Optimizing small particles for strong interactions with electromagnetic fields

In this presentation we will discuss the concept of electrically small “optimal metaparticles”. For the optimal particles the particle shape and material are chosen so that the particles gain the maximum possible reactive energy in the field of a given plane electromagnetic wave propagating or decaying in space where the particle is located. It appears that for maximizing response to propagating or evanescent waves of arbitrary polarization we need to make use of all four fundamental classes of bi-anisotropic particles: omega, chiral, moving, and Tellegen particles.