Bruggeman homogenization of a particulate composite material comprising truncated spheres and spheroids.

Closed-form expressions were established for depolarization dyadics for a truncated sphere and a truncated spheroid, both electrically small, immersed in a uniaxial dielectric ambient medium. These depolarization dyadics were used to develop the Bruggeman homogenization formalism to predict the relative permittivity dyadic of a homogenized composite material (HCM) arising from a randomly distributed mixture of oriented particles shaped as truncated spheres and spheroids. Unlike other homogenization formalisms, most notably the Maxwell Garnett formalism, the Bruggeman formalism is not restricted to composites containing dilute volume fractions of constituent particles.

Thermal hysteresis in scattering by VO spheres.

Vanadium dioxide () transforms from purely monoclinic to purely tetragonal when heated from 58°C to 72°C, and the transformation is reversible but hysteretic. Electromagnetically, transforms from a dissipative dielectric to another dissipative dielectric if the free-space wavelength is <1100; it transforms from a dissipative dielectric to a plasmonic metal (or vice versa) if >1100. Calculating the extinction, total scattering, absorption, radiation pressure, backscattering and forward-scattering efficiencies of a sphere, we found clear signatures of thermal hysteresis in (i) the forward-scattering, backscattering, and absorption efficiencies for <1100, and (ii) the forward-scattering, backscattering, total scattering, and absorption efficiencies for >1100.

Multiple Rayleigh waves guided by the planar surface of a continuously twisted structurally chiral material.

The Stroh formalism was adapted for Rayleigh-wave propagation guided by the planar traction-free surface of a continuously twisted structurally chiral material (CTSCM), which is an anisotropic solid that is periodically non-homogeneous in the direction normal to the planar surface. Numerical studies reveal that this surface can support either one or two Rayleigh waves at a fixed frequency, depending on the structural period and orientation of the CTSCM. In the case of two Rayleigh waves, each wave possesses a different wavenumber.

Two Dyakonov-Voigt surface waves guided by a biaxial-isotropic dielectric interface.

Electromagnetic surface waves guided by the planar interface of an orthorhombic dielectric material and an isotropic dielectric material were analyzed theoretically and numerically. Both naturally occurring minerals (crocoite, tellurite, and cerussite) and engineered materials were considered as the orthorhombic partnering material. In addition to conventional Dyakonov surface waves, the analysis revealed that as many as two Dyakonov-Voigt surface waves can propagate in each quadrant of the interface plane, depending upon the birefringence of the orthorhombic partnering material.

Dyakonov-Voigt surface waves.

Electromagnetic surface waves guided by the planar interface of an isotropic dielectric medium and a uniaxial dielectric medium, both non-dissipative, were considered, the optic axis of the uniaxial medium lying in the interface plane. Whereas this interface is known to support the propagation of Dyakonov surface waves when certain constraints are satisfied by the constitutive parameters of the two partnering mediums, we identified a different set of constraints that allow the propagation of surface waves of a new type. The fields of the new surface waves, named Dyakonov-Voigt (DV) surface waves, decay as the product of a linear and an exponential function of the distance from the interface in the anisotropic medium, whereas the fields of the Dyakonov surface waves decay only exponentially in the anisotropic medium.

On the sensitivity of generic porous optical sensors.

A porous material was considered as a platform for optical sensing. It was envisaged that the porous material was infiltrated by a fluid that contains an agent to be sensed. Changes in the optical properties of the infiltrated porous material provide the basis for detection of the agent to be sensed.

Toward a cylindrical cloak via inverse homogenization.

An effective cylindrical cloak may be conceptualized as an assembly of adjacent local neighborhoods, each of which is made from a homogenized composite material (HCM). The HCM is required to be a certain uniaxial dielectric-magnetic material, characterized by positive-definite constitutive dyadics. It can arise from the homogenization of component materials that are remarkably simple in terms of their structure and constitutive relations.

When does the choice of the refractive index of a linear, homogeneous, isotropic, active, dielectric medium matter?

Two choices are possible for the refractive index of a linear, homogeneous, isotropic, active, dielectric material. Either of the choices is adequate for obtaining frequency-domain solutions for (i) scattering by slabs, spheres, and other objects of bounded extent; (ii) guided--wave propagation in homogeneously filled, cross-sectionally uniform, straight waveguide sections with perfectly conducting walls; and (iii) image formation due to flat lenses. The correct choice does matter for the half-space problem, but that problem is not realistic.

Theory of light emission from a dipole source embedded in a chiral sculptured thin film.

Developing a theory based on a spectral Green function for light emission from a point-dipole source embedded in a chiral sculptured thin film (CSTF), we found that the intensity and polarization of the emitted light are strongly influenced by the structural handedness of the CSTF as well as the placement and orientation of the source dipole. The emission patterns across both pupils of the dipole-containing CSTF can be explained in terms of the circular Bragg phenomenon exhibited by CSTFs when illuminated by normally as well as obliquely incident plane waves. The emission characteristics augur well for the future of CSTFs as optical biosensors as well as light emitters with controlled circular polarization and bandwidth.

Plane waves with negative phase velocity in Faraday chiral mediums.

The propagation of plane waves in a Faraday chiral medium is investigated. Conditions for the phase velocity to be directed opposite to the direction of power flow are derived for propagation in an arbitrary direction; simplified conditions which apply to propagation parallel to the distinguished axis are also established. These negative phase-velocity conditions are explored numerically using a representative Faraday chiral medium, arising from the homogenization of an isotropic chiral medium and a magnetically biased ferrite.