Applied Physics Seminar

Materials and structures with extreme values of relative permittivities or permeability, e.g., epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) and mu-near-zero (MNZ) materials, exhibit unique wave properties such as refractive index being near zero, resulting in essentially uniform phase and very long apparent wavelengths in such ENZ platforms.  We have introduced and developed this concept, and have been exploring their impacts when they are merged with other platforms such as nanophotonics. We have shown ENZ-based enhanced tunneling through ultranarrow channels and bends with arbitrary shapes and forms, enhancement of radiation of optical emitters within ENZ-based and MNZ-based guided structures, phase front engineering, and confinement of highly intense optical fields in elongated regions. In this talk, I will give an overview of the ENZ- and MNZ-based phenomena, and will discuss exciting potentials and future ideas and possibilities.