Open AccessOptical magnetic plasma in artificial flowers
Author(s) -
Jingjing Li,
Lars Thylén,
A. M. Bratkovsky,
Shih-Yuan Wang,
R. Stanley Williams
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.17.010800
Subject(s) - plasma , magnetic field , electric field , optics , excitation , materials science , plasmon , dielectric , optoelectronics , physics , quantum mechanics
We report the design of an artificial flower-like structure that supports a magnetic plasma in the optical domain. The structure is composed of alternating "petals" of conventional dielectrics (epsilon > 0) and plasmonic materials (Re(epsilon ) < 0). The induced effective magnetic current on such a structure possesses a phase lag with respect to the incident TE-mode magnetic field, similar to the phase lag between the induced electric current and the incident TM-mode electric field on a metal wire. An analogy is thus drawn with an artificial electric plasma composed of metal wires driven by a radio frequency excitation. The effective medium of an array of flowers has a negative permeability within a certain wavelength range, thus behaving as a magnetic plasma.