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Predicting nonlinear properties of metamaterials from the linear response

Nature Materials volume 14, pages 379–383 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

The discovery of optical second harmonic generation in 1961 started modern nonlinear optics1,2,3. Soon after, R. C. Miller found empirically that the nonlinear susceptibility could be predicted from the linear susceptibilities. This important relation, known as Miller’s Rule4,5, allows a rapid determination of nonlinear susceptibilities from linear properties. In recent years, metamaterials, artificial materials that exhibit intriguing linear optical properties not found in natural materials6, have shown novel nonlinear properties such as phase-mismatch-free nonlinear generation7, new quasi-phase matching capabilities8,9 and large nonlinear susceptibilities8,9,10. However, the understanding of nonlinear metamaterials is still in its infancy, with no general conclusion on the relationship between linear and nonlinear properties. The key question is then whether one can determine the nonlinear behaviour of these artificial materials from their exotic linear behaviour. Here, we show that the nonlinear oscillator model does not apply in general to nonlinear metamaterials. We show, instead, that it is possible to predict the relative nonlinear susceptibility of large classes of metamaterials using a more comprehensive nonlinear scattering theory, which allows efficient design of metamaterials with strong nonlinearity for important applications such as coherent Raman sensing, entangled photon generation and frequency conversion.

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Figure 1: Schematic of the metamaterial array.
Figure 2: Nonlinear scattering theory versus nonlinear oscillator model (Miller’s rule).
Figure 3: Nonlinear scattering theory.
Figure 4: Wavelength dependence of the optimal nanostructure for second harmonic generation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division under contract no. DE-AC02-05CH11231. J.R. acknowledges a fellowship from the Samsung Scholarship Foundation, Republic of Korea.

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Author notes

  1. Kevin O’Brien and Haim Suchowski: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC), University of California, Berkeley 3112 Etcheverry Hall, UC Berkeley, California 94720, USA

    Kevin O’Brien, Haim Suchowski, Junsuk Rho, Alessandro Salandrino, Boubacar Kante, Xiaobo Yin & Xiang Zhang

  2. Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, California 94720, USA

    Haim Suchowski, Junsuk Rho, Xiaobo Yin & Xiang Zhang

  3. Kavli Energy NanoSciences Institute at the University of California Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA

    Xiang Zhang

Authors
  1. Kevin O’Brien
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Contributions

K.O. and H.S. conducted the experiments. K.O. performed the theoretical calculations. J.R. fabricated the samples. K.O., H.S., X.Y. and X.Z. prepared the manuscript. X.Z. guided the research. All authors contributed to discussions.

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Correspondence to Xiang Zhang.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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O’Brien, K., Suchowski, H., Rho, J. et al. Predicting nonlinear properties of metamaterials from the linear response. Nature Mater 14, 379–383 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4214

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