Experimental demonstration of metamaterial "multiverse" in a ferrofluid

Opt Express. 2013 Jun 17;21(12):14918-25. doi: 10.1364/OE.21.014918.

Abstract

Extraordinary light rays propagating inside a hyperbolic metamaterial look similar to particle world lines in a 2 + 1 dimensional Minkowski spacetime. Magnetic nanoparticles in a ferrofluid are known to form nanocolumns aligned along the magnetic field, so that a hyperbolic metamaterial may be formed at large enough nanoparticle concentration nH. Here we investigate optical properties of such a metamaterial just below nH. While on average such a metamaterial is elliptical, thermal fluctuations of nanoparticle concentration lead to transient formation of hyperbolic regions (3D Minkowski spacetimes) inside this metamaterial. Thus, thermal fluctuations in a ferrofluid look similar to creation and disappearance of individual Minkowski spacetimes (universes) in the cosmological multiverse. This theoretical picture is supported by experimental measurements of polarization-dependent optical transmission of a cobalt based ferrofluid at 1500 nm.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Magnetite Nanoparticles / chemistry*
  • Magnetite Nanoparticles / ultrastructure*
  • Materials Testing
  • Refractometry / methods*
  • Temperature

Substances

  • Magnetite Nanoparticles