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Recently, photothermoelectric effect of thermoelectric materials has been hotly explored to develop self-powered and large bandwidth photodetectors working at ambient conditions. However, the key parameters for optimized photothermoelectric effect are still elusive. Here, based on the two-temperature model under static condition, we theoretically studied the key parameters to optimize the photothermoelectric performance of thermoelectric materials. Results verify that when the incident electromagnetic wave only generates electronic intra-band excitation, there is an ideal carrier concentration to optimize the photothermoelectric voltage; when the wavelength of a detected electromagnetic wave can resonantly excite quasi-particle (like phonons) except electrons, the photothermoelectric voltage can be enhanced significantly around the resonant wavelength regime; and when the electronic inter-band transition can be excited by an electromagnetic wave, photothermoelectric voltage is significantly increased due to the high optical absorption. As an example, the theoretical dependence of the photothermoelectric voltage of SnSe on wavelength is in line with the experimental result. This work elucidates the crucial parameters of thermoelectric materials to achieve the ideal photothermoelectric performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the concept of valley pseudospin, labeling quantum states of energy extrema in momentum space, has attracted enormous attention because of its potential as a new type of information carrier. Here, we present surface acoustic wave (SAW) waveguides which utilize and transport valley pseudospins in two-dimensional SAW phononic crystals. In addition to a direct visualization of the valley-dependent modes excited from the corresponding chiral sources, the backscattering suppression of SAW valley-dependent edge modes transport is observed in sharply curved interfaces. By means of band structure engineering, elastic wave energy in the SAW waveguides can be transported with remarkable robustness, which is very promising for new generations of integrated solid-state phononic circuits with great versatility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We design a structure to realize Rabi splitting and Rabi oscillation in acoustics. We develop rigorous analytical models to analyze the splitting effect from the aspect of phase matching, and from the aspect of mode coupling using a coupled mode model. In this model, we discover that the splitting effect is caused by the coupling of the Fabry–Perot fundamental mode with the resonant mode of an artificial acoustic ‘atom’. We then extract the coupling strength and analyze the impact of structural parameters on it. In addition, we demonstrate Rabi oscillation in the time domain. Such quantum phenomena in the classical regime may have potential applications in the design of novel ultrasonic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Invisibility by metamaterials is of great interest, where optical properties are manipulated in the real permittivity-permeability plane. However, the most effective approach to achieving invisibility in various military applications is to absorb the electromagnetic waves emitted from radar to minimize the corresponding reflection and scattering, such that no signal gets bounced back. Here, we show the experimental realization of chip-scale unidirectional reflectionless optical metamaterials near the spontaneous parity-time symmetry phase transition point where reflection from one side is significantly suppressed. This is enabled by engineering the corresponding optical properties of the designed parity-time metamaterial in the complex dielectric permittivity plane. Numerical simulations and experimental verification consistently exhibit asymmetric reflection with high contrast ratios around a wavelength of of 1,550?nm. The demonstrated unidirectional phenomenon at the corresponding parity-time exceptional point on-a-chip confirms the feasibility of creating complicated on-chip parity-time metamaterials and optical devices based on their properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a physical concept of non-reciprocal transformation optics, by which a one-way invisible cloak is designed. The one-way invisible cloak is made of a coordinate-transformed nonreciprocal photonic crystal, showing a perfect cloaking for wave incident from one direction but acting as a perfect reflector for wave from the counter direction. The proposed design shows a high promise of applications in military, as protecting the own information to be detected but efficiently grabbing the information from the 'enemy' side. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Asymmetric propagation of electromagnetic or elastic waves is important for control of the signal flow in various devices. Through mutual consistent theory analysis and numerical simulations to discuss the parity–time (PT) symmetry, we proposed and studied a linear silicon photonic device that shows asymmetric optical mode conversion. Remarkably, unidirectional mode conversion is observed at the threshold of breaking of the PT symmetry of our system. The corresponding theoretical analysis is expected to help design of chip-scale directional photonic devices. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A piezoelectric–piezomagnetic superlattice (PPS) is proposed to present the magneto-electric (ME) coupling wherein electric polarization induces magnetization or vice versa through the layer''s coherent strain. We reveal that in PPS, the interaction of electromagnetic waves with the correspondent alternative piezoelectric and piezomagnetic superlattices through their vibrations excites the piezoelectric and the piezomagnetic phonon polaritons simultaneously. The polaritons couple with each other to give rise to a stop band, in which double negative permittivity and permeability can be realized, however negative refraction could not occur. The coupling also results in the huge dynamic ME effect which attributes to the large ME voltage coefficient in a BaTiO3–CoFe2O4 superlattice as large as 14.9 V cm−1 Oe−1. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]