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  • Open Access

Electromagnetic time interfaces in wire media: Innovations for subwavelength imaging

Constantin Simovski1,*, Mohammad Sajjad Mirmoosa2, Mikhail Sidorenko1, and Sergei Tretyakov1

  • *Contact author: konstantin.simovski@aalto.fi
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Phys. Rev. Research 7, 033165 – Published 19 August, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/v6r6-xz8h

Abstract

In this work, we theoretically study temporal interfaces between media with strong spatial dispersion and dielectrics. In particular, we consider a temporal discontinuity that transforms a wire medium sample, a metamaterial with resonant spatial dispersion, into a uniaxial dielectric. We show that this transition results in a transformation of the deeply subwavelength spatial spectrum of TEM waves propagating in the wire medium at a certain frequency into a spectrum of plane waves at new frequencies, that are all higher than the initial one. The waves at different frequencies propagate in different directions. Their complex amplitudes and propagation directions are uniquely related to the amplitudes of the spatial harmonics of the field, which existed before the transition. We explain how to implement this transition. The revealed effect may result in a promising method of subwavelength imaging.

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Phys. Rev. Research 7, 033165– Published 19 August, 2025
  • Received 24 October 2024
  • Accepted 8 July 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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