Frequency converter implementing an optical analogue of the cosmological redshift

According to general relativity, the frequency of electromagnetic radiation is altered by the expansion of the universe. This effect-commonly referred to as the cosmological redshift-is of utmost importance for observations in cosmology. Here we show that this redshift can be reproduced on a much smaller scale using an optical analogue inside a dielectric metamaterial with time-dependent material parameters. To this aim, we apply the framework of transformation optics to the Robertson-Walker metric. We demonstrate theoretically how perfect redshifting or blueshifting of an electromagnetic wave can be achieved without the creation of sidebands with a device of finite length. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America