We propose to use transformation optics to generate a general illusion such that an arbitrary object appears to be like some other object of our choice. This is achieved by using a remote device that can transform the scattered light outside a virtual boundary into that of the object chosen for the illusion, irrespective of the profile and direction of the incident light. This type of illusion device also enables people to see through walls. Our work extends the concept of cloaking as a special form of illusion to the wider realm of illusion optics.

Recently, it was demonstrated that active sources can be used to cloak any objects that lie outside the cloaking devices [F. Guevara Vasquez, G. W. Milton, and D. Onofrei, Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 073901 (2009)]. Here, we propose that active sources can create illusion effects so that an object outside the cloaking device can be made to look like another object. Invisibility is a special case in which the concealed object is transformed to a volume of air. From a boundary element perspective, we show that active sources can create a nearly “silent” domain which can conceal any objects inside and at the same time make the whole system look like an illusion of our choice outside a virtual boundary. The boundary element method gives the fields and field gradients, which can be related to monopoles and dipoles, on continuous curves which define the boundary of the active devices. Both the cloaking and illusion effects are confirmed by numerical simulations.

Previous studies on the propagation direction of valley topological edge states mainly focus on the matching between orbital angular momentum of the excitation source and specific pseudo-spin state of valley edge mode at certain frequency that falls in the bandgap of the topologically distinct bulk components. In this work, we propose topological photonic crystals (PCs) hosting two topological protected bandgaps. It is shown that by constructing the interface between different PC structures with distinct topological phase, edge states can be engineered inside these two bandgaps, which provides a convenient way to achieve flexible wave routing. Particularly, we study three types of meta-structures consisting of these PCs in which the valley edge states routing path highly depends on the operating frequency and inputting port of the excitation source. Our study provides an alternative way in designing topological devices such as wave splitters and frequency division devices.

The optical responses of structured array of noble-metal nanoparticle dimers immersed in a glass matrix are investigated theoretically, motivated by the recent experimental observation of the splitting of the surface plasmon bands in silver arrays. To capture the strong electromagnetic coupling between the two approaching particles in a silver dimer, the spectral representation of the multiple image formula has been used, and a semiclassical description of the silver dielectric function is adopted from the literature. The splitting of plasmon resonance band of the incident longitudinal and transverse polarized light is found to be strongly dependent on the particle diameter and their separation. Our results are shown to be in accord with the recent experimental observation. Moreover, a large redshift for the longitudinal polarization can be reproduced. The reflectivity spectrum is further calculated for a dilute suspension of dimer arrays.

The boundary element method is applied to investigate the optical forces when whispering gallery modes (WGMs) are excited by a total internally reflected wave. Such evanescent wave is particularly effective in exciting the high-$Q$ WGM, while the low angular or high radial order modes are suppressed relatively. This results in a large contrast between the forces on and off resonance, and thus allows for high size selectivity. We fully incorporate the prism-particle interaction and found that the optical force behaves differently at different separations. Optimal separation is found, which corresponds to a compromise between intensity and $Q$ factor.

We have identified a different type of transition from extended to localized vibrational states in one-dimensional graded elastic chains of coupled harmonic oscillators, in which the vibrating masses or nearest-coupling force constants vary linearly along the chain. We found that the delocalization transition occurs at the maximum frequency of the corresponding homogeneous chain, which is in a continuous single band. Although each state in the localized phase, called gradon, can be regarded as an impurity localized mode, the localization profile is clearly distinct from usual impurity modes or the Anderson localized modes. We also argue how gradons may affect the macroscopic properties of graded systems. Our results can provide insights into many analogous systems with graded characters.