Work

Zitterbewegung of optical pulses near the Dirac point inside a negative-zero-positive index metamaterial

Year: 2009

Type: article

Abstract: By numerically solving Maxwell's equation with boundary conditions, we have demonstrated the optical Zitterbewegung effect by means of electromagnetic pulses propagating through a negative-zero-positive index metamaterial (NZPIM). We find that a finite pulse with frequencies near the Dirac point of the NZPIM diffuses and oscillates, and its output pulse from the finite NZPIM slab becomes an oscillating pulse with a characteristic frequency independent of the slab thickness. We further find that the oscillating properties of the optical Zitterbewegung effect are strongly dependent on the pulse parameters: such as pulse duration and pulse transverse spatial width. The physical nature of such oscillation effects is due to the interference between the upper and lower high-transmittance passbands at both sides of the Dirac point of the NZPIM slab, which is similar to the Zitterbewegung of electron wave packets.

Source: Europhysics Letters (EPL)

DOI: 10.1209/0295-5075/86/47008

Authors: Li-Gang Wang, Zhi-Guo Wang, Shi-Yao Zhu

Institutions: Chinese University of Hong Kong, Zhejiang University, Tongji University, Hong Kong Baptist University

Language: English

Topic: Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications

Subfield: Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials

Field: Materials Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: Hong Kong Baptist University, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese University of Hong Kong

Awards: 反常色散材料和光子晶体中超快现象的研究, G4347746269