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PI Physik Instrumente - Revolution In Photonics Align LW LB 3/24

Transformation Optics Bends all the Rules

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Marie Freebody, Contributing Editor, [email protected]

From invisibility cloaks to hyperlenses, and photovoltaic concentrators to superresolution microscopy, transformation optics makes big promises. In the same way that water flows can be manipulated using dams and channels, light can be made to bend by spatially tailoring the material property through which it flows, and transformation optics allows the flow of light to be precisely controlled in desirable ways. The classical science of light calls on lenses and optical waveguides to collect or distribute the flow of light. But at the nanoscale, the desired behavior and the spatial...Read full article

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    Published: August 2011
    Glossary
    luneburg lens
    A dielectric sphere with an index of refraction that varies with distance from the sphere center. A parallel beam of rays is focused on the lens surface at a point diametrically opposite the direction of incidence. Energy emanating from a point on the surface is focused into a plane wave.
    nano
    An SI prefix meaning one billionth (10-9). Nano can also be used to indicate the study of atoms, molecules and other structures and particles on the nanometer scale. Nano-optics (also referred to as nanophotonics), for example, is the study of how light and light-matter interactions behave on the nanometer scale. See nanophotonics.
    plasmonics
    Plasmonics is a field of science and technology that focuses on the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and free electrons in a metal or semiconductor at the nanoscale. Specifically, plasmonics deals with the collective oscillations of these free electrons, known as surface plasmons, which can confine and manipulate light on the nanometer scale. Surface plasmons are formed when incident photons couple with the conduction electrons at the interface between a metal or semiconductor...
    superresolution
    Superresolution refers to the enhancement or improvement of the spatial resolution beyond the conventional limits imposed by the diffraction of light. In the context of imaging, it is a set of techniques and algorithms that aim to achieve higher resolution images than what is traditionally possible using standard imaging systems. In conventional optical microscopy, the resolution is limited by the diffraction of light, a phenomenon described by Ernst Abbe's diffraction limit. This limit sets a...
    Alexander KildishevAlexandra BoltassevaBasic ScienceCommunicationsCornell UniversityEaton lensenergyEvgenii NarimanovFeaturesfull-wave transformation opticsFWTOGeorge Barbastathishyperlensesinvisibility cloakJohn Pendrylenseslight concentratorsLuneburg lensMarie FreebodyMaxwell’s equationsmetamaterialsMicroscopyMikhail NoginovMITnanonanoparticlesNatureomnidirectional light absorbersoptical black holesOpticsPaul Westphotonic circuitsphotovoltaicsPhys.-Usp.plasmonicsPurdue Universityrefractive indicesSCTOsemi-classical transformation opticsShuang Zhangsolar cellsspaserSPPssuper-resolution microscopysuperresolutionsurface plasmon lasersurface plasmon polaritonstransformation opticsUlrich WiesnerUniversity of BirminghamUniversity of California at BerkeleyUniversity of California BerkeleyVladimir ShalaevXiang Zhang

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