Dynamically controllable, homogeneous, anisotropic metamaterials with simultaneous attenuation and amplification

TL;DR

This paper presents a method to create homogeneous anisotropic metamaterials that can simultaneously attenuate and amplify electromagnetic waves, with dynamic control enabled through active components and specific material configurations.

Contribution

It introduces a simple realization of anisotropic metamaterials with combined attenuation and amplification using a mixture of dielectric materials and dynamic control of active components.

Findings

Metamaterials can be designed with simultaneous attenuation and amplification.

Homogenization formalism allows for simple realization using spheroidal particles.

Dynamic control achieved via stimulated Raman scattering.

Abstract

Anisotropic homogeneous metamaterials that are neither wholly dissipative nor wholly active at a specific frequency are permitted by classical electromagnetic theory. Well-established homogenization formalisms indicate that such a metamaterial may be realized quite simply as a random mixture of electrically small (possibly nanoscale) spheroidal particles of at least two different isotropic dielectric materials, one of which must be dissipative but the other active. The dielectric properties of this metamaterial are influenced by the volume fraction, spatial distribution, particle shape and size, and the relative permittivities of the component materials. Similar metamaterials with more complicated linear as well as nonlinear constitutive properties are possible. Dynamic control of the active component material, for example via stimulated Raman scattering, affords dynamic control of the metamaterial.