Propagation of polarized photons through a cavity with an anisotropic metamaterial

Abstract

We present a theoretical study of the propagation properties of polarized photons passing through the cavity with an anisotropic metamaterial. We find that the resonant peaks of transmission appear for photons polarized in a certain direction corresponding to a negative element of the permittivity tensor. This indicates the potential for applying such cavity structures as filters for photons with certain polarizations. The resonant peak of transmission for photons having a given frequency can be achieved by adjusting the thicknesses of the air and metamaterial. If the frequency of the incident photons and the thickness of the metamaterial are fixed, the cavity structure can be used as a photon switch controlled by the thickness of the air. The effect of the absorption is considered, and the result shows that the transmission peak always appears, even for metamaterials with large absorption. Finally, the polarization manipulation of such structures is explored.

Keywords

anisotropic metamaterial / polarized photon / cavity structure

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2016 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg