Breakthroughs in Photonics 2013: Flat Optics: Wavefronts Control With Huygens´ Interfaces

Author

Genevet, P. ; Capasso, Federico

Author_Institution

Sch. of Eng. & Appl. Sci., Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA, USA

Volume

6

Issue

2

fYear

2014

fDate

Apr-14

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

Recent progress in the fields of nanophotonics and metamaterials has enabled the development of ultrathin and flat optical components, providing physicists and optical engineers a new method to control light. According to the Huygens-Fresnel principle, light gradually propagates step by step by exciting secondary waves that then reradiate to form the next wavefront; the phase and amplitude of these secondary waves are intimately related to the incoming optical wavefront. By using the response of nanoengineered subwavelength optical resonators at interfaces, it is now possible to engineer Huygens´ interfaces to achieve an unprecedented control of the wavefront over large bandwidths and subwavelength propagation distances.

Keywords

light propagation; nanophotonics; optical metamaterials; optical resonators; Huygens-Fresnel principle; flat optical components; flat optics; metamaterials; nanophotonics; optical wavefront; secondary waves; subwavelength optical resonators; ultrathin optical components; wavefront control; Optical reflection; Optical refraction; Optical resonators; Optical sensors; Photonics; Plasmons; Huygens–Fresnel principle; nanophotonics; surface plasmon polaritons; wavefront engineering;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Journal, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1943-0655

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JPHOT.2014.2308194

Filename

6748002