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arXiv:1203.6298 · Physical Review Letters

Theory of Pump-Probe Experiments of Metallic Metamaterials Coupled to a Gain Medium

Zhixiang Huang, Thomas Koschny, C. M. Soukoulis

Published May 4, 2012• 54 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We establish a new approach for pump-probe simulations of metallic metamaterials coupled to the gain materials. It is of vital importance to understand the mechanism of the coupling of metamaterials with the gain medium. Using a four-level gain system, we have studied light amplification of arrays of metallic split-ring resonators with a gain layer underneath. We find that the differential transmittance ΔT/T can be negative for split-ring resonators on the top of the gain substrate, which is not expected, and ΔT/T is positive for the gain substrate alone. These simulations agree with pump-probe experiments and can help to design new experiments to compensate for the losses of metamaterials.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.108.187402

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We establish a new approach for pump-probe simulations of metallic metamaterials coupled to the gain materials. It is of vital importance to understand the mechanism of the coupling of metamaterials with the gain medium. Using a four-level gain system, we have studied light amplification of arrays of metallic split-ring resonators with a gain layer underneath. We find that the differential transmittance ΔT/T can be negative for split-ring resonators on the top of the gain substrate, which is not expected, and ΔT/T is positive for the gain substrate alone. These simulations agree with pump-probe experiments and can help to design new experiments to compensate for the losses of metamaterials.
We present evidence of strong coupling between the gain material and the metallic metamaterials. It is of vital importance to understand the mechanism of the coupling of metamaterials with the gain medium. Using a four-level gain system, the numerical pump-probe experiments are performed in several configurations (split-ring resonators (SRRs), inverse SRRs and fishnets) of metamaterials, demonstrating reduction of the resonator damping in all cases and hence the possibility for loss compensation. We find that the differential transmittance ΔT/T can be negative in different SRR configurations, such as SRRs on the top of the gain substrate, gain in the SRR gap and gain covering the SRR structure, while in the fishnet metamaterial with gain ΔT/T is positive.
We numerically investigate loss compensation and transmission in pump-probe experiments in resonant metamaterials with gain using an FDTD algorithm coupled to semiclassical rate equations. We observe differential transmittance signals from the coupled system that are a factor of four to five larger than for the bare quantum well. We observe a more rapid temporal decay of the differential transmittance signal for the coupled system compared to the bare quantum well. The effective metamaterial gain beyond the bare quantum-well gain, leading to a significant reduction of the metamaterial’s losses, but no complete compensation of the losses. We explain experimentally observed negative differential transmission by gain-dependent impedance. Article not available.
With the present interest in metamaterial, gain medium shows promise for complex system due to their amplification effect and wide potential application area. In this paper we present a model that simulates lasing in gain medium by using a model of four-energy level atomic system based on the finite-difference time-domain method.Meanwhile we propose a new pump mechanism, i.e., Gaussian Pump. It is found that results of the spectra, lasing threshold and population dynamics of the new pump mechanism are in good agreement with theoretical results. The results can also provide reference for caculating more complex metamaterial system.
Nanoplasmonic metamaterials are an exciting new class of engineered media that promise a range of important applications, such as subwavelength focusing, cloaking, and slowing/stopping of light. At optical frequencies, using gain to overcome potentially not insignificant losses has recently emerged as a viable solution to ultra-low-loss operation that may lead to next-generation active metamaterials. Maxwell-Bloch models for active nanoplasmonic metamaterials are able to describe the coherent spatiotemporal and nonlinear gain-plasmon dynamics. Here, we extend the Maxwell-Bloch theory to a Maxwell-Bloch Langevin approach-a spatially resolved model that describes the light field and noise dynamics in gain-enhanced nanoplasmonic structures. Using the example of an optically pumped nanofishnet metamaterial with an embedded laser dye (four-level) medium exhibiting a negative refractive index, we demonstrate the transition from loss-compensation to amplification and to nanolasing. We observe ultrafast relaxation oscillations of the bright negative-index mode with frequencies just below the THz regime. The influence of noise on mode competition and the onset and magnitude of the relaxation oscillations is elucidated, and the dynamics and spectra of the emitted light indicate that coherent amplification and lasing are maintained even in the presence of noise and amplified spontaneous emission.
A three-dimensionally isotropic negative permeability of a neutral alkali-metal atomic medium, in which a fine-structure magnetic dipole-allowed transition in terahertz band is pumped for population transfer (and hence incoherent gain for negative permeability can be realized), is suggested based on quantum optical approach. The effects relevant to photonic resonance and quantum coherence are involved in the present quantum optical scheme of pumped magnetic-dipole allowed transition. The incoherent-gain assisted atomic medium (with fine-structure transition involved) may have some attractive features, e.g., three-dimensionally isotropic and homogeneous negative permeability for high-gain wave amplification at terahertz frequencies. Such a gain-assisted negative-permeability medium can be a candidate of magnetically resonant materials for artificial composite metamaterials, e.g., it may serve as a substrate of lossy negative-index materials for loss compensation or as a supporting medium for high-gain amplification of a TE-mode surface plasmon-like wave.
We demonstrate a new class of "coherent" metamaterials, where narrow band EIT-like transmission/reflection resonances correspond to a truly collective response of the entire ordered metamaterial array. The resonances appear as a result of coherent excitations of strongly interacting ordered meta-molecules and are controlled by the size of the array. Coherent maetamaterials provide a promising platform for various intriguing applications including slow-light and polarization controlling devices and the "lasing spaser", which we illustrate in a number of microwave, THz and optical experiments. Also, for the first time we experimentally show that resonant properties and losses in a photonic version of the metamaterial can be controlled through optical gain medium. (from session titled: Metamaterials - from modelling and fabrication to application).