Parallel, Series, and Intermediate Interconnections of Optical Nanocircuit Elements Part 2: Nanocircuit and Physical Interpretation

TL;DR

This paper interprets the electromagnetic behavior of interconnected optical nanocircuit elements using analytical solutions, validating their configurations and proposing a novel, orientation-dependent nanodevice for optical applications.

Contribution

It provides a physical interpretation of nanocircuit configurations at optical frequencies and demonstrates how their impedance can be tuned by rotation, enabling new device functionalities.

Findings

Validated series and parallel nanocircuit configurations

Identified intermediate wave interaction features

Proposed orientation-tunable nanodevice

Abstract

Applying the analytical closed-form solutions of the 'quasi-static' potential distribution around two conjoined resonant half-cylinders with different permittivities, reported in the first part of our manuscript, here we interpret these results in terms of our nanocircuit paradigm applicable to nanoparticles at infrared and optical frequencies [N. Engheta, A. Salandrino, A. Alu, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 095504 (2005)]. We investigate the possibility of connecting in series and parallel configurations plasmonic and/or dielectric nanoparticles acting as nanocircuit elements, with a goal for the design of a more complex nanocircuit circuit system with the desired response. The present analysis fully validates the heuristic predictions regarding the parallel and series combination of a pair of nanocircuit elements. Moreover, the geometries under analysis present interesting peculiar features in their wave interaction, such as the intermediate stage between the parallel and series configurations, which may be of interest for certain applications. In particular, the resonant nanocircuit configuration analyzed here may dramatically change, in a continuous way, its effective total impedance by simply rotating its orientation with respect to the polarization of the impressed optical electric field, providing a novel optical nanodevice that may alter its function by rotation with respect to the impressed optical local field.