title: Subwavelength electromagnetic switch: bistable wave transmission of side-coupling nonlinear meta-atom.
abstract: We propose a scheme for subwavelength electromagnetic switch by employing nonlinear meta-atom. Bistable response is conceptually demonstrated on a microwave transmission line, which is side-coupled to a varactor-loaded split ring resonator acting as a nonlinear meta-atom. Calculations and experiments show that by applying conductive coupling instead of near-field interaction between the transmission line and the nonlinear meta-atom, switch performances are improved. The switch threshold of low to -5.8 dBm and the transmission contrast of up to 4.0 dB between the two bistable states were achieved. Subwavelength size of our switch should be useful for miniaturization of integrated optical nanocircuits.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Advanced Micro-structure Materials, MOE, Department of Physics, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China.
authors.forename: Yaqiong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Chunhua
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Haitao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Yunhui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Hongqiang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen