Breaking the fundamental scattering limit with gain metasurfaces

Chao Qian (), Yi Yang, Yifei Hua, Chan Wang, Xiao Lin (), Tong Cai, Dexin Ye, Erping Li, Ido Kaminer and Hongsheng Chen ()
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Chao Qian: Zhejiang University
Yi Yang: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Yifei Hua: Zhejiang University
Chan Wang: Zhejiang University
Xiao Lin: Zhejiang University
Tong Cai: Zhejiang University
Dexin Ye: Zhejiang University
Erping Li: Zhejiang University
Ido Kaminer: Technion-Israel Institute of Technology
Hongsheng Chen: Zhejiang University

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract A long-held tenet in physics asserts that particles interacting with light suffer from a fundamental limit to their scattering cross section, referred to as the single-channel scattering limit. This notion, appearing in all one, two, and three dimensions, severely limits the interaction strength between all types of passive resonators and photonic environments and thus constrains a plethora of applications in bioimaging, sensing, and photovoltaics. Here, we propose a route to overcome this limit by exploiting gain media. We show that when an excited resonance is critically coupled to the desired scattering channel, an arbitrarily large scattering cross section can be achieved in principle. From a transient analysis, we explain the formation and relaxation of this phenomenon and compare it with the degeneracy-induced multi-channel superscattering, whose temporal behaviors have been usually overlooked. To experimentally test our predictions, we design a two-dimensional resonator encircled by gain metasurfaces incorporating negative- resistance components and demonstrate that the scattering cross section exceeds the single- channel limit by more than 40-fold. Our findings verify the possibility of stronger scattering beyond the fundamental scattering limit and herald a novel class of light-matter interactions enabled by gain metasurfaces.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32067-9

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