Negative Refractive Index

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Technical description: We will develop mathematical models andcomputational tools to analyze optical resonance phenomena innanostructured materials. The proposed research will focus on resonantinteraction of optical fields with metallic nanoparticles and onnegative refractive index phenomena in optical materials with doubleresonance (electric and magnetic field). We will study nonlinearcoupling of material and light excitations and their applications.Traditional resonant optics which is limited to exploiting resonanceof electric fields with atomic systems revolutionized science andtechnology by introducing lasers. Current development in nanomaterialfabrication makes it possible to add an additional resonantinteraction, that of a magnetic field with the embedded nanostructure.This brings exotic properties such as negative refractive index intothe optical domain. It is important to study the properties of suchmaterials using consistently derived equations that describe thedoubly resonant interaction. This is considerably more challengingthan simply including negative values for permittivity andpermeability. We will develop a description of the optical doubleresonance phenomena starting from first principles and analyze itsphysical consequences including negative refractive index. We willalso analyze the classical phenomena of nonlinear optics in doublyresonant materials. Our pilot research with ultra-short pulses hasalready shown that for very simple nanomaterials, optical controlusing phase, including trapping of light is feasible.Broader impact: This project will make important contributions to basic science. It can lead to applications in materials science andto high performance computing. One of the principle targets of thework is negative refractive index material. These materials could beof great practical value. Optimization of the design of suchmaterials will be a central result of our research and requires afundamental understanding of the nature of the interaction of lightand such nano-structures. One of the more important applications fornegative refractive index materials is superlenses. Such a lenspermits much improved focusing of light compared to currentcapabilities. This would allow production of electronic componentsusing photolithography with much higher densities and finer featuresleading to greatly increased computation power and lower cost. Inaddition, other types of nano-optical materials can lead to noveloptical logic devices and short term memory buffers. Designer opticalmaterials are very close to realization; their full potential willonly be realized if the fundamental physical and mathematical modelsare understood.