Loss-compensated and active hyperbolic metamaterials

Xingjie Ni, Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University
Satoshi Ishii, Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University
Mark D. Thoreson, Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University
Vladimir M. Shalaev, Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University
Seunghoon H. Han, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology
Sangyoon Lee, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology
Alexander V. Kildishev, Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University

Abstract

We have studied the dispersion relations of multilayers of silver and a dye-doped dielectric using four methods: standard effective-medium theory (EMT), nonlocal-effect-corrected EMT, nonlinear equations based on the eigenmode method, and a spatial harmonic analysis method. We compare the validity of these methods and show that metallic losses can be greatly compensated by saturated gain. Two realizable applications are also proposed. Loss-compensated metal-dielectric multilayers that have hyperbolic dispersion relationships are beneficial for numerous applications such as subwavelength imaging and quantum optics. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America

Discipline(s)

Nanoscience and Nanotechnology