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. 2011:1:138.
doi: 10.1038/srep00138. Epub 2011 Nov 2.

Metamaterials with conformational nonlinearity

Mikhail Lapine  1 , Ilya V Shadrivov, David A Powell, Yuri S Kivshar
Affiliations

Metamaterials with conformational nonlinearity

Mikhail Lapine et al. Sci Rep. 2011.

Abstract

Within a decade of fruitful development, metamaterials became a prominent area of research, bridging theoretical and applied electrodynamics, electrical engineering and material science. Being man-made structures, metamaterials offer a particularly useful playground to develop interdisciplinary concepts. Here we demonstrate a novel principle in metamaterial assembly which integrates electromagnetic, mechanical, and thermal responses within their elements. Through these mechanisms, the conformation of the meta-molecules changes, providing a dual mechanism for nonlinearity and offering nonlinear chirality. Our proposal opens a wide road towards further developments of nonlinear metamaterials and photonic structures, adding extra flexibility to their design and control.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Schematic of a metamaterial composed of spiral meta-molecules.
The structural units are electromagnetic resonators which can change their geometrical conformation: spiral pitch ξ can vary, following a balance between the attractive force induced by magnetic field and the spring rigidity; and spiral radius r can change upon thermal expansion.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Various characteristics of the conformational nonlinearity.
Dependence of the metamaterial properties on (a–c) the incident amplitude H0 (at the relative frequency of 0.99ω0), or (d–f) on the signal frequency (with the amplitude 2 A/m), for relaxed (right-pointing green triangles) and compressed (left-pointing red triangles) conformations. Panel (a) shows the change in spiral pitch Δξ; panel (b) the increase in spiral temperature ΔT, panel (c) the absolute value of the effective magnetization, panel (d) the relative shift in the resonance frequency Δω, panel (e) the magnetic moment (real and imaginary parts) of a single spiral, and panel (f) the chirality parameter γ · c0.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Experimental results.
Panel (a) shows transmission through the spiral in the waveguide as a function of frequency and input power, panel (b) the curves for the highest and lowest measured power, panel (c) the frequency shift as a function of input power, with a comparison between the measurements and theoretical estimates.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Resonance frequency of spiral resonators with different pitch ξ.
Comparison between the effective circuit theory (solid line) and numerical simulations (circles). Spiral parameters here are r0 = 2 mm and w = 0.01.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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