Nanostructured hyperbolic metamaterials: physics and devices

纳米技术为人造材料铺平了道路，这些材料具有超出自然界中常见特性的电磁、机械、热学和声学特性。根据许多已公布的技术路线图，将光子学和纳米技术融合在一起有希望：-为生物医学应用引入新一代成像设备，推动纳米光子学研究，以维持摩尔定律，甚至满足迫切的社会对太阳能收集的需求。这项研究建议的中心主题是理解基于纳米块状超材料的新型光子器件的基本物理原理，其中主体宏观材料属性根据组成的纳米结构构建块被随意管理和定制。 超材料是一种人工结构化介质，可以在纳米和宏观尺度上对光的流动进行前所未有的控制。作为这一提议的一部分，将被研究的人造纳米结构介质是双曲线超材料(HMM)，它们的性质来自于自然界中没有的反直觉的电磁响应。这项研究计划的目的有两个：了解隐马尔可夫模型的基本属性，同时在三个看似互不相关的应用中探索基于隐马尔可夫模型的设备：成像、量子光学和可再生能源。 在成像方面，我们将研究人造材料如何扩展传统显微镜的能力；在量子光学方面，我们将研究在纳米尺度上利用光的有效方法，沿着可再生能源的方向，我们将探索在人工纳米结构介质的辅助下可以高效地获取太阳能的设备。围绕这些应用的中心主题是双曲超材料特有的独特电磁状态。

Nanotechnology has paved the way for artificial materials which have electromagnetic, mechanical, thermal and acoustic properties beyond those which are ordinarily found in nature. According to many published technological roadmaps, merging photonics and nanotechnologies holds the promise:- to usher in a new generation of imaging devices for biomedical applications, to drive nanophotonics research for sustaining Moore's law and even address pressing societal needs of solar energy harvesting. The central theme of this research proposal is the understanding of the essential physics for new photonic devices based on nanofabricated metamaterials, where the bulk macroscopic material properties are governed and tailored at will, according to the constituent nanostructured building blocks. Metamaterials are artificial structured media which allow unprecedented control over the flow of light at the nano and macro scales. The artificial nanostructured media to be investigated as part of this proposal are Hyperbolic Metamaterials (HMMs) which derive their properties from a counterintuitive electromagnetic response, not found in nature. The aim of this research program is twofold: to understand fundamental properties of HMMs and simultaneously explore HMM based devices in three seemingly disconnected applications: imaging, quantum optics and renewable energy. On the imaging front, we will look at how artificial materials can extend the capabilities of conventional microscopes; in the quantum optics direction we will look at efficient ways of harnessing light at the nanoscale and along the renewable energy direction we will explore devices which can efficiently harvest solar energy when assisted by artificial nanostructured media. The central theme surrounding these applications is the unique electromagnetic states characteristic of Hyperbolic Metamaterials.