Coherent perfect absorption mediated anomalous reflection and refraction

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how coherent perfect absorption in a corrugated metal film enables anomalous light bending on the same side of the normal, combining phase-sensitive effects like CPA and superscattering.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to achieve back-bending of light using CPA in a free-standing corrugated metal film, revealing phase-sensitive control of light reflection and refraction.

Findings

Back-bending of light observed on the same side of the normal.

CPA suppresses zeroth order, enabling anomalous reflection.

Phase sensitivity leads to CPA and superscattering effects.

Abstract

We demonstrate bending of light on the same side of the normal in a free standing corrugated metal film under bi-directional illumination. Coherent perfect absorption (CPA) is exploited to suppress the specular zeroth order leading to effective back-bending of light into the `-1' order, while the `+1' order is resonant with the surface mode. The effect is shown to be phase sensitive yielding CPA and superscattering in the same geometry.