Surface waves in three-dimensional electromagnetic composites and their effect on homogenization

Reflection and transmission of electromagnetic waves at the boundaries of periodic composites (electromagnetic/optical metamaterials) depends in general on both bulk and surface waves. We investigate the interplay of these two contributions using three-dimensional full-wave numerical simulations and a recently developed non-asymptotic homoge-nization theory. © 2013 Optical Society of America.postprin

Fluctuations and scaling of inverse participation ratios in random binary resonant composites

We study the statistics of local field distribution solved by the Green's-function formalism (GFF) [Y. Gu et al., Phys. Rev. B {\bf 59} 12847 (1999)] in the disordered binary resonant composites. For a percolating network, the inverse participation ratios (IPR) with $q=2$ are illustrated, as well as the typical local field distributions of localized and extended states. Numerical calculations indicate that for a definite fraction $p$ the distribution function of IPR $P_q$ has a scale invariant form. It is also shown the scaling behavior of the ensemble averaged $$ described by the fractal dimension $D_q$. To relate the eigenvectors correlations to resonance level statistics, the axial symmetry between $D_2$ and the spectral compressibility $\chi$ is obtained.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, accepted by Physical Review

Quantum interference in nanofractals and its optical manifestation

We consider quantum interferences of ballistic electrons propagating inside fractal structures with nanometric size of their arms. We use a scaling argument to calculate the density of states of free electrons confined in a simple model fractal. We show how the fractal dimension governs the density of states and optical properties of fractal structures in the RF-IR region. We discuss the effect of disorder on the density of states along with the possibility of experimental observation.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figure

Toward superlensing with metal-dielectric composites and multilayers

We report on the fabrication of two types of adjustable, near-field superlens designs: metal-dielectric composites and metal-dielectric multilayer films. We fabricated a variety of films with different materials, thicknesses and compositions. These samples were characterized physically and optically to determine their film composition, quality, and optical responses. Our results on metal-dielectric composites indicate that although the real part of the effective permittivity generally follows effective medium theory predictions, the imaginary part does not and substantially higher losses are observed. Going forward, it appears that multilayer metal-dielectric designs are more suitable for sub-diffraction imaging applications because they could provide both tunability and low loss