Multistability and switching in a superconducting metamaterial
Multistability and switching in a superconducting metamaterial
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DOI：
10.1038/ncomms4730
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发表时间：
2014-04-01
影响因子：
16.6
通讯作者：
Ustinov, A. V.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Jung, P.;Butz, S.;Ustinov, A. V.
超材料领域的研究围绕着创造一种与光相互作用的人造介质的想法，这种介质与自然材料的相互作用是未知的。这通常是通过使用电子或等离子体结构的亚波长晶格，即所谓的元原子来实现的。这些定制介质的最终目标之一是能够就地控制其特性。在这里，我们展示了超导量子干涉器件可以用作快速，可切换的元原子。我们发现它们的内在非线性导致同时稳定的动态状态，每个动态状态都与微波域磁化率的不同值和符号相关联。此外，我们证明，除了微波探测信号外，还可以通过施加纳秒长的脉冲在这些状态之间切换。除了这种全光超材料开关的潜在应用之外，研究结果表明，多稳定性也可以用于其他类型的非线性元原子。
The field of metamaterial research revolves around the idea of creating artificial media that interact with light in a way unknown from naturally occurring materials. This is commonly achieved using sub-wavelength lattices of electronic or plasmonic structures, so-called meta-atoms. One of the ultimate goals for these tailored media is the ability to control their properties in situ. Here we show that superconducting quantum interference devices can be used as fast, switchable meta-atoms. We find that their intrinsic nonlinearity leads to simultaneously stable dynamic states, each of which is associated with a different value and sign of the magnetic susceptibility in the microwave domain. Moreover, we demonstrate that it is possible to switch between these states by applying nanosecond-long pulses in addition to the microwave-probe signal. Apart from potential applications for this all-optical metamaterial switch, the results suggest that multistability can also be utilized in other types of nonlinear meta-atoms.