Optical Nanocircuits

Circuits with Light at the Nanoscale:

Taming the Light with Metamaterials

April 9, 2010

Nader EnghetaSpecial Thanks to

Andrea Alu

Uday Chettiar

Brian Edwards

Jingjing Li

Alessandro Salandrino

Mario Silveirinha

Yong Sun

Ashkan Vakil

Mike Young

Electronics

http://www.imrc.hw.ac.uk/New_versions/Home_files/Microelectronics.jpg

http://cmos.mirc.gatech.edu/images/holdingwafer.jpg

http://wireless-usb-cameras.com/imgs/library/22/electronics1.jpg

What other kinds of Currents do we have?

iE = H

i H = J E

i te

J EDisplacement

Current

RF

Current Confinement?

0out outJ E

dJ i E

DdJ i E

1wire

1out

D E

Re 0 Re 0

cJ E

RF

Current Confinement?

0out outD E

Nano-Optics?

D E

0out outJ E

1wire

1out

1wire

1substrate

Alu, Engheta, Optics Express, 15, 13773 (2007)

How to have -near zero (ENZ) Media?

ENZ Metamaterials

2

1p

mi

0m

0d

Re 0

1 1 2 2

1 2

1 1 2 20 0

1 2

1 2 1 2

2 1 1 2

0 0

0 0

0 0 0 0

0 0( )

0 0

T

T

z

ε

Re 0

What will happen, if is near zero?

l Maxwell Equations i H E

i E H

0 H

l 2-D Scenario with TM polarization

1

ˆ, zx yi

E u

ˆ, zx yH u

ENZ

H

inside ENZ material..const 0n

in Nano-Optics

D

ENZ

0 DinD

?0D

inD

Grooves in ENZ

0D

inD

ENZ

Numerical Simulations

725f THz

SilverSi3N4

Alu and Engheta, Phys. Rev. Lett., 2009

-3000 -2000 -1000 0

-150

-100

-50

0

50

100

150

Phase [ d

eg ]

y [ nm ]

Layered material Vacuum

yPhase of E

Energy Flow

725f THzPoynting Vector

Alu and Engheta, Phys. Rev. Lett., 2009

E

H

Nanocircuit board with branches

725f THz

500 nm

750 nm

Alu and Engheta, Phys. Rev. Lett., 2009

“Alphabets” in electronics

L

C

R

M

From HP group

What are the basic “alphabets” in

Optics?

Optics

Waveguide

Lens

Mirror

“Lumped” Circuit

Elements in Nano-Optics?

L C R

Nano-Optics

? ? ? ? ?

Radio Frequency (RF) electronics

Lumped Circuit Elements with Light

Engheta, Science, 317, 1698 (2007)

Di E

t

( )

( )

Optical Voltage EZ

Optical Displacement D

Engheta, Salandrino, Alu, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95 (2005)

ElectronicsOpticsa

Re 0

C

Re 0

E

H L

Im 0

E

H R

E

H

Examples

60 nm

CSiO2 182 10C F

633 nm

Re 0

LAg 157 10L H

Circuits with Light at Nanoscales

incE

incH

“Meta-Nanocircuits”

R

R

C

C CL

L

Metamaterial-Inspired Nanoelectronics

“Metactronics”Engheta, Science, 317, 1698 (2007)

d

725f THz

500 nm

Nanocircuit Board loaded with Nanorods

ENZ

Phase of

E in

groove

Alu and Engheta, Phys. Rev. Lett., 2009

L

C

Nanocircuit board with more branches

725f THz

Optical Nanocircuit “Busline”

725f THz

Alu and Engheta, Phys. Rev. Lett., 2009

2nd Order Filter:

Silver and Si3N4 Nanorods

d

3 4Si N Ag

R LC

20 nm 20 nm

20 nm

Alu, Young, and Engheta, Phys. Rev. B, (2008)Engheta, Science, 317, 1698 (2007)

2nd Order Filter:

Silver and Si3N4 Nanorods

200 400 600 800 1000

-150

-100

-50

0

50

100

150

Phase [ D

eg ]

Wavelength [ nm ]

Simulation

Circuit Theory

200 400 600 800 10000.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

Simulation

Circuit Theory

Wavelength [ nm ]

Am

plit

ude

Engheta, Science, 317, 1698 (2007) Alu, Young, and Engheta, Phys. Rev. B (2008)

“Stereo-Circuits”

Different “Circuits” for Different “Views”

Alu, and Engheta, New Journal of Physics, 2009

EH

L

C

E

H

L

C

Variable Optical Nanoelements

(3) 2| |l locE

ElectronicsOptics

Re 0

C

E

H

KerrSilver

Core-Shell

Kerr-loaded

Nanoantennas

Could we have nano-scale optical Varactor?

C

Kerr-based Optical Nanovaractor

(3) 2| |l locE

ElectronicsOptics

Re 0

C

E

H

E

H

Kerr-loaded

Nanoantennas

Optical Nanofilters

d

3 4Si N Ag

R LC

Alu, Young, and Engheta, Phys. Rev. B, (2008)Engheta, Science, 317, 1698 (2007)

200 400 600 800 1000

-150

-100

-50

0

50

100

150

Ph

ase

[ D

eg

]

Wavelength [ nm ]

Simulation

Circuit Theory

200 400 600 800 10000.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

Simulation

Circuit Theory

Wavelength [ nm ]

Am

plit

ud

e

Optical Nanovaractor and Variable

Nanofilter

Kerr Ag

Kerr Ag

R LC

Mapping From RF to Nano-Optics

RF Elements &

Systems

Nano-Optics

Phenomena &

Systems

Optical “Yagi-Uda”Nanoantenna

Ag

SiO2

Li, Salandrino, and Engheta, Phys. Rev. B , 76, 245403 (2007)

0 646nm

0 620nm

Photonic Wireless at Nanoscales??

Antennas, local oscillators, filters, switches,

mixers, modulators, demodulators, etc. etc.

Nano-Optical Wireless Communications

System 1 System 2

Can we “tune” optical

nanoantennas?

Alu and Engheta, Nature Photonics, Vol. 2, May 2008

Nanoantenna Tuning?

Lr

loadZ

Alu and Engheta, Nature Photonics, Vol. 2, May 2008

Feeding Optical Nanoantennas & NSOM?

Alu and Engheta, PRL, 101, July 2008

Summary

m Metactronics or Lightronics can provide information processing at the nanoscale

m Nanoparticles can play the role of lumped circuit elements

m Nanonatennas can be tuned by optical nanoloads

m ENZ materials can provide test beds for optical nanocircuit boards

Re 0

Thank you very much!