New horizons in near-zero refractive index photonics and hyperbolic metamaterials

TL;DR

This paper reviews the latest developments and challenges in near-zero refractive index photonics and hyperbolic metamaterials, highlighting their potential to revolutionize light control and various optical applications.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of recent advances and identifies key challenges in the emerging field of near-zero index and hyperbolic metamaterials.

Findings

Enhanced control of light-matter interactions

Potential for novel thermal and light emission applications

Advancements in nonlinear optics and sensing

Abstract

The engineering of the spatial and temporal properties of both the electric permittivity and the refractive index of materials is at the core of photonics. When vanishing to zero, those two variables provide new knobs to control light-matter interactions. This perspective aims at providing an overview of the state of the art and the challenges in emerging research areas where the use of near-zero refractive index and hyperbolic metamaterials is pivotal, in particular light and thermal emission, nonlinear optics, sensing applications and time-varying photonics.