Carrier drift modulation and hyperbolic time crystals

We introduce the Carrier Drift Modulation - a new mechanism for creating temporal boundaries and enabling photonic time crystals. This approach opens a direct route to hyperbolic temporal metamaterials and, in particular, hyperbolic time crystals. We demonstrate that the very process responsible for time crystal formation can simultaneously compensate for intrinsic material losses in the supporting medium - overcoming one of the central challenges in nanophotonics. The realization of truly lossless hyperbolic media, long considered as one of the key challenges of nanophotonics, unlocks new possibilities for subwavelength light focusing, strong-field physics, and novel regimes of light-matter interaction. Crucially, the proposed approach can be implemented using existing materials and readily available light sources, making it both practical and transformative.

Authors

Publication Details

Journal
npj Metamaterials
Published
2026-10-05
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s44455-026-00043-8
Primary Topic
Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Carrier drift modulation and hyperbolic time crystals

Evgenii E. Narimanov, Boris Shapiro
npj Metamaterials
Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications
article

Carrier drift modulation and hyperbolic time crystals

Evgenii E. Narimanov, Boris Shapiro
article en

Abstract

We introduce the Carrier Drift Modulation - a new mechanism for creating temporal boundaries and enabling photonic time crystals. This approach opens a direct route to hyperbolic temporal metamaterials and, in particular, hyperbolic time crystals. We demonstrate that the very process responsible for time crystal formation can simultaneously compensate for intrinsic material losses in the supporting medium - overcoming one of the central challenges in nanophotonics. The realization of truly lossless hyperbolic media, long considered as one of the key challenges of nanophotonics, unlocks new possibilities for subwavelength light focusing, strong-field physics, and novel regimes of light-matter interaction. Crucially, the proposed approach can be implemented using existing materials and readily available light sources, making it both practical and transformative.

npj MetamaterialsVol. 2(1)
Openalex Percentile: Top 99%
Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications
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