Circuits with Light at the Nanoscale:
Taming the Light with Metamaterials
April 9, 2010
Nader EnghetaSpecial Thanks to
Andrea Alu
Uday Chettiar
Brian Edwards
Jingjing Li
Alessandro Salandrino
Mario Silveirinha
Yong Sun
Ashkan Vakil
Mike Young
Electronics
http://www.imrc.hw.ac.uk/New_versions/Home_files/Microelectronics.jpg
http://cmos.mirc.gatech.edu/images/holdingwafer.jpg
http://wireless-usb-cameras.com/imgs/library/22/electronics1.jpg
What other kinds of Currents do we have?
iE = H
i H = J E
i te
J EDisplacement
Current
RF
Current Confinement?
0out outJ E
dJ i E
DdJ i E
1wire
1out
D E
Re 0 Re 0
cJ E
RF
Current Confinement?
0out outD E
Nano-Optics?
D E
0out outJ E
1wire
1out
1wire
1substrate
Alu, Engheta, Optics Express, 15, 13773 (2007)
How to have -near zero (ENZ) Media?
ENZ Metamaterials
2
1p
mi
0m
0d
Re 0
1 1 2 2
1 2
1 1 2 20 0
1 2
1 2 1 2
2 1 1 2
0 0
0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0( )
0 0
T
T
z
ε
Re 0
What will happen, if is near zero?
l Maxwell Equations i H E
i E H
0 H
l 2-D Scenario with TM polarization
1
ˆ, zx yi
E u
ˆ, zx yH u
ENZ
H
inside ENZ material..const 0n
in Nano-Optics
D
ENZ
0 DinD
?0D
inD
Grooves in ENZ
0D
inD
ENZ
Numerical Simulations
725f THz
SilverSi3N4
Alu and Engheta, Phys. Rev. Lett., 2009
-3000 -2000 -1000 0
-150
-100
-50
0
50
100
150
Phase [ d
eg ]
y [ nm ]
Layered material Vacuum
yPhase of E
Energy Flow
725f THzPoynting Vector
Alu and Engheta, Phys. Rev. Lett., 2009
E
H
Nanocircuit board with branches
725f THz
500 nm
750 nm
Alu and Engheta, Phys. Rev. Lett., 2009
“Alphabets” in electronics
L
C
R
M
From HP group
What are the basic “alphabets” in
Optics?
Optics
Waveguide
Lens
Mirror
“Lumped” Circuit
Elements in Nano-Optics?
L C R
Nano-Optics
? ? ? ? ?
Radio Frequency (RF) electronics
Lumped Circuit Elements with Light
Engheta, Science, 317, 1698 (2007)
Di E
t
( )
( )
Optical Voltage EZ
Optical Displacement D
Engheta, Salandrino, Alu, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95 (2005)
ElectronicsOpticsa
Re 0
C
Re 0
E
H L
Im 0
E
H R
E
H
Examples
60 nm
CSiO2 182 10C F
633 nm
Re 0
LAg 157 10L H
Circuits with Light at Nanoscales
incE
incH
“Meta-Nanocircuits”
R
R
C
C CL
L
Metamaterial-Inspired Nanoelectronics
“Metactronics”Engheta, Science, 317, 1698 (2007)
d
725f THz
500 nm
Nanocircuit Board loaded with Nanorods
ENZ
Phase of
E in
groove
Alu and Engheta, Phys. Rev. Lett., 2009
L
C
Nanocircuit board with more branches
725f THz
Optical Nanocircuit “Busline”
725f THz
Alu and Engheta, Phys. Rev. Lett., 2009
2nd Order Filter:
Silver and Si3N4 Nanorods
d
3 4Si N Ag
R LC
20 nm 20 nm
20 nm
Alu, Young, and Engheta, Phys. Rev. B, (2008)Engheta, Science, 317, 1698 (2007)
2nd Order Filter:
Silver and Si3N4 Nanorods
200 400 600 800 1000
-150
-100
-50
0
50
100
150
Phase [ D
eg ]
Wavelength [ nm ]
Simulation
Circuit Theory
200 400 600 800 10000.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
Simulation
Circuit Theory
Wavelength [ nm ]
Am
plit
ude
Engheta, Science, 317, 1698 (2007) Alu, Young, and Engheta, Phys. Rev. B (2008)
“Stereo-Circuits”
Different “Circuits” for Different “Views”
Alu, and Engheta, New Journal of Physics, 2009
EH
L
C
E
H
L
C
Variable Optical Nanoelements
(3) 2| |l locE
ElectronicsOptics
Re 0
C
E
H
KerrSilver
Core-Shell
Kerr-loaded
Nanoantennas
Could we have nano-scale optical Varactor?
C
Kerr-based Optical Nanovaractor
(3) 2| |l locE
ElectronicsOptics
Re 0
C
E
H
E
H
Kerr-loaded
Nanoantennas
Optical Nanofilters
d
3 4Si N Ag
R LC
Alu, Young, and Engheta, Phys. Rev. B, (2008)Engheta, Science, 317, 1698 (2007)
200 400 600 800 1000
-150
-100
-50
0
50
100
150
Ph
ase
[ D
eg
]
Wavelength [ nm ]
Simulation
Circuit Theory
200 400 600 800 10000.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
Simulation
Circuit Theory
Wavelength [ nm ]
Am
plit
ud
e
Optical Nanovaractor and Variable
Nanofilter
Kerr Ag
Kerr Ag
R LC
Mapping From RF to Nano-Optics
RF Elements &
Systems
Nano-Optics
Phenomena &
Systems
Optical “Yagi-Uda”Nanoantenna
Ag
SiO2
Li, Salandrino, and Engheta, Phys. Rev. B , 76, 245403 (2007)
0 646nm
0 620nm
Photonic Wireless at Nanoscales??
Antennas, local oscillators, filters, switches,
mixers, modulators, demodulators, etc. etc.
Nano-Optical Wireless Communications
System 1 System 2
Can we “tune” optical
nanoantennas?
Alu and Engheta, Nature Photonics, Vol. 2, May 2008
Nanoantenna Tuning?
Lr
loadZ
Alu and Engheta, Nature Photonics, Vol. 2, May 2008
Feeding Optical Nanoantennas & NSOM?
Alu and Engheta, PRL, 101, July 2008
Summary
m Metactronics or Lightronics can provide information processing at the nanoscale
m Nanoparticles can play the role of lumped circuit elements
m Nanonatennas can be tuned by optical nanoloads
m ENZ materials can provide test beds for optical nanocircuit boards
Re 0
Thank you very much!
