Negative refraction without absorption: coherence effects, gain and local field corrections

POSTER

Abstract

Negative refraction of electromagnetic radiation is currently one of the most active areas of photonics research. Despite remarkable recent progress, a key challenge remains the realization of negative refraction \textit{without absorption}. We discuss different ways to alleviate this problem: the coupling of an electric and a magnetic resonance together with quantum interference effects similar to EIT; compensation of absorption by introducing gain media. Futhermore surprisingly Clausius-Mossotti local field corrections for magneto-dielectric media in the high density limit result always in negative refraction with vanishing absorption.

Authors

  • J\"urgen K\"astel

    • TU Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany

  • Michael Fleischhauer

    • TU Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany

  • Gediminas Juzeliunas

    • ITPA of Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania

  • Susanne F. Yelin

    • University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA; ITAMP, Cambridge, MA, USA

  • Ronald L. Walsworth

    • Harvard University and ITAMP, Cambridge, MA, USA