Optik 130 (2017) 10991106

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Optik
journal homepage: www.elsevier.de/ijleo

Original research article

Design and simulation of polarization transformers using

transformation electromagnetics
Sayyed Saleh Sayyed Mousavi a,b , Mohammad Saeed Majedi b, , Hossein
Eskandari a,b
a
Communications and Computer Research Center, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
b
Department of Electrical Engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this paper we design polarization transformers using transformation electromagnetics
Received 4 October 2016 method. We introduce a new coordinate transformation that by compressing or expanding
Accepted 24 November 2016 the space, creates a desired delay on one component of electromagnetic elds and there-
fore causes the polarization of electromagnetic wave to change. Linear to circular, right
Keywords: (left) hand to left (right) hand circular and linear to linear polarization transformers have
Polarization transformer been designed and analyzed. The proposed polarization transformers are homogeneous
Transformation electromagnetic
and reectionless and they can also be non-magnetic. COMSOL Multiphysics software is
Non-magnetic medium
used to validate our results.
Coordinate transformation
2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

In 2006 an article was published that introduced a systematic methodology capable of controlling the electromagnetic
eld by dening appropriate permittivity and permeability tensors for the medium [1]. This method is called transformation
electromagnetics or transformation optics. The design procedure suggested by transformation electromagnetics is frequency
independent. Generally the permittivity and permeability obtained by this method lead to an inhomogeneous and anisotropic
medium.
Transformation electromagnetics has a variety of applications in design of microwave and optic devices. There are several
articles that used transformation electromagnetics in cloaking devices that was realized by metamaterial structures [26].
It is also used in planar photonic devices for integrated system including waveguide and photodetectors [7]. Furthermore,
devices such as beam bender and expander [8], beam polarization splitter and rotator [9,10], eld concentrators [11,12], at
focusing lenses [13] and wave collimators [14], have been proposed based on this method.
Polarization state is one of the most important properties of any electromagnetic wave. Changing the polarization of wave
is a practical issue in microwave engineering and optics. In literature, there are several devices, such as wave retarders, that
perform polarization transformation. Retarders exert a delay on one component of the electromagnetic elds and therefore
change the polarization. Most popular types of retarders are well known full, half and quarter wave plates [15]. Also, Fresnel
rhomb and Babinet compensator are examples of retarders [15]. Furthermore polarization transformation for a plane wave
is done by transversely uniaxial chiral medium [16,17]. There are also structures that composed of waveguides, two phase
shifter, TE to TM converter and crystals that are capable of performing arbitrary polarization transformations [18,19]. In

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: majedi@um.ac.ir (M.S. Majedi).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijleo.2016.11.129
0030-4026/ 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
1100 S.S.S. Mousavi et al. / Optik 130 (2017) 10991106

some articles the polarization transformer is implemented by metamaterial structures such as split-ring resonators [2022]
or metallic helices [23].
In this paper, we propose a different strategy for polarization transformation based on transformation electromagnetics
method. Accordingly, we present a new coordinate transformation that by compressing or expanding the space, creates
a desired phase difference between orthogonal components of electromagnetic elds and this leads to the polarization
changes. It will be pointed out that a proper linear coordinate transformation can lead to a homogeneous, reectionless and
non-magnetic media if only the TM polarization is modied. Based on this method, linear to circular, right (left) hand to left
(right) hand circular and linear to linear polarization transformers are designed and simulated.
In the next section, we give a brief summary on transformation electromagnetics method and introduce our proposed
coordinate transformation for polarization transformer. Constitutive material parameters for modifying only TE or TM polar-
ization are presented and available tradeoffs are discussed. Also, a classical electromagnetic explanation is given about the
device functionality. The third section, includes simulation results for various types of polarization transformation scenarios.

2. Theory

2.1. Transformation electromagnetics

Implementing Transformation electromagnetics method basically includes two steps. The rst step is to choose a suitable
mapping that results in a desired functionality. The second one is to use the form invariance of Maxwells equations to
determine permittivity and permeability tensors of medium which realize the desired functionality.
Let f : (x, y, z) (x , y , z) be a coordinate transformation that maps (x, y, z) space to (x, y, z). In (x, y, z) space, which
is called virtual space, the behavior of wave is known. So, it is often chosen to be vacuum. The (x, y, z) space is called
physical space and is the result of coordinate transformation. Let the electric eld and magnetic eld in virtual space and
physical space be E,H and E,H, respectively. Also ,  and  ,  are permittivity and permeability tensors of virtual space and
physical space, respectively. Transformation electromagnetics claims that, the relations between the electric and magnetic
elds vectors in virtual and physical spaces are as follows:
  1   1
E = JT E H = JT H (1)

J in Eq. (1) is the Jacobian matrix from transformation f and is expressed as:

x x x
x y z

y y y
J=


(2)
x y z
z z z
x y z
It also claims that the relations between permittivity and permeability tensors of virtual and physical spaces are as
follows:
JJ T JJ T
= = (3)
det (J) det (J)
In a summary, based on this method the desired transformed elds in Eq. (1) satisfy Maxwell equations, if tensors in Eq.
(3) are chosen for the medium.

2.2. Design of polarization transformer

In this section we introduce an electromagnetic device that changes the wave polarization. Let the input wave be com-
posed of two orthogonal components, namely TE and TM. We aim to create a certain amount of phase difference between
these two orthogonal components, in order to change the polarization of the wave. To do so, we propose a proper coordinate
transformation that compresses or stretches the space. Based on the method of transformation electromagnetics, these per-
turbation in space will later be realized by calculated constitutive media parameters. Finally these constitutive parameters
are modied in such a way that only one component of the wave is affected and hence the desired phase difference between
orthogonal components is achieved. We prove later that affecting only TM polarization can lead to a non-magnetic media
that is a great advantage when it comes to fabrication.
The proposed coordinate transformation is expressed as Eq. (4).

x = mx
y = y (4)

z = z
 S.S.S. Mousavi et al. / Optik 130 (2017) 10991106 1101

Fig. 1. Geometry of the proposed transformation. (a) Virtual space, (b) Physical space.

Fig. 1 sketches the above transformation.

Virtual space in Fig. 1 is a square with side d. Dash-dotted line represents the physical space right boundary for expan-
sion while dotted line indicates the right boundary of compressed physical space. Eq. (4) and Fig. 1 indicate that this linear
transformation compresses the propagation medium in x direction when m < 1 and expands it when m > 1. If the pro-
posed transformation affects only one component of the wave, then the amount of phase difference between orthogonal
components after propagation distance of d in x direction is obtained from the following equation:
  1
k0 d d =  m = (5)
1 /k0 d

For example, if the phase difference of /2 is desired over propagation distance of d = 25/4, m = 25/24 is required
according to Eq. (5). It is useful to note that the proposed transformation is linear and hence the transformation media
will be homogeneous. Also, according to the reectionless criteria in [24,25], proposed transformation is continuous at the
boundaries and hence the media is reectionless.
Applying Eqs. (2)(4), the relative permittivity and permeability tensors are calculated as:

m 0 0
=  = 0 m1 0 (6)
0 0 m1

If we investigate Maxwell equations for 2D propagation scenario (/z = 0), we conclude that distinct constitutive
parameters affect wave propagation for basic orthogonal polarization namely TE and TM. Parameters involved in Maxwell
 xx , xy , yx
equations for TE and TM polarization are zz ,   , yyand zz , xx , xy , yx , yy respectively. It is good to recall that
TE and TM polarization include respectively Ez , Hx , Hy and Hz , Ex , Ey components. Therefore the relative permittivity
and permeability of medium for affecting only TE polarization are:

1 0 0 m 0 0
= 0 1 0  = 0 m1 0 (7)
0 0 m1 0 0 1

Fig. 2. Normal surfaces for material results from Eq. (9) for m < 1.
1102 S.S.S. Mousavi et al. / Optik 130 (2017) 10991106

And for affecting only TM polarization are as follows:

m 0 0 1 0 0
= 0 m1 0  = 0 1 0 (8)
0 0 1 0 0 m1

Further investigation of Maxwell equations proves that dispersion relation for TM polarization is unchanged if multipli-
cation of zz and xx , xy , yx , yy remains constant. Similar rule applies to multiplication of zz and xx , xy , yx , yy for TE
polarization. So, alternative media parameters for Eq. (8) can be:

1 0 0 1 0 0
= 0 m2 0  = 0 1 0 (9)
0 0 1 0 0 1

which result in a non-magnetic medium. The original design procedure results in reectionless media. However the param-
eters of Eq. (9) will not guaranty the reectionless characteristic of the device; since a mismatch in impedance occurs. TM
wave Impedance equals ZTM = zz /yy = m for media proposed by Eq. (9). The half space reection coefcient equals
 = m 1/m + 1. The total amount of reection is easily calculated by turning the main problem into the calculation of
reection from a dielectric slab of width d and impedance m [26]. Total reection coefcient of the slab is as follows:
 

1 ej2k0 d /m
total =   
 (10)
1  2 ej2k0 d /m

It is seen that a proper choice of d can result in a reectionless slab. We can choose d so that the numerator of total
vanishes and the desired phase difference is obtained, i.e.
 
2k0 d Eq.(5) / + n
= 2n d = (11)
m 2
It is worthy to note that without using Eq. (11) for d, the reection from media is generally negligible since values of m
are very close to unity.
In next section, a classical explanation of Eq. (9) media is given.

Fig. 3. Geometry of polarization transformer.

 S.S.S. Mousavi et al. / Optik 130 (2017) 10991106 1103

Fig. 4. Oblique-linear to circular polarization transformation.

2.3. Classical explanation of derived reduced media

The proposed media in Eq. (9) is non-magnetic and hence the principal refractive index tensor is as follows:

nprincipal = r = (1, m, 1) (12)

Normal surfaces of this media at the boundary is shown in Fig. 2. It consists of a circle and an ellipse connected on y axis.
In Fig. 2, circle represents normal surface for TE wave while ellipse shows normal surface for TM mode. As shown in Fig. 2,
when incident wave vector ki is normal to the boundary, transmitted wave vector kt will also be normal to the boundary
and the intersection of vector with wave normal surfaces, determines the refractive indices of polarizations. It is clear that
refractive index of media for TE wave is unity while TM wave refractive  index equals
 1/m. So phase difference between
polarizations after propagating distance of d in media will be  = k0 d 1/m 1 that agrees with Eq. (5).

3. Simulation

In this section we introduce several applications of the proposed polarization transformer. The operation frequency
is set to 12 THz. Simulation domain is a square with side length of 10. All of our proposed designs are simulated and
veried by commercial nite element software COMSOL Multiphysics. Fig 3 represents the geometry of proposed polarization
transformer.
PEC and PMC boundary conditions are used for different polarizations. Input and output ports are used to launch and
absorb plane waves. If Gaussian wave is needed, the Gaussian wave is launched at the input and absorbed by scattering
boundary condition at the output port. Effective width of incident Gaussian wave is set to 1.6 . In all simulations, the elds
for different polarizations is plotted along a direct line which connects the middle points of simulation domain sides. In all
simulation results, the area covered with transformation media is highlighted with gray color.

3.1. Linear to circular polarization transformer

In order to create a circular polarization from an oblique linear polarization with both Ey and Ez components, we expand
the space for TM polarization only, to achieve a phase difference of /2 rad between Ey and Ez components. We choose
d = 25/4 and m = 25/24. Eq. (8) is used to calculate the parameters of media for slab. Fig. 4 illustrates the results.
It can be seen that after propagating the distance d inside transformer, TM component gains extra /2 phase which
creates right-hand circular polarization. It is clear that we can also compress the space for TM polarization and change the
handedness of polarization. Since d = 25/4 meets the condition of Eq. (11), hence exactly the same functionality is expected
from non-magnetic material realized by Eq. (9).
1104 S.S.S. Mousavi et al. / Optik 130 (2017) 10991106

Fig. 5. Left hand to right hand circular polarization transformation.

3.2. Left hand to right hand circular polarization transformer

The handedness of circular polarization is altered by applying an extra rad phase difference between two orthogonal
polarizations. Here, parameters m = 13/12 and d = 13/2 are chosen and Eq. (8) is used in order to expand the space for TM

Fig. 6. Left hand to right hand circular polarization transformation using non-magnetic material.
 S.S.S. Mousavi et al. / Optik 130 (2017) 10991106 1105

Fig. 7. Vertical to horizontal linear polarization transformation.

polarization and create this phase difference. Fig. 5 illustrates the results for right hand to left hand circular polarization
transformation.
Here d meets the condition of Eq. (11) too and hence using the non-magnetic material of Eq. (9) results in the same
functionality as shown by Fig. 6.

3.3. Vertical to horizontal linear polarization transformer

In order to apply such a change in polarization of the wave, we rotate the device /4 rad around x axis and utilize the
previous transformation that results in  radians phase shift.
It is seen in Fig. 7 that Ez component at input transforms into Ey component at the output. This method can be generalized
to transform an arbitrary linear polarization into another arbitrary one. The only important parameter is the amount of
rotation of the device and the fact that a radians phase shift between TE and TM polarization is needed.

4. Conclusion

In this paper, we designed and simulated a polarization transformer using transformation electromagnetics. By compress-
ing or stretching the space, this design results in a media that can create arbitrary phase shift between different components
of the wave which propagate in it. The proposed media affects only TM component. A non-magnetic device is then achieved
after modication of the media parameters which functions perfectly and is reectionless at the boundaries. Using the pro-
posed device, a linear to circular polarization, right hand to left hand circular and a linear to linear polarization transformers
were designed and simulated using COMSOL Multiphysics.

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