Abstracts - Dipartimento di Elettronica Applicata

Meta 2010 & FEM 2010 – Rome, 13-15 December 2010
Multistability at arbitrary low optical intensities
through epsilon-near-zero nonlinear metamaterial
Alessandro Ciattoni (1) , Carlo Rizza (2) and Elia Palange (2)
(1) Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, CNR-SPIN 67100 L'Aquila, Italy
E-mail: alessandro.ciattoni@aquila.infn.it
(2) Electrical Engineering Department, University of L'Aquila, 67100 Zona Industriale
di Pile (L'Aquila), Italy
We show that a nonlinear metal-dielectric layered slab of subwavelength thickness
and very small average dielectric permittivity displays optical multistable behavior at
arbitrary low optical intensities. This is due to the fact that, in the presence of the
small linear permittivity, one of the multiple electromagnetic slab states exists no
matter how small is the transmitted optical intensity. We prove that multiple states at
ultra-low optical intensities can be reached only by simultaneously operating on the
incident optical intensity and incidence angle.
b)
a)
Figure 1 – a) Transmissivity at two different incidence angles and surface of allowed electromagnetic
states. b) Geometry of the metal-dielectric layered slab together with overall slab transmissivity and
parameter space region (shaded region) where multistability occurs. Note that multistable states exist
no matter how small is the incident optical intensity.
References
[1] A. Ciattoni, C. Rizza and E. Palange, “Multistability at arbitrary low optical intensities in a metaldielectric
layered structure”, submitted for publication on Physical Review Letters.
arXiv:1009.4053v1
39