Out-of-equilibrium electron dynamics of silver driven by ultrafast electromagnetic fields - a novel hydrodynamical approach.

We investigate the ultrafast nonlinear response of silver upon excitation by infrared electromagnetic radiation pulses with a duration of a few femtoseconds. By adopting the Landau weak coupling approach to account for electron-electron and electron-phonon collisions, we solve the Boltzmann equation through the method of moments obtaining a novel set of hydrodynamical equations describing the ultrafast nonlinear dynamics of electrons in silver. While the novel hydrodynamical model that was obtained reduces to the Drude model for small intensities of the driving field, it predicts that absorption saturates for large but experimentally attainable peak intensities of the order of GW cm-2. Our results are important for absorption mitigation in plasmonic devices, with potential impact for low-loss plasmonic waveguides and interconnects.

Efficient Vortex Generation in Subwavelength Epsilon-Near-Zero Slabs.

We show that a homogeneous and isotropic slab, illuminated by a circularly polarized beam with no topological charge, produces vortices of order 2 in the opposite circularly polarized components of the reflected and transmitted fields, as a consequence of the transverse magnetic and transverse electric asymmetric response of the rotationally invariant system. In addition, in the epsilon-near-zero regime, we find that vortex generation is remarkably efficient in subwavelength thick slabs up to the paraxial regime. This physically stems from the fact that a vacuum paraxial field can excite a nonparaxial field inside an epsilon-near-zero slab since it hosts slowly varying fields over physically large portions of the bulk. Our theoretical predictions indicate that epsilon-near-zero media hold great potential as nanophotonic elements for manipulating the angular momentum of the radiation, since they are available without resorting to complicated micro- or nanofabrication processes and can operate even at very small (ultraviolet) wavelengths.

All-optical modulation in wavelength-sized epsilon-near-zero media.

We investigate the interaction of two pulses (pump and probe) scattered by a nonlinear epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) slab whose thickness is comparable with the ENZ wavelength. We show that when the probe has a narrow spectrum localized around the ENZ wavelength, its transmission is dramatically affected by the intensity of the pump. Conversely, if the probe is not in the ENZ regime, its propagation is not noticeably affected by the pump. Such all-optical modulation is due to the oversensitive character of the ENZ regime, and it is so efficient that it even occurs in a wavelength thick slab.

One-Dimensional Chirality: Strong Optical Activity in Epsilon-Near-Zero Metamaterials.

We suggest that electromagnetic chirality, generally displayed by 3D or 2D complex chiral structures, can occur in 1D patterned composites whose components are achiral. This feature is highly unexpected in a 1D system which is geometrically achiral since its mirror image can always be superposed onto it by a 180 deg rotation. We analytically evaluate from first principles the bianisotropic response of multilayered metamaterials and we show that the chiral tensor is not vanishing if the system is geometrically one-dimensional chiral; i.e., its mirror image cannot be superposed onto it by using translations without resorting to rotations. As a signature of 1D chirality, we show that 1D chiral metamaterials support optical activity and we prove that this phenomenon undergoes a dramatic nonresonant enhancement in the epsilon-near-zero regime where the magnetoelectric coupling can become dominant in the constitutive relations.

Kapitza homogenization of deep gratings for designing dielectric metamaterials.

We theoretically investigate the homogenization of the dielectric response to transverse electric waves of a transverse grating characterized by the Kapitza condition; i.e., the permittivity is rapidly modulated with a modulation depth scaling as the large wavelength-to-modulation-period ratio. We show that the resulting effective dielectric permittivity, in addition to the standard average of the underlying dielectric profile, has a further contribution arising from the fast and deep dielectric modulation. Such a contribution turns out to be comparable with the other one and hence can provide an additional method for designing dielectric metamaterials. As an example, we discuss an effective metal-to-dielectric transition produced by the Kapitza contribution obtained by changing the grating depth, a remarkable result for applications involving epsilon-near-zero metamaterial design.

Terahertz optically tunable dielectric metamaterials without microfabrication.

We theoretically investigate the terahertz (THz) dielectric response of a semiconductor slab hosting a tunable grating photogenerated by the interference of two tilted infrared (IR) plane waves. In the case where the grating period is much smaller than the THz wavelength, we numerically evaluate the ordinary and extraordinary component of the effective permittivity tensor by resorting to electromagnetic full-wave simulation coupled to the dynamics of charge carriers excited by IR radiation. We show that the photo-induced metamaterial optical response can be tailored by varying the grating and it ranges from birefringent to hyperbolic to anisotropic negative dielectric without resorting to microfabrication.

Effective medium theory for Kapitza stratified media: diffractionless propagation.

We show that in the presence of a rapidly modulated dielectric permittivity with a large modulation depth (Kapitza medium) a novel and robust regime of diffractionless electromagnetic propagation occurs. This happens when the mean value to depth ratio of the dielectric profile is comparable to the small ratio between the modulation period and the wavelength. We show that the standard effective medium theory is inadequate to describe the proposed regime and that its occurrence is not substantially hampered by medium losses. We check the feasibility of the proposed regime by means of a large modulation depth metal-dielectric layered medium whose electromagnetic behavior is analytically investigated.

Terahertz active spatial filtering through optically tunable hyperbolic metamaterials.

We theoretically consider infrared-driven hyperbolic metamaterials able to spatially filter terahertz (THz) radiation. The metamaterial is a slab made of alternating semiconductor and dielectric layers whose homogenized uniaxial response, at THz frequencies, shows principal permittivities of different signs. The gap provided by metamaterial hyperbolic dispersion allows the slab to stop spatial frequencies within a bandwidth tunable by changing the infrared radiation intensity. We numerically prove the device functionality by resorting to full wave simulation coupled to the dynamics of charge carries photoexcited by infrared radiation in semiconductor layers.

Phase-matching-free parametric oscillators based on two-dimensional semiconductors.

Optical parametric oscillators are widely used as pulsed and continuous-wave tunable sources for innumerable applications, such as quantum technologies, imaging, and biophysics. A key drawback is material dispersion, which imposes a phase-matching condition that generally entails a complex design and setup, thus hindering tunability and miniaturization. Here we show that the burden of phase-matching is surprisingly absent in parametric micro-resonators utilizing mono-layer transition-metal dichalcogenides as quadratic nonlinear materials. By the exact solution of nonlinear Maxwell equations and first-principle calculations of the semiconductor nonlinear response, we devise a novel kind of phase-matching-free miniaturized parametric oscillator operating at conventional pump intensities. We find that different two-dimensional semiconductors yield degenerate and non-degenerate emission at various spectral regions due to doubly resonant mode excitation, which can be tuned by varying the incidence angle of the external pump laser. In addition, we show that high-frequency electrical modulation can be achieved by doping via electrical gating, which can be used to efficiently shift the threshold for parametric oscillation. Our results pave the way for the realization of novel ultra-fast tunable micron-sized sources of entangled photons-a key device underpinning any quantum protocol. Highly miniaturized optical parametric oscillators may also be employed in lab-on-chip technologies for biophysics, detection of environmental pollution and security.

On the limits of validity of nonparaxial propagation equations in Kerr media.

Recent generalizations of the standard nonlinear Schroedinger equation (NLSE), aimed at describing nonparaxial propagation in Kerr media are examined. An analysis of their limitations, based on available exact results for transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) (1+1)-D spatial solitons, is presented. Numerical stability analysis reveals that nonparaxial TM soltions are unstable to perturbations and tend to catastrophically collapse while TE solitons are stable even in the extreme nonparaxial limit.

Photo-generated metamaterials induce modulation of CW terahertz quantum cascade lasers.

Periodic patterns of photo-excited carriers on a semiconductor surface profoundly modifies its effective permittivity, creating a stationary all-optical quasi-metallic metamaterial. Intriguingly, one can tailor its artificial birefringence to modulate with unprecedented degrees of freedom both the amplitude and phase of a quantum cascade laser (QCL) subject to optical feedback from such an anisotropic reflector. Here, we conceive and devise a reconfigurable photo-designed Terahertz (THz) modulator and exploit it in a proof-of-concept experiment to control the emission properties of THz QCLs. Photo-exciting sub-wavelength metastructures on silicon, we induce polarization-dependent changes in the intra-cavity THz field, that can be probed by monitoring the voltage across the QCL terminals. This inherently flexible approach promises groundbreaking impact on THz photonics applications, including THz phase modulators, fast switches, and active hyperbolic media.

Stokes parameters of a Gaussian beam in a calcite crystal.

We derive the analytical expression of the Stokes parameters corresponding to a Gaussian beam propagating along the optical axis of a uniaxial crystal, pointing the simultaneous effects of anisotropy and diffraction out. The theoretical results are compared with experimental measurements at the output of a calcite crystal, showing a good agreement.

Electromagnetic nondiffracting pulses in lossless isotropic plasmalike media.

We introduce a scheme for describing electromagnetic nondiffracting pulses propagating in isotropic and lossless media characterized by a plasma-like refractive index. A family of nondiffracting waves in a dispersive medium is analytically derived in the form of a generalization of X waves propagating in vacuum. It is also shown how the ratio between pulse width and plasma length has a crucial effect on the pulse dynamics.

Angular momentum dynamics of a paraxial beam in a uniaxial crystal.

The conservation law governing the dynamics of the radiation angular momentum component along the optical axis (z axis) of a uniaxial crystal is derived from Maxwell's equations; the existence of this law is physically related to the rotational invariance of the crystal around the optical axis. Specializing the obtained general expression for the z component of the angular momentum flux to the case of a paraxial beam propagating along the optical axis, we find that the expression is the same as the corresponding one for a paraxial beam propagating in an isotropic medium of refractive index n(o) (ordinary refractive index of the crystal); besides, we show that the flux is conserved during propagation and that it decomposes into the sum of an intrinsic and an orbital contribution. Investigating their dynamics we demonstrate that they are coupled and, during propagation, an exchange between them exists. This exchange asymptotically exhibits a saturation process leading, for z--> infinity, the intrinsic part to vanish and the orbital one equates the total amount of angular momentum flux. As an example, the evolution of the intrinsic and the orbital contributions to the flux is investigated in the case of circularly polarized beams. Besides, the radiation angular momentum stored in the crystal is also investigated, in the paraxial regime, showing that it is simply given by the product of the total angular momentum flux by the time the radiation takes in passing through the crystal.

One-dimensional nondiffracting pulses.

A general expression describing nondiffracting pulses whose transverse profile is a one-dimensional image is presented. The pulse turns out to be expressed as a superposition of two fields, possessing a purely translational dynamics, whose profiles are related to the field distribution on the the waist plane through an Hilbert transformation. The space-time structure of the generally X-shaped pulse is investigated and a simple relation connecting its transverse and the longitudinal widths is established. Specific analytical examples are considered and, in particular, the fundamental one-dimensional X waves are deduced and compared to their two-dimensional counterparts.

Vector electromagnetic X waves.

A vector propagation scheme for describing electromagnetic nondiffracting beams (X waves) is introduced. In particular we show that, from the knowledge of the transverse field components on a given transverse plane and at a fixed instant, it is possible to predict the whole electric field everywhere which in particular allows us to investigate the imaging properties of nondiffracting beam. Furthermore, we show that the longitudinal field component crucially depends on the pulse velocity and that it can be neglected only if the velocity is slightly greater than c. The proposed formalism is tested by means of two examples, the vector fundamental and Gaussian X waves which admit analytical treatment. As an application of the propagation scheme, we derive in closed form the expressions for the field propagator showing that its transverse component formally coincides with one of the scalar fundamental X wave.

Paraxial propagation along the optical axis of a uniaxial medium.

An approach for describing paraxial propagation of light along the optical axis of a uniaxial medium is introduced. Contrary to previous theoretical schemes, our approach directly deals with the propagation of the whole optical field without resorting to the standard decomposition into ordinary and extraordinary parts, thus avoiding some related mathematical difficulties. A paraxial equation governing the field propagation has been derived, and its formal solution has been deduced. The structure of this solution allows us to think of the optical field in the crystal as the corresponding one propagating in vacuum "dressed" by the effect of anisotropy. This relationship is used to derive two analytical techniques for evaluating the propagated field. Starting from the formal solution, the closed-form expression of the anisotropic propagator is also derived. The proposed approach is used to predict the evolution of an astigmatic Gaussian beam through a calcite crystal, which has been also experimentally investigated. The agreement between theory and experiment is good.

Miniaturized bending-free solitons by restoring symmetry in periodically biased photorefractives.

We consider optical propagation through a centrosymmetric photorefractive crystal with the externally applied bias voltage modulated along the optical propagation direction. We analytically prove that, if the modulation scale is smaller than the optical diffraction length, the resulting effective nonlinearity has an even parity in the transverse plane for an even-symmetric intensity profile and supports bending-free solitons down to few-micrometer beam widths. Numerical integration of the full photorefractive model for light-matter interaction allows us to confirm the feasibility of these miniaturized solitons and, for longer modulation periods, to investigate the excitation of self-trapped wiggling optical beams.

Transverse and soliton instabilities due to counterpropagation through a reflection grating in Kerr media.

Transverse instabilities are shown to accompany counterpropagation of optical beams through reflection gratings in Kerr media. The instability threshold of continuous waves is analytically derived, and it is shown that the presence of the grating broadens and narrows the stability region of plane waves in focusing and defocusing media, respectively. Furthermore, counterpropagating soliton stability is numerically investigated and compared with the transverse modulation instability analysis, revealing an underlying physical link.