Superscattering from cylindrical hyperbolic metamaterials in the visible region

Abstract

We report that cylindrical hyperbolic metamaterials (CHMMs) exhibit superscattering (SSc) in the visible region, based on analytical and numerical calculations. It has normalized scattering cross-section (NSCS) twice as large as that from cylinders consisting of homogeneous materials. This large NSCS is due to constructive interference of multipolar resonances. Finite-difference time-domain calculations revealed that the spatial field-distribution at the SSc condition is similar to that of a whispering gallery mode (WGM), suggesting that the WGM-like field distribution is responsible for the large scattering. It is also reported that the SSc can be achieved in CHMM of epsilon near zero materials.