One-Dimensional Chirality: Strong Optical Activity in Epsilon-Near-Zero Metamaterials

One-Dimensional Chirality: Strong Optical Activity in Epsilon-Near-Zero Metamaterials.

We suggest that electromagnetic chirality, generally displayed by 3D or 2D complex chiral structures, can occur in 1D patterned composites whose components are achiral. This feature is highly unexpected in a 1D system which is geometrically achiral since its mirror image can always be superposed onto it by a 180 deg rotation. We analytically evaluate from first principles the bianisotropic resp...

Optical isolation with epsilon-near-zero metamaterials.

We suggest a principle for isolation of circularly polarized waves in magnetically active extreme-parameter metamaterials. Using theoretical analysis and numerical simulations, we show that metamaterials with extreme parameters, such as epsilon-near-zero materials (ENZ), when merged with magneto-optical materials, become transparent for forward circularly polarized waves of a given handedness a...

Metamaterials: optical activity without chirality.

We report that the classical phenomenon of optical activity, which is traditionally associated with chirality (helicity) of organic molecules, proteins, and inorganic structures, can be observed in artificial planar media which exhibit neither 3D nor 2D chirality. We observe the effect in the microwave and optical parts of the spectrum at oblique incidence to regular arrays of nonchiral subwave...

Goos-Hänchen effect in epsilon-near-zero metamaterials

Light reflection and refraction at an interface between two homogeneous media is analytically described by Snell's law. For a beam with a finite waist, it turns out that the reflected wave experiences a lateral displacement from its position predicted by geometric optics. Such Goos-Hänchen (G-H) effect has been extensively investigated among all kinds of optical media, such as dielectrics, meta...

Loss-compensated broadband epsilon-near-zero metamaterials with gain media