We have developed the concept of new forms of optical circuitry in which a tapestry of subwavelength nanometer-scale metamaterial structures and nanoparticles may provide a mechanism for tailoring, patterning, and manipulating local optical electric fields and electric displacement vectors in a subwavelength domain, leading to possibility of optical information processing at the nanometer scale. By exploiting the optical properties of metamaterials, these nanoparticles may play the role of 'lumped' nanocircuit elements, e.g., nanoinductors, nanocapacitors, and nanoresistors, analogous to microelectronics. This paradigm brings the tools and mathematical machinery of the circuit theory into optics, may link the fields of optics, electronics, plasmonics, and metamaterials, and may provide road maps to future innovations in nanoscale optical devices, components, and more intricate nanoscale metamaterials. We have extended this notion to more complex nanocircuits such as parallel and series combinations of nanoelements, nanofiltering, nanoinsulators, nanoconnectors, optical nanotransmission lines, and optical 'shorting' wires.

Sample Publications

N. Engheta, "Circuits with Light at Nanoscales: Optical Nanocircuits Inspired by Metamaterials," Science, 317, 1698, September 21, 2007. A. Alu and N. Engheta, "Plasmonic Resonant Optical Nanoswitch" submitted to Physical Review Letters, on October 25, 2007, under review. (The manuscript can be viewed at http://arxiv.org )

A. Alu, M. Young, and N. Engheta, "Nanofilters for Optical Nanocircuits", submitted, under review. (The manuscript can be viewed at http://www.arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0710/0710.0616.pdf )

A. Alu and N. Engheta, "Optical 'Shorting Wires'", Optics Express, Vol. 15, Issue 21, pp. 13773-13782, October 5, 2007.

A. Alu, A. Salandrino, and N. Engheta, "Coupling of Optical Lumped Nanocircuit Elements and Effects of Substrates," Optics Express, Vol. 15, Issue 21, pp. 13865-13876, October 5, 2007.

A. Alu, A. Salandrino, and N. Engheta, "Parallel, Series, and Intermediate Interconnections of Optical Nanocircuit Elements - Part 2: Nanocircuit and Physical Interpretation," Journal of Optical Society of America, A. in press. (The manuscript can be viewed at http://www.arxiv.org/abs/0707.1003)

A. Salandrino, A. Alu, and N. Engheta, "Parallel, Series, and Intermediate Interconnections of Optical Nanocircuit Elements - Part 1: Analytical Solution," Journal of Optical Society of America, A, in press. (The manuscript can be viewed at http://www.arxiv.org/abs/0707.1002)

M. G. Silveirinha, A. Alu, J. Li, and N. Engheta, "Nanoinsulators and Nanoconnectors for Optical Nanocircuits," under review (since March 2007) (The manuscript can be viewed at http://www.arxiv.org/ftp/cond-mat/papers/0703/0703600.pdf ).

A. Alu and N. Engheta, "Three-Dimensional Nanotransmission Lines at Optical Frequencies: a Recipe for Broadband Negative-Refraction Optical Metamaterials," Physical Review B, Vol. 75, 024304 (20 pages), January 19, 2007. (also indexed in Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology, Vol. 15, No. 5, February 5, 2007.)

A. Alu and N. Engheta, "Theory of Linear Chains of Metamaterial/Plasmonic Particles as Sub-Diffraction Optical Nanotransmission Lines," Physical Review B, Vol. 74, 205436 (18 pages), November 29, 2006. (also indexed in Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology, Vol. 14, No. 24, Dec. 11, 2006.)

A. Alu, and N. Engheta, "Optical Nanotransmission Lines: Synthesis of Planar Left-Handed Metamaterials in the Infrared and Visible Regimes," Journal of the Optical Society of America B, Special Focus Issue on Metamaterials, Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 571-583, March 2006. A. Alu, A. Salandrino, and N. Engheta, "Negative Effective Permeability and Left-Handed Materials at Optical Frequencies," Optics Express, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 1557-1567, February 20, 2006. (also indexed in Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology, Vol. 13, No. 19, May 15, 2006.)

N. Engheta, A. Salandrino, and A. Alu, "Circuit Elements at Optical Frequencies: Nano-Inductors, Nano-Capacitors and Nano-Resistors," Physical Review Letters, Vol. 95, 095504 (4 pages), August 26, 2005. (also indexed in Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology, Vol. 12, No. 10, Sept. 5, 2005.)

For details regarding this image, please see, N. Engheta, "Circuits with Light at Nanoscales: Optical Nanocircuits Inspired by Metamaterials," Science, 317, 1698, September 21, 2007.