Light coupling in microwave metamaterials

We report our recent achievements in tuning metamaterials with light. We introduce a novel approach to design metamaterials with sign-varying nonlinear response. For this purpose, we use split-ring resonators loaded by photodiodes and varactor diodes. A non-monotonic frequency shift of the resonance frequency depending on incident microwave power is demonstrated. Finally, we show how the nonlinear response of photosensitive metamaterials can be directly controlled by light coupling.