Degeneracy of light scattering and absorption by a single nanowire.

We theoretically and numerically prove that under an electromagnetic plane wave with linear polarization incident normally to a single nanowire, there exists a power diagram that could indicate scattering properties for any system configurations, material parameters, and operating wavelength. We demonstrate the distinct power distribution boundary in absorption, scattering, and extinction for a generalized nanowire with any partial wave modes dominant. In the boundary, each dominant scattering coefficients remain constant, and its energy performance would display superabsorbers or superscatterers. Interestingly, for a system with larger partial wave modes dominant, the occupied domain in the power diagram could completely cover that with lower ones. Hence, a system with different levels of partial wave modes can display the same power results, reflecting the degeneracy. This degenerate property could release more degrees of freedom in design of energy harvesting devices and sensors. We demonstrate several systems based on realistic materials to support our findings.

Enhanced Heat-Electric Conversion via Photonic-Assisted Radiative Cooling.

In this paper, an inorganic polymer composite film is proposed as an effective radiative cooling device. The inherent absorption is enhanced by choosing an appropriately sized SiO2 microsphere with a diameter of 6 µm. The overall absorption at the transparent window of the atmosphere is higher than 90%, as the concentration of SiO2-PMMA composite is 35 wt%. As a result, an effective radiative device is made by a spin coating process. Moreover, the device is stacked on the cold side of a thermoelectric generator chip. It is found that the temperature gradient can be increased via the effective radiative cooling process. An enhanced Seebeck effect is observed, and the corresponding output current can be enhanced 1.67-fold via the photonic-assisted radiative cooling.

Linear control of light scattering with multiple coherent waves excitation.

With the wave interferometric approach, we study how extrinsically coherent waves excitation can dramatically alter the overall scattering properties, resulting in tailoring the energy assignment between radiation and dissipation, as well as filtering multipolar resonances. As an illustration, we consider cylindrical passive systems encountered by arbitrary configurations of incident waves with various illuminating directions, phases, and intensities. With formulas for dissipation and radiation powers, we demonstrate that a coherent superposition of incident waves extrinsically interferes with the targeted channels in a desirable way. Moreover, the interferometric results can be irrespective of inherent system properties such as size, material, and structure. Our approach paves a non-invasive solution to manipulate wave-obstacle interaction at will.

Simultaneously nearly zero forward and nearly zero backward scattering objects.

With theoretical analyses and numerical calculations, we show that a passive scatterer at the sub-wavelength scale can simultaneously exhibit both nearly zero forward scattering (NZFS) and nearly zero backward scattering (NZBS). It is related to the interference of dipolar quadrupole modes of different origin, leading to coexistence of Kerker's first and second conditions at the same time. For optical frequencies, we propose two different sets of composited materials in multi-layered nano-structures, i.e., CdTe/Si/TiO2 and TiO2/Au/Si, for the experimental realization.

Resonance in modulation instability from non-instantaneous nonlinearities.

To explore resonance phenomena in the nonlinear region, we show by experimental measurements and theoretical analyses that resonance happens in modulation instability from non-instantaneous nonlinearities in photorefractive crystals. With a temporally periodic modulation in the external bias voltage, corresponding to a modulation in the nonlinear strength, an enhancement in the visibility of MI at resonant frequency is reported through spontaneous optical pattern formations. Theoretical curves obtained from a nonlinear non-instantaneous Schrödinger equation give good agreement to experimental data.

Phase diagram for passive electromagnetic scatterers.

With the conservation of power, a phase diagram defined by amplitude square and phase of scattering coefficients for each spherical harmonic channel is introduced as a universal map for any passive electromagnetic scatterers. Physically allowable solutions for scattering coefficients in this diagram clearly show power competitions among scattering and absorption. It also illustrates a variety of exotic scattering or absorption phenomena, from resonant scattering, invisible cloaking, to coherent perfect absorber. With electrically small core-shell scatterers as an example, we demonstrate a systematic method to design field-controllable structures based on the allowed trajectories in this diagram. The proposed phase diagram and inverse design can provide tools to design functional electromagnetic devices.