Omnidirectional and near-unity nonreciprocal thermal radiation with trilayer cavities-enhanced approach.

From the standpoint of thermal radiation, omnidirectional nonreciprocal thermal radiation (NTR) is strongly desired for thermal energy harvesting. Here, we propose theoretically lithographic free thermal emitter made in a dielectric-Weyl semimetal (WSM)-dielectric fashion and terminated by a metallic substrate. By engineering the structural parameters, a surprising result of spectrally selective as well as omnidirectional (along both polar and azimuthal angles) NTR is realized. It is shown that the magnitude and sign of the contrast between emission (e) and absorption (α) can be managed simultaneously. The suggested structure shows good nonreciprocity stability in a wide range of polar and azimuthal angles for transverse magnetic (TM) polarized incident wave. The ability to fine tune nonreciprocal radiative properties of our design suggests a relatively simple way to manifest the NTR with high performance, which could lead to the development of power scavenging and conversion devices.

Weyl semimetal mediated epsilon-near-zero hybrid polaritons and the induced nonreciprocal radiation.

Polaritonic excitation and management in ultra-thin polar crystals has recently received significant attention and holds new promise for epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) modes. However, manipulation of the ENZ mode via anisotropic magneto-optic (MO) material remains elusive. Herein, we provide an effective strategy for constructing an ENZ polar thin film with dependence on Weyl semimetals (WSM). The thermal radiation of the proposed device is explored with electromagnetic (EM) simulations that utilize the anisotropic rigorous coupled-wave analysis (aRCWA) method. Strong coupling of the ENZ mode to WSM polaritons has been demonstrated, and the structural parameters hold tolerance on the order of hundreds of nanometers, which is highly favorable for low-cost fabrication and high-performance application. By changing both the azimuthal angle (ϕ) and angle of incidence (θ), the nonreciprocity (η) can be effectively influenced. The distribution of η is symmetrical with ϕ = 180°, η = 0 when ϕ = 90° and ϕ = 270°. The mechanism of this proposal is owing to the hybrid polaritons supported by the polar thin film and nonreciprocal radiation of WSM, which is validated by examining the amplitude distribution of the magnetic field. The nonreciprocal emitter described herein allows simultaneous control of spectral distribution and polarization of radiation, which will facilitate the active design and application of mid-infrared (MIR) thermal emitters.

Magnetical Manipulation of Hyperbolic Phonon Polaritons in Twisted Double-Layers of Molybdenum Trioxide.

Controlling the twist angle between double stacked van der Waals (vdW) crystals holds great promise for nanoscale light compression and manipulation in the mid-infrared (MIR) range. A lithography-free geometry has been proposed to mediate the coupling of phonon polaritons (PhPs) in double-layers of vdW α-MoO3. The anisotropic hyperbolic phonon polaritons (AHPhPs) are further hybridized by the anisotropic substrate environment of magneto-optic indium arsenide (InAs). The AHPhPs can be tuned by twisting the angle between the optical axes of the two separated layers and realize a topological transition from open to closed dispersion contours. Moreover, in the presence of external magnetic field, an alteration of the hybridization of PhPs will be met, which enable an efficient way for the control of light-matter interaction at nanoscale in the MIR region.

Ultra-Thin and Lithography-Free Transmissive Color Filter Based on Doped Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide with High Performance.

A kind of ultra-thin transmissive color filter based on a metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) structure is proposed. The displayed color can cover the entire visible range and switches after H2 treatment. An indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) semiconductor was employed, as the concentration of charge carriers can be controlled to adjust the refractive index and achieve certain colors. The color modulation in the designed structure was verified using the rigorous coupled wave analysis (RCWA) method. The angular independence of the relative transmission could reach up to 60°, and polarization-insensitive performance could also be maintained. Numerical results demonstrated that the thickness of IGZO was the key parameter to concentrate the incident light. The overall structure is planar and lithography-free and can be produced with simple preparation steps. The obtained results can also be extended to other similar resonators where a proper cavity allows dynamical functionality.

Excitation of Hybrid Waveguide-Bloch Surface States with Bi2Se3 Plasmonic Material in the Near-Infrared Range.

Bloch surface waves (BSWs) with Bi2Se3 in a composite structure consisting of a coupling prism, distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) and cavity layer have been demonstrated. The design relies on the confinement of surface waves that originates from the coupling between the defective layer of plasmonic material (Bi2Se3) and DBR. The presence of the cavity layer modifies the local effective refractive index, enabling direct manipulation of the BSWs. The transfer matrix method (TMM) is used to evaluate the reflectance and absorptance responses in the spectral domain for various angles of incidence, demonstrating the presence of sharp resonances associated with the BSW. With an optimal thickness of DBR bilayers, the energy of an evanescent wave can be transferred into the periodic stack resulting in the excitation of waveguide modes (WGMs). It is believed that the proposed design possesses the advantage in terms of easy fabrication to develop integrated photonic systems, especially for biological and chemical sensing.

Selective Properties of Mid-Infrared Tamm Phonon-Polaritons Emitter with Silicon Carbide-Based Structures.

Electromagnetic (EM) absorbers and emitters have attracted much interest because of their versatile applications. A photonic heterostructure composed of silicon carbide (SiC) layer/germanium (Ge) cavity/distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) has been proposed. Selective emission properties have been investigated through rigorous coupled wave analysis (RCWA) method. The results illustrate that Tamm phonon-polaritons can be excited, and the magnetic field is partially centralized at the junction of Ge cavity and SiC film, aimed to improve the interactions of photon-phonon. The absorptivity/emissivity of the structure can be better optimized by controlling the coupling of surface modes with the incident wave. Near-unity absorption can be achieved through optimizing the SiC grating/Ge cavity/distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) multilayer structure with geometrical parameters of ds = 0.75 µm, dg = 0.7 µm, d1 = 1.25 µm and d2 = 0.75 µm, respectively. Physical mechanism of selective emission characteristics is deliberated. In addition, the simulation results demonstrate that the emitter desensitizes to the incidence angle and polarization state in the mid-infrared (MIR) range. This research ameliorates the function of the selective emitters, which provides more efficient design for SiC-based systems.

Dynamically Switchable Polarization-Independent Triple-Band Perfect Metamaterial Absorber Using a Phase-Change Material in the Mid-Infrared (MIR) Region.

A tunable metamaterial absorber (MMA) by reversible phase transitions in a mid-infrared regime is theoretically investigated. The absorber is composed of a molybdenum (Mo)-germanium-antimony-tellurium (Ge2Sb2Te5, GST)-Mo nanodisk structure superimposed on the GST-Al2O3 (aluminum oxide)-Mo film. Studies have shown that the combination of the inlaid metal-medium dielectric waveguide mode and the resonant cavity mode and the excitation of the propagating surface plasmon mode are the main reasons for the formation of the triple-band high absorption. Additionally, through the reversible phase change, the transition from high absorption to high reflection in the mid-infrared region is realized. The symmetry of the absorber eliminates the polarization dependence, and the near unity absorption efficiency can be maintained by incidence angles up to 60°. The presented method will enhance the functionality of the absorber and has the potential for the applications that require active control over light absorption.

Chromatic Dispersion Manipulation Based on Metalenses.

Metasurfaces are 2D metamaterials composed of subwavelength nanoantennas according to specific design. They have been utilized to precisely manipulate various parameters of light fields, such as phase, polarization, amplitude, etc., showing promising functionalities. Among all meta-devices, the metalens can be considered as the most basic and important application, given its significant advantage in integration and miniaturization compared with traditional lenses. However, the resonant dispersion of each nanoantenna in a metalens and the intrinsic chromatic dispersion of planar devices and optical materials result in a large chromatic aberration in metalenses that severely reduces the quality of their focusing and imaging. Consequently, how to effectively suppress or manipulate the chromatic aberration of metalenses has attracted worldwide attention in the last few years, leading to variety of excellent achievements promoting the development of this field. Herein, recent progress in chromatic dispersion control based on metalenses is reviewed.

Ultra-smooth TiO2 thin film based optical humidity sensor with a fast response and recovery.

An ultra-smooth $\text{TiO}_2$TiO2 thin film based optical humidity sensor was fabricated via a modified dip coating process. The $\text{TiO}_2$TiO2 film possessed a root mean square roughness of ${2.6 \pm 0.3}\;\text{nm}$2.6±0.3nm. Measurement of relative humidity (RH) was performed by modulation in the intensity of laser transmitted at room temperature. The optical humidity sensor based on $\text{TiO}_2$TiO2 film exhibited two-segmented linearity in the whole RH range. The response time and recovery time were determined to be 27 s and 23 s, respectively. To our knowledge, the optical humidity sensor achieved the fastest recovery to date among those modulated in optical power. The fast response and recovery are attributed to the smooth surface of sensing film, which allows the rapid equilibrium between adsorption and desorption of water molecules on the film surface. In addition, this optical humidity sensor possessed an excellent reproducibility and long-term stability after aging. The sensing mechanism is based on the chemisorption of water molecules in the low RH range and formation of water droplets in the high RH range on the surface of ${\text{TiO}_2}$TiO2 film.

Intensity Switchable and Wide-Angle Mid-Infrared Perfect Absorber with Lithography-Free Phase-Change Film of Ge2Sb2Te5.

The range of fundamental phenomena and applications achievable by metamaterials (MMs) can be significantly extended by dynamic control over the optical response. A mid-infrared tunable absorber which consists of lithography-free planar multilayered dielectric stacks and germanium antimony tellurium alloy (Ge2Sb2Te5, GST) thin film was presented and studied. The absorption spectra under amorphous and crystalline phase conditions was evaluated by the transfer matrix method (TMM). It was shown that significant tuning of absorption can be achieved by switching the phase of thin layer of GST between amorphous and crystalline states. The near unity (>90%) absorption can be significant maintained by incidence angles up to 75 under crystalline state for both transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) polarizations. The proposed method enhances the functionality of MMs-based absorbers and has great potential for application to filters, emitters, and sensors.

Characteristics of multiple Fano resonances in waveguide-coupled surface plasmon resonance sensors based on waveguide theory.

We observe and analyze multiple Fano resonances and the plasmon-induced transparency (PIT) arising from waveguidecoupled surface plasmon resonance in a metal-dielectric Kretschmann configuration. It is shown that the simulation results for designed structures agree well with those of the dispersion relation of waveguide theory. We demonstrate that the coupling between the surface plasmon polariton mode and multi-order planar waveguide modes leads to multiple Fano resonances and PIT. The obtained results show that the number of Fano resonances and the linewidth of resonances depend on two structural parameters, the Parylene C and SiO2 layers, respectively. For the sensing action of Fano resonance, the figure of merit for the sensitivity by intensity is estimated to be 44 times higher than that of conventional surface plasmon resonance sensors. Our research reveals the potential advantage of sensors with high sensitivity based on coupling between the SPP mode and multi-order PWG modes.

Polarization-insensitive and wide-incident-angle optical absorber with periodically patterned graphene-dielectric arrays.

A polarization-insensitive and angle-independent graphene absorber (GA) with periodically patterned grating is demonstrated. A periodic nanocavity composed of multilayer subwavelength grating and metal substrate supports a strongly localized mode inside the cavity, where the mode helps to absorb more electromagnetic waves. The proposed GA exhibits polarization-insensitive behavior and maintains the high absorption above 90% within a wide range of incident angle (more than 80°). We attribute the high absorption to the excitation of the cavity mode resonance and magnetic resonance for the transverse electric and transverse magnetic polarizations, respectively. The proposed GA has potential applications in the design of various devices, such as optical modulators or tunable absorption filters because of its remarkable angle-insensitive absorption performance.

Broadband Asymmetric Light Transmission at Metal/Dielectric Composite Grating.

Optical diode-like effect has sparked growing interest in recent years due to its potential applications in integrated photonic systems. In this paper, we propose and numerically demonstrate a new type of easy-processing metal/dielectric cylinder composite grating on semi-sphere substrate, which can achieve high-contrast asymmetric transmission of unpolarized light for the sum of all diffraction modes in the entire visible region, and effectively guide the diffraction light transmitting out the substrate. The asymmetric light transmission (ALT) ratio is larger than 2 dB in the waveband from 380 nm to 780 nm and the maximum ALT ratio can reach to 13 dB at specified wavelengths. The thorough theoretical research reveals that the proposed metal/dielectric pillar composite grating structure, together with the substrate, can effectively excite localized surface plasmonic resonance (LSPR) effect and waveguide mode (WGM), and enlarge the diffraction difference between forward and backward transmission spaces, including both number of diffraction orders and diffraction efficiency, thus resulting in high-contrast broadband ALT phenomenon. In particular, lowering the symmetry of the grating can achieve polarization-dependent ALT. Such a type of easy-processing ALT device with high performance for both polarized and unpolarized light can be regarded as suitable candidates in practical applications.

Angularly dense comb-like enhanced absorption of graphene monolayer with attenuated-total-reflection configuration.

A multiline absorber based on the excitation of guided-mode resonance of one-dimensional photonic crystals (1D-PhCs), including a surface graphene monolayer under the attenuated-total-reflection configuration, is proposed and demonstrated. By carefully designing the structure parameters of the 1D-PhCs, the guided mode can be modulated by the periodic distribution of the refractive index. Our results reveal that the critical coupling of the guided resonance in periodical PhCs to graphene produces the perfect absorption. The number of absorption peaks within the photonic band corresponds to the number of unit cells. An ultrahigh Q-factor value of 4.75×106 is obtained at resonance with unity absorption, which could serve as a promising replacement of metallic thin film as a sensor probe for future biosensing applications.

Tunable Multiple Plasmon-Induced Transparencies Based on Asymmetrical Grapheme Nanoribbon Structures.

We present plasmonic devices, consisting of periodic arrays of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) and a graphene sheet waveguide, to achieve controllable plasmon-induced transparency (PIT) by numerical simulation. We analyze the bright and dark elements of the GNRs and graphene-sheet waveguide structure. Results show that applying the gate voltage can electrically tune the PIT spectrum. Adjusting the coupling distance and widths of GNRs directly results in a shift of transmission dips. In addition, increased angle of incidence causes the transmission to split into multiple PIT peaks. We also demonstrate that PIT devices based on graphene plasmonics may have promising applications as plasmonic sensors in nanophotonics.

Peak modulation in multicavity-coupled graphene-based waveguide system.

Plasmonically induced transparency (PIT) in a multicavity-coupled graphene-based waveguide system is investigated theoretically and numerically. By using the finite element method (FEM), the multiple mode effect can be achieved, and blue shift is exhibited by tunable altering the chemical potential of the monolayer graphene. We find that the increasing number of the graphene rectangle cavity (GRC) achieves the multiple PIT peaks. In addition, we find that the PIT peaks reduce to just one when the distance between the third cavity and the second one is 100 nm. Easily to be experimentally fabricated, this graphene-based waveguide system has many potential applications for the advancement of 3D ultra-compact, high-performance, and dynamical modulation plasmonic devices.

Grating-coupled Otto configuration for hybridized surface phonon polariton excitation for local refractive index sensitivity enhancement.

We demonstrate numerically through rigorous coupled wave analysis (RCWA) that replacing the prism in the Otto configuration with gratings enables us to excite and control different modes and field patterns of surface phonon polaritons (SPhPs) through the incident wavelength and height of the Otto spacing layer. This modified Otto configuration provides us the following multiple modes, namely, SPhP mode, Fabry-Pérot (FP) cavity resonance, dielectric waveguide grating resonance (DWGR) and hybridized between different combinations of the above mentioned modes. We show that this modified grating-coupled Otto configuration has a highly confined field pattern within the structure, making it more sensitive to local refractive index changes on the SiC surface. The hybridized surface phonon polariton modes also provide a stronger field enhancement compared to conventional pure mode excitation.

Waveguide-coupled surface phonon resonance sensors with super-resolution in the mid-infrared region.

A waveguide-coupled surface phonon resonance (SPhR) sensor with super-resolution based on Fano resonance (FR) by using a multilayer system within the Kretschmann configuration in the mid-infrared wavelength region is proposed. Due to the coherent interference of the waveguide and the surface phonon polariton modes, the calculated reflectivity spectrum possesses sharp asymmetric FR dips. An ultra-small linewidth is formed because of the Fano coupling, and the physical features contribute to a highly efficient nano-sensor for refractive index sensing. The bulk and surface sensitivity by intensities are greatly enhanced relative to those of conventional SPhR sensors.

Enhanced absorption of graphene monolayer with a single-layer resonant grating at the Brewster angle in the visible range.

One method for enhancement and manipulation of light absorption with monolayer graphene covered on a single-layer guided mode resonant Brewster filter surface is demonstrated. By means of the rigorous coupled-wave analysis method, the effect of geometrical parameters on the optical response of the structure is investigated. It is possible to achieve a maximum absorption of 60% at the Brewster angle; dual-band optical absorption can also be realized when the depth of the grating is increased. The situation of oblique incidence for TM polarization is studied as well; the absorption property can be controlled by adjusting the incident angle without changing the structural parameters. The proposed structure has the advantage of more free geometry parameters compared to the graphene disk and ribbon, so the absorption could be tuned more flexibly.

Angle-insensitive and narrow band grating filter with a gradient-index layer.

We demonstrate the design of an efficient angle-insensitive guided mode resonance filter (GMRF), with narrow bandwidth and low sideband reflection, for TE-polarized waves. The reflection properties of the multilayer structure have been studied, and the results verify that the thin film design of the gradient-index layer is important for the realization of an angle-insensitive filter. Various gradient coefficients of the thin film have distinct effects on the reflection spectrum. For an increasing incident angle, although the line-shape symmetry becomes less perfect, the positions of the resonant peak remain the same. The GMRF proposed here has many desirable attributes that lends itself to being an excellent platform, for devices such as lasers, detectors, filters, and sensors.