Manipulating the properties of the isofrequency contours (IFCs) of materials provides a powerful means of controlling the interaction between light and matter. Hyperbolic metamaterials (HMMs), an important class of artificial anisotropic materials with hyperbolic IFCs, have been intensively investigated. Because of their open dispersion curves, HMMs support propagating high-k modes and possess an enhanced photonic density of states. As a result, HMMs can be utilized to realize hyperlenses breaking the diffraction limit, metacavity lasers with subwavelength scale, high-sensitivity sensors, long-range energy transfer, and so on. Aimed at those who are about to enter this burgeoning and rapidly developing research field, this tutorial article not only introduces the basic physical properties of HMMs but also discusses dispersion manipulation in HMMs and HMM-based structures such as hypercrystals. Both theoretical methods and experimental platforms are detailed. Finally, some potential applications associated with hyperbolic dispersion are introduced.

New structures with richer electromagnetic properties are in high demand for developing novel microwave and optic devices aimed at realizing fast light-based information transfer and information processing. Here we show theoretically that a topological photonic state exists in a hexagonal LC circuit with short-range textures in the inductance, which is induced by a band inversion between p- and d-like electromagnetic modes carrying orbital angular momentum, and realize this state experimentally in planar microstrip arrays. Measuring both amplitude and phase of the out-of-plane electric field accurately using microwave near-field techniques, we demonstrate directly that topological interfacial electromagnetic waves launched by a linearly polarized dipole source propagate in opposite directions according to the sign of the orbital angular momentum. The open planar structure adopted in the present approach leaves much room for including other elements useful for advanced information processing, such as electric/mechanical resonators, superconducting Josephson junctions and SQUIDs.

Near-field coupling is a fundamental physical effect, which plays an important role in the establishment of classical analog of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). However, in a normal environment the coupling length between the bright and dark artificial atoms is very short and far less than one wavelength, owing to the exponentially decaying property of near fields. In this work, we report the realization of a long range EIT, by using a hyperbolic metamaterial (HMM) which can convert the near fields into high-$k$ propagating waves to overcome the problem of weak coupling at long distance. Both simulation and experiment show that the coupling length can be enhanced by nearly two orders of magnitude with the aid of a HMM. This long range EIT might be very useful in a variety of applications including sensors, detectors, switch, long-range energy transfer, etc.

Optical resonators with high quality (Q) factors are paramount for the enhancement of light–matter interactions in engineered photonic structures, but their performance always suffers from the scattering loss caused by fabrication imperfections. Merging bound states in the continuum (BICs) provide us with a nontrivial physical mechanism to overcome this challenge, as they can significantly improve the Q factors of quasi-BICs. However, most of the reported merging BICs are found at Γ point (the center of the Brillouin zone), which intensively limits many potential applications based on angular selectivity. To date, studies on manipulating merging BICs at off-Γ point are always accompanied by the breaking of structural symmetry that inevitably increases process difficulty and structural defects to a certain extent. Here, we propose a scheme to construct merging BICs at almost an arbitrary point in momentum space without breaking symmetry. Enabled by the topological features of BICs, we merge four accidental BICs with one symmetry-protected BIC at the Γ point and merge two accidental BICs with opposite topological charges at the off-Γ point only by changing the periodic constant of a photonic crystal slab. Furthermore, the position of off-Γ merging BICs can be flexibly tuned by the periodic constant and height of the structure simultaneously. Interestingly, it is observed that the movement of BICs occurs in a quasi-flatband with ultra-narrow bandwidth. Therefore, merging BICs in a tiny band provide a mechanism to realize more robust ultrahigh-Q resonances that further improve the optical performance, which is limited by wide-angle illuminations. Finally, as an example of application, effective angle-insensitive second-harmonic generation assisted by different quasi-BICs is numerically demonstrated. Our findings demonstrate momentum-steerable merging BICs in a quasi-flatband, which may expand the application of BICs to the enhancement of frequency-sensitive light–matter interaction with angular selectivity.

Photonic topological edge states in one-dimensional dimer chains have long been thought to be robust to structural perturbations by mapping the topological Su–Schrieffer–Heeger model of a solid-state system. However, the edge states at the two ends of a finite topological dimer chain will interact as a result of near-field coupling. This leads to deviation from topological protection by the chiral symmetry from the exact zero energy, weakening the robustness of the topological edge state. With the aid of non-Hermitian physics, the splitting frequencies of edge states can be degenerated again, with topological protection recovered by altering the gain or loss strength of the structure. This point of coalescence is known as the exceptional point (EP). The intriguing physical properties of EPs in topological structures give rise to many fascinating and counterintuitive phenomena. In this work, based on a finite non-Hermitian dimer chain composed of ultra-subwavelength resonators, we propose theoretically and verify experimentally that the sensitivity of topological edge states is greatly affected when the system passes through the EP. Using the EP of a non-Hermitian dimer chain, we realize a new sensor that is sensitive to perturbation of on-site frequency at the end of the structure and yet topologically protected from internal perturbation of site-to-site couplings. Our demonstration of a non-Hermitian topological structure with an EP paves the way for the development of novel sensors that are not sensitive to internal manufacturing errors but are highly sensitive to changes in the external environment.

Photonic gaps are the core of photonic crystals in the manipulation of light. However, in conventional photonic crystals composed of two types of dielectrics, the photonic gaps strongly depend on the angle of incidence, which limits their applications. In this Letter, we present the experimental demonstration of angle-independent gaps in the visible wavelength range in one-dimensional photonic crystals composed of layered hyperbolic metamaterials (HMMs) and dielectrics. HMMs with anomalous wave-vector dispersion can tune the propagating phase of light to an unprecedented extent that usual dielectrics cannot attain. The HMM is mimicked by the layered titanium dioxide and silver with a subwavelength unit cell. Based on the phase-variation compensation effect between the HMM and the dielectric, an angle-independent gap is experimentally realized, which agrees well with the simulated one. This angle-independent gap is very useful in the design of photonic devices such as omnidirectional reflectors with fixed bandwidth or all-angle filters.