Parametric disordering-driven topological transitions in a liquid metacrystal
A. A. Zharov, Jr.+, A. A. Zharov+, N. A. Zharova+*
+Institute for Physics of Microstructures RAS, 603950 Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
*Institute of Applied Physics RAS, 603950 Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
Abstract
We show that an amplitude-modulated electromagnetic wave incident onto a
liquid metacrystal (LMC) may cause parametric instability of meta-atoms'
mechanical oscillations. It results in either phase-coherent motion of the
meta-atoms (leading to time-dependent components of LMC dielectric tensor) or
chaotic isotropization of the medium that can be treated in terms of
effective temperature.
Both scenarios enable switching of the sign of certain components of
permittivity tensor that, in turn, modifies the topology of isofrequency
surface.
Thus, the topological transition in LMC is expected to have an oscillatory
or quasi-thermal character depending on the parameters, but in any case the
change of topology leads to dramatic changes of the medium properties,
switching the LMC between the transparent and opaque states.