Composite Doped
Metamaterials (CDMs)
INIT Project 2004-2007 of the
ETH Zurich
Participating Groups
- Laboratory for Electromagnetic Fields and Microwave Electronics (IFH)
at the ETH, Prof. Dr. R.
Vahldieck
- Electronics Laboratory (IfE) at the
ETH, Prof. Dr. H.
Jäckel
- Laboratory of Physical Chemistry (LPC),
Nano-Optics Group (NOG), Prof.
Dr. V. Sandoghdar
- Laboratory of Metal Physics and Technology (LMPT),
Prof. Dr. J.
Loeffler
- EMPA, Electronics/Metrology, Dr.
U. Sennhauser
- Computational Optics Group (COG)
IFH, Prof. Dr. Ch.
Hafner
- Communication Photonics Group (CPG)
IFH /
IfE, Dr. D.
Erni,
Dr. F.
Robin
List of involved people
Our goals
Build a bridge from fundamental research on metamaterials to engineering
applications
- Develop new methods for the design of devices built with composite, doped
metamaterials based on numerical simulations and optimizations
- Develop ultra-compact devices based on composite, doped metamaterials for
photonics and in the Terahertz regime
- Fabrication and characterization of prototypes
- Modification and tuning of prototypes
Our expertise
- Development of accurate and efficient numerical Maxwell solvers
- Development of sophisticated and deterministic numerical optimizers
- Simulation and optimization of promising photonic crystal and metamaterial structures
- Fabrication of nano structures
- Characterization of nano structures
- Modification of nano structures
Our recent achievements
-
Perfect
photonic crystal (PC) analysis (band structure calculations),
MMP
eigenvalue solver,
-
PCs waveguide
analysis,
PCs
waveguide discontinuities analysis,
- Design and
optimization of the PCs sharp (90 deg.) bend (broad frequency range PCs
bend, i.e. achromatic PCs bend),
-
Design and
optimization of the PCs multiplexer (probably the smallest one ever
published-echo1,
echo2,
echo3),
-
PCs antenna,
i.e. free space termination at optical frequencies,
-
PCs optical fiber
analysis.
-
Microstructuring of bulk metallic glass
Our visions
- Densification increases interactions. Ultra-dense structures therefore
become highly complex and cannot be designed with well-known rules.
- Numerical optimization based on accurate simulation is the way to design
ultra-dense structures.
- Optimization leads to highly sensitive parts of the structures. This poses
very hard problems of fabrication tolerances.
- High fabrication accuracy requires new technologies based on tuning and
trimming of the critical areas guided by measurements and simulations.
- Generalization and combination of existing concepts leads to higher degree
of freedom and this opens the door to devices with more attractive
functionality. CDMs include concepts of photonic crystals, metamaterials
(including negative index materials), artificial media (including artificial
chiral media), diffractive optics, and frequency selective surfaces.
- In order to take advantage of more freedom, more experience is required.
Experience can be efficiently obtained from accurate and reliable numerical
simulations and optimizations.
Photonic Crystals - a simple type of CDMs
The behavior of photonic crystal structures is often counter-intuitive.
Design rules and guidelines are currently missing. To test your intuition and
ability to find design rules, we prepared a Java applet of a simple photonic
crystal structure.
Try
our Java applet! Therefore, our favorite way to design photonic
crystals structures consists of several steps: 1) First idea, based on
experience and intuition. 2) Numerical analysis of the first concept, including
sensitivity analysis. 3) Rough optimization of defects in the initial photonic
crystal. 4) Fine optimization based on the sensitivity analysis of the best
solutions found in step 3.
In order to give you a better impression how photonic crystals work, we have
prepared some movies for you.
Watch our movies!