Nano-Engineering of Active Metamaterials

Nonlinear optical and gain materials are incorporated into both metallic/semiconductor and dielectric (e.g., organic) metamaterial architectures for active control of light. Potential applications include imaging, sensing, and information management (e.g., telecommunications). New material structures are based on nonlinear optical and gain materials integrated with silicon photonic and plasmonic materials, which are capable of generating substantial local field enhancement and upon one-, two-, and three dimensional metamaterials. Nonlinear optical and gain materials integrated metamaterial architectures include laser dyes and amplifier materials and both second and third order nonlinear optical materials. Both organic and inorganic active materials are explored to achieve desired wavelength control of phenomenon and realize the desired optical effects. Mechanisms for efficient coupling of light into and out of metamaterials (another recognized problem) are investigated.