Optical design of reflectionless complex media by finite embedded coordinate transformations

TL;DR

This paper introduces finite embedded coordinate transformations in transformation optics to design reflectionless devices like beam shifters and splitters, enabling electromagnetic wave steering and focusing with confirmed simulations.

Contribution

It extends transformation optics by incorporating finite embedded transforms, allowing new reflectionless devices with complex functionalities to be designed.

Findings

Designed reflectionless beam shifter and splitter devices

Confirmed device performance with 2D full-wave simulations

Devices exhibit unusual electromagnetic behaviors

Abstract

Transformation optics offers an unconventional approach to the control of electromagnetic fields. A transformation optical structure is designed by first applying a form-invariant coordinate transform to Maxwell's equations, in which part of free space is distorted in some desired manner. The coordinate transformation is then applied to the permittivity and permeability tensors to yield the specification for a complex medium with desired functionality. The transformation optical structures proposed to date, such as electromagnetic "invisibility" cloaks and concentrators, are inherently reflectionless and leave the transmitted wave undisturbed. Here we expand the class of transformation optical structures by introducing finite, embedded coordinate transformations, which allow the electromagnetic waves to be steered or focused. We apply the method to the design of several devices, including a parallel beam shifter and a beam splitter, both of which exhibit unusual electromagnetic behavior as confirmed by 2D full-wave simulations. The devices are designed to be reflectionless, in accordance with a straightforward topological criterion.