Electric Field Enhancement in {\epsilon}-near-zero Slabs under TM-Polarized Oblique Incidence

TL;DR

This paper explores local electric field enhancement in epsilon-near-zero slabs under TM polarization, analyzing passive and active metamaterials to identify conditions for strong field amplification and potential nonlinear effects.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive study of ENZ slabs without Fabry-Pérot resonances, including active gain materials, revealing new spectral and angular enhancement phenomena.

Findings

Identification of three physical conditions for field enhancement.

Active gain materials further amplify local fields.

Potential for triggering low-threshold nonlinear phenomena.

Abstract

We investigate local field enhancement phenomena in subwavelength, {\epsilon}-near-zero (ENZ) slabs that do not exploit Fabry-P\'erot resonances. In particular, we study the linear response of engineered metamaterial slabs of finite thickness based on plasmonic nanoshells that show an ENZ band in the visible range, and naturally occurring materials (e.g., SiO2) that also display ENZ properties, under oblique, TM-polarized plane wave incidence. We then introduce active gain material in engineered metamaterial slabs that adds peculiar spectral and angular features to transmission, reflection, and absorption properties, and leads to a further local field enhancement. These findings are supported by two theoretical studies: First, a simple interface between two semi-infinite media, namely free space and a generic ENZ medium; then, an ENZ slab of finite thickness, with the aim of understanding the system's behavior when varying the ENZ properties as well as the incident angle. For either case we report three distinct physical conditions for which we explain spectral and angular features that might result in strong field enhancement. The gain-assisted metamaterial implementation has the potential of triggering and enhancing low-threshold nonlinear phenomena thanks to the large local fields found at specific frequency and angular bands.