Theory of pump-probe experiments of metallic metamaterials coupled to a gain medium

We establish a new approach for pump-probe simulations of metallic metamaterials coupled to the gain materials. It is of vital importance to understand the mechanism of the coupling of metamaterials with the gain medium. Using a four-level gain system, we have studied light amplification of arrays o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysical review letters Vol. 108; no. 18; p. 187402
Main Authors Huang, Zhixiang, Koschny, Th, Soukoulis, C M
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 04.05.2012
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Summary:We establish a new approach for pump-probe simulations of metallic metamaterials coupled to the gain materials. It is of vital importance to understand the mechanism of the coupling of metamaterials with the gain medium. Using a four-level gain system, we have studied light amplification of arrays of metallic split-ring resonators with a gain layer underneath. We find that the differential transmittance ΔT/T can be negative for split-ring resonators on the top of the gain substrate, which is not expected, and ΔT/T is positive for the gain substrate alone. These simulations agree with pump-probe experiments and can help to design new experiments to compensate for the losses of metamaterials.
ISSN:1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/physrevlett.108.187402