Fundamental Limits for Light Absorption and Scattering Induced by Cooperative Electromagnetic Coupling

TL;DR

This paper derives fundamental theoretical limits on light absorption and scattering by interacting optical resonators, providing guidelines for designing optimal metamaterials based on geometric and electromagnetic principles.

Contribution

It presents the first analytical derivation of upper bounds for absorption and scattering powers in coupled optical resonator systems, linking these limits to geometric configurations.

Findings

Derived explicit upper bounds for absorption and scattering powers.

Identified conditions to achieve these theoretical limits.

Provided a framework for designing optimal metamaterials.

Abstract

Absorption and scattering of electromagnetic waves by dielectric media are of fundamental importance in many branches of physics. In this Letter we analytically derived the ultimate upper limits for the absorbed and scattered powers by any system of optical resonators in mutual interaction. We show that these bounds depend only on the geometric configuration given an incident field. We give the conditions to fullfill to reach these limits paving so a way for a rational design of optimal metamaterials.