Observation of trapped light within the radiation continuum
Name
Johnson_Observation of trapped.pdf
Size
2.35 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
3f3da17a1e1b03d64c88163b04329d1e
Author(s)
Hsu, Chia Wei
Zhen, Bo
Lee, Jeongwon
Chua, Song Liang
Johnson, Steven G
Joannopoulos, John
Soljacic, Marin
Date Issued
July 2013
Journal
Nature
Publisher
Springer Nature
Citation
Hsu, Chia Wei, Bo Zhen, Jeongwon Lee, Song-Liang Chua, Steven G. Johnson, John D. Joannopoulos, and Marin Soljačić. "Observation of trapped light within the radiation continuum." Nature 499:7457 (11 July 2013); pp.188-191.
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
The ability to confine light is important both scientifically and technologically. Many light confinement methods exist, but they all achieve confinement with materials or systems that forbid outgoing waves. These systems can be implemented by metallic mirrors, by photonic band-gap materials, by highly disordered media (Anderson localization) and, for a subset of outgoing waves, by translational symmetry (total internal reflection) or by rotational or reflection symmetry. Exceptions to these examples exist only in theoretical proposals. Here we predict and show experimentally that light can be perfectly confined in a patterned dielectric slab, even though outgoing waves are allowed in the surrounding medium. Technically, this is an observation of an ‘embedded eigenvalue’—namely, a bound state in a continuum of radiation modes—that is not due to symmetry incompatibility. Such a bound state can exist stably in a general class of geometries in which all of its radiation amplitudes vanish simultaneously as a result of destructive interference. This method to trap electromagnetic waves is also applicable to electronic and mechanical waves.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mathematics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Research Laboratory of Electronics
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12289
