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AssigneeThe State of Oregon Acting By and through the State Board at Higher Education
InventorsViktor A. Podolskiy, Alexander A. Govyadinov
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The present invention provides an apparatus for propagating electromagnetic radiation of a selected vacuum wavelength beyond the diffraction limit. The apparatus comprises a waveguide core and a cladding disposed about the core. The waveguide core may include a material with an anisotropic dielectric permittivity, with the optical axis of the material primarily aligned with direction of light propagation. In addition, the waveguide core may have a cross-sectional dimension smaller than about ½ of the selected wavelength at least at one portion of the waveguide core. The cross-sectional dimension of the waveguide core may decrease along the length of the waveguide core creating a taper to provide a photonic funnel. The waveguide core may comprise a homogeneous anisotropic material, anisotropic metamaterial, or a photonic crystal.
An apparatus for propagating electromagnetic radiation of a selected vacuum wavelength, comprising a waveguide core and a cladding disposed about the core, the waveguide core including a material with an anisotropic dielectric permittivity, with the optical axis of the material primarily aligned with the direction of light propagation, and with the core having a cross-sectional dimension smaller than about ½ of the selected wavelength at least at one portion of the waveguide core, wherein the waveguide core comprises a plurality of material layers oriented perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the waveguide core, the layers having a thickness along the direction of the longitudinal axis smaller than the selected vacuum wavelength divided by the absolute value of the effective refractive index.
A photonic funnel for compressing electromagnetic radiation of a selected wavelength, comprising a waveguide core that includes a plurality of material layers oriented perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the photonic funnel, the material layers selected to provide an anisotropic dielectric permittivity with optical axis directed along the longitudinal axis, and the waveguide core having a cross-sectional dimension that decreases along the length of the longitudinal axis to provide a taper, and the layers having a thickness along the direction of the longitudinal axis smaller than the selected vacuum wavelength divided by the absolute value of the effective refractive index, and wherein at least one portion of the taper has a minimum cross-sectional dimension of less than about ½ the selected vacuum wavelength.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.