Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Jacob B. Khurgin
Summary: While the photonics community is focused on exotic concepts, the simple idea of increasing the refractive index may have greater potential in various applications. The author explores why higher index materials have not yet been developed and suggests some tentative directions for finding these elusive materials, whether natural or artificial.
Article
Crystallography
Wei Liu, Hechao Liu, Lixia Chen, Fan Zhang
Summary: This study presents the performance and parameters of the Sunflower quasi-periodic photonic crystal superlens, highlighting its potential in focusing imaging and negative refraction. It provides an important alternative to positive refraction lenses in the future.
Review
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Xuezhi Ma, Nathan Youngblood, Xiaoze Liu, Yan Cheng, Preston Cunha, Kaushik Kudtarkar, Xiaomu Wang, Shoufeng Lan
Summary: This article discusses the method of changing the optical properties of 2D materials by engineering the photonic environment, emphasizing the importance of the interaction between the environment and the materials for efficiency. By modifying dielectric and metallic environments, the light-matter interaction of 2D materials can be effectively shaped.
Review
Engineering, Mechanical
Liuxian Zhao, Chuanxing Bi, Haihong Huang, Qimin Liu, Zhenhua Tian
Summary: The Acoustic Luneburg lens (ALL) is a spherically/circularly symmetric lens with a smooth variation of refractive index from the outer surface to the center. The index variation can be achieved by changing the filling ratio of unit cells or adjusting the structural thickness according to specific governing equations. This review discusses the fundamental theories of ALL, different types of ALL, and extensive applications in manipulating and controlling acoustic and elastic waves.
MECHANICAL SYSTEMS AND SIGNAL PROCESSING
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Avinash Kumar Rella, Subhangi Subedi, Le Gia Trung, Vineet Kumar, Suhyun Kim, Shin-Woong Kang
Summary: Photonic crystals have great importance in technology, especially in optics and photonics. The authors report on refractive index adaptive photonic crystals, where the structural color responds to chemicals by changing the reflective color. Loading various chemicals into nanopores significantly shifts the structural color based on the chemical's refractive index. This sensing mechanism offers advantages such as durability, sensitivity, fast response, and wide detection range.
Article
Optics
Ziheng Zhou, Hao Li, Wangyu Sun, Yijing He, Inigo Liberal, Nader Engheta, Zhenghe Feng, Yue Li
Summary: In this work, the researchers demonstrate the comb-like dispersion of effective permeability in an Epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) medium comprising multiple dielectric photonic dopants. They also show that resonant supercouplings can be controlled via the assignment of dopants. The concept of dispersion coding is proposed, where photonic dopants serve as bits to program the spectral response of the whole composite medium. A compact multi-doped ENZ cavity is fabricated and experimentally characterized as proof of concept, showing potential for applications including dynamically tunable comb-like dispersion profiled filters and radio-frequency identification tags.
LIGHT-SCIENCE & APPLICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Optics
Zhuo Wang, Yao Liang, Jiaqi Qu, Mu Ku Chen, Mingjie Cui, Zhi Cheng, Jingcheng Zhang, Jin Yao, Shufan Chen, Din Ping Tsai, Changyuan Yu
Summary: This study demonstrates the precise control of light-matter interaction through plasmonic resonances empowered by bound states in the continuum (BICs). By exploiting BICs in the parameter space, sharp resonances with ultra-weak angular dispersion effect and polarization-independent performance are achieved on symmetric plasmonic metasurfaces. These results provide a way to achieve efficient near-field enhancement using focused light produced by high numerical aperture objectives.
PHOTONICS RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Elena Mavrona, Anna Theodosi, Krzysztof Mackosz, Eleni Perivolari, Ivo Utke, Johann Michler, Jakob Schwiedrzik, Maria Kafesaki, Odysseas Tsilipakos, Angelos Xomalis
Summary: Direct laser writing (DLW) is used to fabricate complex metamaterials and photonic devices for nanoscale applications. This study focuses on measuring and understanding the optical properties of conventional photoresists in the THz range. The experimental and simulation results validate the validity of the measured refractive index and support future use of DLW photoresists in the THz range for photonic applications.
OPTICAL MATERIALS EXPRESS
(2023)
Article
Optics
Zhifeng Li, Hai Lin, Rui Zhou, Xintong Shi, Zihao Yu, Y. Liu, Jian Wu, Rongxin Tang
Summary: This paper investigates the excitation of toroidal dipole mode through the design of the unit cell in a photonic crystal to suppress radiative losses of other multipoles. The photonic crystals with Dirac-like dispersion at the G point can be mapped to a zero-index medium. The proposed photonic crystal slab has low-loss and easy integration properties.
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Bao-Fei Wan, Zi-Wei Zhou, Yi Xu, Hai-Feng Zhang
Summary: A structure based on one-dimensional photonic crystals is proposed for angle sensing and refractive index sensing through optical Tamm state. It demonstrates high absorption rates at multiple frequency points and the ability to adjust absorption peaks through period adjustments. This special sensing structure shows promising application prospects in the field of measurement.
IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Hong-Mei Peng, Bao-Fei Wan, Ya-Ting Xiang, Hai-Feng Zhang
Summary: A new structure for sensing and detecting refractive index based on one-dimensional cylindrical photonic crystals containing graphene elements with high quality factor and wide measurement range has been theoretically investigated. The sensor functions by capturing optical Tamm state through electromagnetic resonance under impedance matching conditions. It shows high tolerance to minor variations in chemical potential, core radius, loss tangent value, and manufacturing roughness, but is angle sensitive. The proposed sensor provides high performance with sensitivity ranging from 1.0 to 2.8, and a high figure of merit and quality factor.
IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL
(2021)
Article
Optics
Larissa Vertchenko, Clayton DeVault, Radu Malureanu, Eric Mazur, Andrei Lavrinenko
Summary: Near-zero-index platforms offer new opportunities for light manipulation, but are limited by material availability. All-dielectric photonic crystals with specific electromagnetic modes can overcome intrinsic losses, but face limitations due to strong radiation to the surrounding environment.
LASER & PHOTONICS REVIEWS
(2021)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Simone Iadanza, Jesus Hernan Mendoza-Castro, Taynara Oliveira, Sharon M. Butler, Alessio Tedesco, Giuseppe Giannino, Bernhard Lendl, Marco Grande, Liam O'Faolain
Summary: This paper presents a novel design of high Q-factor silicon nitride (SiN) 1D photonic crystal (PhC) cavities side-coupled to curved waveguides, which can operate with both silica and air cladding. The etched 1D PhC cavity sidewalls angle is engineered to achieve high Q-factors over a wide range of upper cladding compositions, resulting in the highest calculated Q-factor for non-suspended asymmetric SiN PhC structures. The SiN PhC cavities are demonstrated to be used in hybrid external cavity laser configuration, enabling mode-hop free single mode laser operation with high power output and side-mode suppression ratios. Moreover, these devices are applied as compact and energy efficient optical sensors, exhibiting high sensitivity to refractive index changes in the surrounding medium.
Article
Optics
Ivan S. Panyaev, Dmitry G. Sannikov, Nataliya N. Dadoenkova, Yuliya S. Dadoenkova
Summary: The study investigates the spectral properties and electromagnetic wave transmission of one-dimensional three-periodic photonic crystals composed of various dielectric oxides. It reveals a larger angular distance between transmission peaks compared to ternary photonic crystals, which is significant for designing highly efficient optical devices operating in the infrared regime.
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Harbinder Singh, Amit Gupta, Rajinder Singh Kaler, Surinder Singh, Amoljit Singh Gill
Summary: The research explores the sensing properties of an ultrathin metamaterial absorber for refractive index detection in biomedical samples. The absorber, made up of a unique spanner resonator, exhibits high absorption efficiency and excellent sensitivity. It has the potential to detect samples with similar refractive indices, making it a promising candidate for biosensor applications.
IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Zheqin Dong, Haijun Cui, Haodong Zhang, Fei Wang, Xiang Zhan, Frederik Mayer, Britta Nestler, Martin Wegener, Pavel A. Levkin
Summary: The method introduced by the authors combines the advantages of 3D printing and polymerization-induced phase separation, enabling the formation of 3D polymer structures with controllable inherent porosity.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Tobias Frenzel, Julian Koepfler, Andreas Naber, Martin Wegener
Summary: This study achieves nanometer-scale localization accuracy by combining wide-field optical image cross-correlation analysis with 3D printed marker arrays, reaching atomic-scale precision. The experimental setup is simple, reliable, and cost-effective, with the marker arrays easily integrated into the 3D printing process.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yi Chen, Muamer Kadic, Martin Wegener
Summary: Recent work explored isotropic chiral phonon dispersion relations in cubic crystalline approximants, finding that they have smaller effects compared to highly anisotropic chiral cubic metamaterial crystals. A proposed chiral triclinic metamaterial crystal exhibits larger effects but is more susceptible to fabrication tolerances due to an 'accidental' degeneracy in momentum space.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY A-MATHEMATICAL PHYSICAL AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Yi Chen, Tobias Frenzel, Quan Zhang, Muamer Kadic, Martin Wegener
Summary: A chiral simple-cubic metamaterial crystal exhibiting chiral phonons for all phonon propagation directions in 3D space with nearly isotropic acoustical activity has been successfully designed, offering a blueprint with simple cubic crystal symmetry that is easier to fabricate using 3D additive manufacturing methods. This breakthrough in metamaterial design has been demonstrated through electron micrographs of microstructured samples produced using 3D laser nanoprinting.
PHYSICAL REVIEW MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Sarah Bertels, Mona Jaggy, Benjamin Richter, Stephan Keppler, Kerstin Weber, Elisa Genthner, Andrea C. Fischer, Michael Thiel, Martin Wegener, Alexandra M. Greiner, Tatjana J. Autenrieth, Martin Bastmeyer
Summary: Mechanotransduction via YAP is crucial for decision-making in mESCs. The geometry of the extracellular environment influences CDR and YAP localization in single mESCs, with changes in cell shape linked to a high CDR.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Julian Koepfler, Tobias Frenzel, Joerg Schmalian, Martin Wegener
Summary: A theoretical prediction suggested that a 1D diatomic chain of 3D chiral cells can support a topological bandgap leading to resonantly enhanced large rotations within the structure. In this study, a complex laser-beam-scanner microstructure was successfully realized in fused-silica form using a novel microcasting approach. The mechanical quality of the twist-edge resonance under ambient conditions was found to be high, and the microcasting approach could potentially be applied to various other materials and complex architectures.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Tobias Abele, Tobias Messer, Kevin Jahnke, Marc Hippler, Martin Bastmeyer, Martin Wegener, Kerstin Goepfrich
Summary: Through two-photon 3D laser printing, high precision hydrogel structures have been successfully manufactured inside preformed lipid vesicles, allowing for the deterministic positioning of cellular components. This technology can also create early functional architectures, such as transmembrane pores, for transporting biological cargo.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Alexander Muenchinger, Vincent Hahn, Dominik Beutel, Simon Woska, Joel Monti, Carsten Rockstuhl, Eva Blasco, Martin Wegener
Summary: This approach allows for the alignment of liquid crystal networks or elastomers in three dimensions during multi-photon laser printing, enabling the creation of 3D micro-heterostructures that exhibit large-amplitude elastic actuation under ambient conditions. It involves the use of a specialized sample cell with variable height and optical components to ensure a single well-defined laser focus for different electric field orientations.
ADVANCED MATERIALS TECHNOLOGIES
(2022)
Article
Optics
Vincent Hahn, Pascal Rietz, Frank Hermann, Patrick Mueller, Christopher Barner-Kowollik, Tobias Schloeder, Wolfgang Wenzel, Eva Blasco, Martin Wegener
Summary: In recent years, there has been a growing interest in high-speed, high-resolution optics-based 3D printing technology. By combining image projection with optical nonlinearity, researchers have successfully achieved high printing rates with small voxel volumes.
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Vibhuti Rai, Lukas Gerhard, Nico Balzer, Michal Valasek, Christof Holzer, Liang Yang, Martin Wegener, Carsten Rockstuhl, Marcel Mayor, Wulf Wulfhekel
Summary: This article presents a new method to activate single molecules by decoupling them from a metallic substrate using the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope, thus achieving individual molecule luminescence. The emission performance of this method compares favorably in terms of quantum efficiency, stability, and reproducibility to that of single molecules deposited on thin insulating layers.
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Natalie Munding, Magdalena Fladung, Yi Chen, Marc Hippler, Anthony D. Ho, Martin Wegener, Martin Bastmeyer, Motomu Tanaka
Summary: Cell behaviors depend on the elastic properties of the microenvironments, which differ from polymer-based substrates. Metamaterials, with adjustable elastic properties, offer a promising way to mechanically control stem cells. By designing microstructured bio-metamaterials based on a silicon elastomer-like photoresist and two-photon laser printing, the differential responses of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) correlate with the calculated elastic properties of the bio-metamaterials, suggesting the potential of using bio-metamaterials for cell behavior regulation.
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Michael Fidelis Gross, Jonathan Ludwig Guenter Schneider, Yu Wei, Yi Chen, Sebastian Kalt, Muamer Kadic, Xiaoning Liu, Genkai Hu, Martin Wegener
Summary: In classical Cauchy elasticity, 3D materials have six eigenmodes of deformation. Extremal elastic materials are classified based on the number of easy eigenmodes out of these six, leading to hexamode (N=6), pentamode (N=5), tetramode (N=4), trimode (N=3), dimode (N=2), and monomode (N=1) materials. Pentamode metamaterials have attracted significant attention, and in this study, microstructured 3D polymer-based tetramode metamaterials were designed, characterized, and compared to theoretical expectations. The potential application as a compact and broadband polarizer for acoustical phonons at ultrasound frequencies was demonstrated.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Richard Craster, Sebastien Guenneau, Muamer Kadic, Martin Wegener
Summary: Mechanical metamaterials, designed composites with elastic behaviors and effective mechanical properties beyond those of their individual ingredients, have made significant progress in the last decade due to advances in computational science and manufacturing. This review provides a tutorial on its mathematical basis and summarizes the state-of-the-art in both conceptual and experimental aspects.
REPORTS ON PROGRESS IN PHYSICS
(2023)
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Yi Chen, Ke Wang, Muamer Kadic, Sebastien Guenneau, Changguo Wang, Martin Wegener
Summary: Previous theory and experiment have shown that introducing strong nonlocal interactions in addition to local interactions into metamaterials can lead to unusual wave dispersion relations. In this study, the authors investigate the frequency-dependent acoustical phonon transmission in a slab of nonlocal metamaterial. They find a series of bound states in the continuum and sharp transmission resonances next to sharp transmission minima. The findings are validated by numerical calculations on three-dimensional metamaterial microstructures.
COMMUNICATIONS PHYSICS
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Ke Wang, Yi Chen, Muamer Kadic, Changguo Wang, Martin Wegener
Summary: By introducing a two-dimensional metamaterial platform, we utilize nonlocal effects as a powerful design tool to control the wave properties of metamaterials. The study shows that the lowest band can be engineered by Fourier synthesis, and waves can be transferred from a local metamaterial to a nonlocal metamaterial through a carefully designed transition region.
COMMUNICATIONS MATERIALS
(2022)
