Metamaterials with Quantum Gain

Integrating amplifying media with metamaterials allows loss-free plasmonic operation and opens a route for controlling nanoscale quantum emitters. Optical metamaterials and nanoplasmonics offer extreme control and localization of light within volumes that can be smaller than a cubic light wavelength...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2013-02, Vol.339 (6120), p.654-655
Main Authors: Hess, Ortwin, Tsakmakidis, Kosmas L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cell lines
Dissipation
Environmental conservation
Gain
Lasing
Localization
Materials science
Metamaterials
Nanomaterials
Nanostructure
Nanostructures
Nongovernmental organizations
PERSPECTIVES
Population decline
Quantum physics
Spontaneous
Stimulated emission
Veterinary drugs
Wave diffraction
Wavelengths
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Integrating amplifying media with metamaterials allows loss-free plasmonic operation and opens a route for controlling nanoscale quantum emitters. Optical metamaterials and nanoplasmonics offer extreme control and localization of light within volumes that can be smaller than a cubic light wavelength by more than three orders of magnitude, but they suffer from appreciable dissipative losses. This weakness is thought to constitute the prime impediment before many of the envisaged applications can succeed in practice. However, recent breakthroughs in the theoretical understanding and experimental fabrication of gain-enhanced metamaterials and nanoplasmonic heterostructures promise to overcome these hindrances, while allowing for new ways to control spontaneous and stimulated emission of light on the nanoscale ( 1 , 2 ).
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1231254