Conical diffraction and the dispersion surface of hyperbolic metamaterials
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2014Access:
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Ballantine, KE, Donegan, JF, Eastham, PR, Conical diffraction and the dispersion surface of hyperbolic metamaterials, Physical Review A, 90, 1, 2014, 013803-Download Item:
PhysRevA.90.013803.pdf (PDF) 1.373Mb
Abstract:
Hyperbolic metamaterials are materials in which at least one principal dielectric constant is negative. We
describe the refractive index surface, and the resulting refraction effects, for a biaxial hyperbolic metamaterial,
with principal dielectric constants
1
<
0, 0
<
2
=
3
. In this general case the two sheets of the index surface
intersect, forming conical singularities. We derive the ray description of conical refraction in these materials
and show that it is topologically and quantitatively distinct from conical refraction in a conventional biaxial
material. We also develop a wave optics description, which allows us to obtain the diffraction patterns formed
from arbitrary beams incident close to the optic axis. The resulting patterns lack circular symmetry and hence
are qualitatively different from those obtained in conventional, positive index materials
Sponsor
Grant Number
Science Foundation Ireland (SFI)
SIRG I/1592
Author's Homepage:
http://people.tcd.ie/jdoneganhttp://people.tcd.ie/easthamp
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Journal ArticleCollections:
Series/Report no:
Physical Review A90
1
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Full text availableKeywords:
conical refractionSubject (TCD):
Nanoscience & MaterialsDOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.90.013803Licences: