Strong field enhancement and light-matter interactions with all-dielectric metamaterials based on split bar resonators

Strong subwavelength field enhancement has often been assumed to be unique to plasmonic nanostructures. Here we propose a type of all-dielectric metamaterials based on split bar resonators. The nano gap at the centre of the resonant elements results in large local field enhancement and light localization in the surrounding medium, which can be employed for strong light-matter interactions. In a Fano-resonant dielectric metamaterial comprising pairs of asymmetric split silicon bars, the enhancement of electric field amplitude in the gap exceeds 120 while the averaged electromagnetic energy density is enhanced by more than 7000 times. An optical refractive index sensor with a potential sensitivity of 525 nm/RIU is designed based on the proposed metamaterials. The proposed concept can be applied to other types of dielectric nanostructures and may stimulate further research of dielectric metamaterials for applications ranging from nonlinear optics and sensing to the realization of new types of active lasing devices. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America