Temperature-controlled asymmetric transmission of electromagnetic waves
Temperature-controlled asymmetric transmission of electromagnetic waves
Chiral materials can exhibit different levels of transmission for opposite propagation directions of the same electromagnetic wave. Here we demonstrate thermal switching of asymmetric transmission of linearly polarized terahertz waves. The effect is observed in a terahertz metamaterial containing 3D-chiral metallic inclusions and achiral vanadium dioxide inclusions. The chiral structure exhibits pronounced asymmetric transmission at room temperature when vanadium dioxide is in its insulator phase. As the metamaterial is heated, the insulator-to-metal phase transition of vanadium dioxide effectively renders the structure achiral and the transmission asymmetry vanishes. We demonstrate the effect numerically and experimentally, describe it analytically and explain the underlying physical mechanism based on simulated surface current distributions. Potential applications include directionally asymmetric active devices as well as intensity and polarization modulators for electromagnetic waves.
metamaterial, phase transition, asymmetric transmission, terahertz, linear conversion dichroism, Vanadium dioxide
Liu, Meng
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Xu, Quan
b97a36eb-cace-496b-b45e-90cf42a110d8
Chen, Xieyu
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Plum, Eric
50761a26-2982-40df-9153-7aecc4226eb5
Li, Hua
457a24e4-0fef-4155-9960-79fb15cdcd2f
Zhang, Xueqian
94e50528-12a0-414a-b789-423815daa8e6
Zhang, Caihong
405b1efb-f1ce-4450-b5b0-679f9776a57a
Zou, Chongwen
a95478d0-f128-45be-98f7-059d2b083299
Han, Jiaguang
4591e2ce-9804-45f2-907a-a915386b3922
Zhang, Weili
e7aadbd4-230f-4a39-8b06-9aaef4183de0
11 March 2019
Liu, Meng
a6d742bd-60cd-4e91-8752-add90d0bf935
Xu, Quan
b97a36eb-cace-496b-b45e-90cf42a110d8
Chen, Xieyu
3f8dacf6-0ba1-44b9-8062-eba039871039
Plum, Eric
50761a26-2982-40df-9153-7aecc4226eb5
Li, Hua
457a24e4-0fef-4155-9960-79fb15cdcd2f
Zhang, Xueqian
94e50528-12a0-414a-b789-423815daa8e6
Zhang, Caihong
405b1efb-f1ce-4450-b5b0-679f9776a57a
Zou, Chongwen
a95478d0-f128-45be-98f7-059d2b083299
Han, Jiaguang
4591e2ce-9804-45f2-907a-a915386b3922
Zhang, Weili
e7aadbd4-230f-4a39-8b06-9aaef4183de0
Liu, Meng, Xu, Quan, Chen, Xieyu, Plum, Eric, Li, Hua, Zhang, Xueqian, Zhang, Caihong, Zou, Chongwen, Han, Jiaguang and Zhang, Weili
(2019)
Temperature-controlled asymmetric transmission of electromagnetic waves.
Scientific Reports, [4097].
(doi:10.1038/s41598-019-40791-4).
Abstract
Chiral materials can exhibit different levels of transmission for opposite propagation directions of the same electromagnetic wave. Here we demonstrate thermal switching of asymmetric transmission of linearly polarized terahertz waves. The effect is observed in a terahertz metamaterial containing 3D-chiral metallic inclusions and achiral vanadium dioxide inclusions. The chiral structure exhibits pronounced asymmetric transmission at room temperature when vanadium dioxide is in its insulator phase. As the metamaterial is heated, the insulator-to-metal phase transition of vanadium dioxide effectively renders the structure achiral and the transmission asymmetry vanishes. We demonstrate the effect numerically and experimentally, describe it analytically and explain the underlying physical mechanism based on simulated surface current distributions. Potential applications include directionally asymmetric active devices as well as intensity and polarization modulators for electromagnetic waves.
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ThermalAsymTrans_accepted
- Accepted Manuscript
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Temperature-Controlled Asymmetric Transmission of Electromagnetic Waves
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Accepted/In Press date: 21 February 2019
Published date: 11 March 2019
Keywords:
metamaterial, phase transition, asymmetric transmission, terahertz, linear conversion dichroism, Vanadium dioxide
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 428838
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/428838
ISSN: 2045-2322
PURE UUID: 35dbb6dc-2758-48a1-ac4b-9263e6ab140f
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Date deposited: 11 Mar 2019 17:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 07:37
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Contributors
Author:
Meng Liu
Author:
Quan Xu
Author:
Xieyu Chen
Author:
Eric Plum
Author:
Hua Li
Author:
Xueqian Zhang
Author:
Caihong Zhang
Author:
Chongwen Zou
Author:
Jiaguang Han
Author:
Weili Zhang
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