介电常数近零材料及相关物理现象近年来逐渐成为一个快速发展的研究领域。在介电常数近零材料中，光与物质相互作用显著增强，为设计新型光学功能器件提供了重要思路。从线性和非线性光学范畴综述了介电常数近零材料中光与物质相互作用的原理与应用进展。在线性光学部分，讨论了透明导电氧化物材料的光学性质、介电常数近零模式、载流子的电调控等方面的内容。在非线性光学部分，讨论了介电常数近零材料在非线性折射率调控、非线性频率转换以及时变ENZ材料中的非线性光学响应等方面的研究进展。最后，展望了介电常数近零材料领域的未来研究方向和应用领域。

Goodness of fit is demonstrated for theoretical calculation of z-scan data based on beams propagating in the nonlinear medium and the Fresnel–Kirchhoff diffraction integral in experiments with high nonlinear refraction and absorption. The constancy of nonlinear optical parameters is achieved regardless of sample thickness and laser intensity, which clarifies the physical significance of optical parameters. We have obtained γ = 2.0 × 10^?19 m²/W and β = 5.0 × 10^?13 m/W for carbon disulfide excited by a pulsed laser at 800 nm with pulse duration of 35 fs, which are independent of sample thickness and laser intensity. Affirming constancy of the extracted parameters to the incident light intensity may become a practice to verify the goodness of the z-scan experiment.

A polarization-insensitive plasmonic absorber is designed consisting of Au fishnet structures on a TiO₂ spacer/Ag mirror. The fishnet structures excite localized surface plasmon and generate hot electrons from the absorbed photons, while the TiO₂ layer induces Fabry–Perot resonance, and the Ag mirror acts as a back reflector. Through optimizing the TiO₂ layer thickness, numerical simulation shows that 97% of the incident light is absorbed in the Au layer. The maximum responsivity and external quantum efficiency of the device can approach 5 mA/W and ～1%, respectively, at the wavelength of 700 nm.