Broadband frequency translation through time refraction in an epsilon-near-zero material

Yiyu Zhou (), M. Zahirul Alam, Mohammad Karimi, Jeremy Upham, Orad Reshef, Cong Liu, Alan E. Willner and Robert W. Boyd
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Yiyu Zhou: University of Rochester
M. Zahirul Alam: University of Ottawa
Mohammad Karimi: University of Ottawa
Jeremy Upham: University of Ottawa
Orad Reshef: University of Ottawa
Cong Liu: University of Southern California
Alan E. Willner: University of Southern California
Robert W. Boyd: University of Rochester

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Space-time duality in paraxial optical wave propagation implies the existence of intriguing effects when light interacts with a material exhibiting two refractive indexes separated by a boundary in time. The direct consequence of such time-refraction effect is a change in the frequency of light while leaving the wavevector unchanged. Here, we experimentally show that the effect of time refraction is significantly enhanced in an epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) medium as a consequence of the optically induced unity-order refractive index change in a sub-picosecond time scale. Specifically, we demonstrate broadband and controllable shift (up to 14.9 THz) in the frequency of a light beam using a time-varying subwavelength-thick indium tin oxide (ITO) film in its ENZ spectral range. Our findings hint at the possibility of designing (3 + 1)D metamaterials by incorporating time-varying bulk ENZ materials, and they present a unique playground to investigate various novel effects in the time domain.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15682-2

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