We study the topological edge plasmon modes between two diatomic chains of identical plasmonic nanoparticles. Zak phase for longitudinal plasmon modes in each chain is calculated analytically by solutions of macroscopic Maxwells equations for particl
es in quasi-static dipole approximation. This approximation provides a direct analogy with the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model such that the eigenvalue is mapped to the frequency dependent inverse-polarizability of the nanoparticles. The edge state frequency is found to be the same as the single-particle resonance frequency, which is insensitive to the separation distances within a unit cell. Finally, full electrodynamic simulations with realistic parameters suggest that the edge plasmon mode can be realized through near-field optical spectroscopy.
We study the group velocity of light in layer-by-layer chiral photonic crystals composed of dielectrics and metals. Through studying the band structures with an extended-zone scheme that is given by a Fourier analysis, we show the existence of negati
ve group velocity in the proposed chiral structures. The physical mechanism is interpreted with the help of a simplified model that has an analytical solution. The iso-frequency contours of the photonic band structure suggest that the negative group velocity can lead to either positive or negative refraction, depending on the orientation of the medium interface. We propose a feasible realization of such kind of photonic crystals. Computational results on the proposed realization are consistent with that of the simplified models.
We report a first principles analysis of electronic transport characteristics for (n,n) carbon nanotube bundles. When n is not a multiple of 3, inter-tube coupling causes universal conductance suppression near Fermi level regardless of the rotational
arrangement of individual tubes. However, when n is a multiple of 3, the bundles exhibit a diversified conductance dependence on the orientation details of the constituent tubes. The total energy of the bundle is also sensitive to the orientation arrangement only when n is a multiple of 3. All the transport properties and band structures can be well understood from the symmetry consideration of whether the rotational symmetry of the individual tubes is commensurate with that of the bundle.
We show that the optical properties of an oblique layered system with two kinds of isotropic materials can be described using the concept of transformation media as long as the thickness of the layers is much smaller than the wavelength. Once the con
nection with transformation media is established, we then show that oblique layered system can serve as a universal element to build a variety of interesting functional optical components such as wave splitters, wave combiners, one-dimensional cloaking devices and reflectionless field rotators.
We obtained the energy transport velocity distribution for a three dimensional ideal cloak explicitly. Near the operation frequency, the energy transport velocity has rather peculiar distribution. The velocity along a line joining the origin of the c
loak is a constant, while the velocity approaches zero at the inner boundary of the cloak. A ray pointing right into the origin of the cloak will experience abrupt changes of velocities when it impinges on the inner surface of the cloak. This peculiar distribution causes infinite time delays for the ideal cloak within a geometric optics description.
Using the idea of transformation medium, a cloak can be designed to make a domain invisible for one target frequency. In this article, we examine the possibility to extend the bandwidth of such a cloak. We obtained a constraint of the band width, whi
ch is summarized as a simple inequality that states that limits the bandwidth of operation. The constraint originates from causality requirements. We suggest a simple strategy that can get around the constraint.
