Space-Time Metamaterials

TL;DR

This paper introduces a space-time approach that mitigates material loss in metamaterials and plasmonics by matching pulse profiles to the medium's response, leveraging causality and Kramers-Kronig relations.

Contribution

The work presents a novel method to counteract absorption in plasmonic systems by utilizing the time domain, expanding the potential for practical metamaterial applications.

Findings

Effective loss compensation demonstrated across various metamaterial systems

Pulse shaping can offset inherent material absorption

Applicable to hyperbolic media, metal optics, and new plasmonic materials

Abstract

Despite more than a decade of active research, the fundamental problem of material loss remains a major obstacle in fulfilling the promise of the recently emerged fields of metamaterials and plasmonics to bring in revolutionary practical applications. In the present work, we demonstrate that the problem of strong material absorption that is inherent to plasmonic systems and metamaterials based on plasmonic components, can be addressed by utilizing the time dimension. By matching the pulse profile to the actual response of a lossy metamaterial, this approach allows to offset the effect of the material absorption. The existence of the corresponding solution relies on the fundamental property of causality, that relates the absorption in the medium to the variations in the frequency-dependent time delay introduced by the material, via the Kramers-Kronig relations. We demonstrate that the proposed space-time approach can be applied to a broad range of metamaterial-based and plasmonic systems, from hyperbolic media to metal optics and new plasmonic materials.