fused silica and four times larger than that the $n_2$ of silver. We observe that the nonlinear enhancement in $n_2$ scales as $1/(n_0 \mathrm{Re}[n_0])$, where $n_0$ is the linear effective refractive index. As opposed to homogeneous ENZ materials, whose optical properties are dictated by their intrinsic material properties and hence are not widely tunable, the zero-permittivity wavelength of the demonstrated metamaterials may be chosen to lie anywhere within the visible spectrum by selecting the right thicknesses of the sub-wavelength layers. Consequently, our results offer the promise of a means to design metamaterials with large nonlinearities for applications in nanophotonics at any specified optical wavelength.