Ge2Sb2Te5-based efficient switching between a cross-polarization conversion and a circular-to-linear polarization conversion.

The terahertz (THz) band has a great potential for the development of communication technology, but it has not been fully utilized due to the lack of practical devices, especially actively controllable multifunctional devices. Here, we propose and demonstrate a Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST)-based metamaterial device, where an actively controllable function is experimentally verified by inducing the crystallization process with thermal activation. Cross-polarization conversion in the reflection mode and circular-to-linear polarization conversion in the transmission mode are obtained under crystalline and amorphous GST conditions, respectively. The combination of GST and THz waves has a wide range of applications and will further advance the THz field.

Enhanced dielectric and conductivity properties of carbon-coated SiC nanocomposites in the terahertz frequency range.

C-coated SiC nanocomposites (SiC@C NCs) were one-step synthesized under a mixture atmosphere of Ar and CH4 using a DC arc-discharge plasma method. The microstructure of the composites could be controlled by varying the volume ratio of Ar and CH4. A strong response to the terahertz (THz) field was observed due to the existence of a graphite shell. The dielectric properties of SiC@C NCs can be enhanced by altering the thickness of the graphite shell. The thicker graphite shell results in a stronger absorption of THz waves and an enhanced real part of conductivity. Fitting the measured conductivity data using the Drude-Smith model reveals that the carrier transport in the SiC@C NCs and its counterpart, the SiC nanoparticles, is dominated by backscattering. The SiC@C NCs with enhanced conductivity are believed to be fundamental materials for various functionalized optoelectronic devices.

Nonlinear Diatomic Metasurface for Real and Fourier Space Image Encoding.

In linear optics, the metasurface represents an ideal platform for encoding optical information because of its unprecedented abilities of manipulating the intensity, polarization, and phase of light wave with subwavelength meta-atoms. However, controlling various degrees of freedom of light in nonlinear optics remains elusive. Here, we propose a nonlinear plasmonic metasurface working in the near-infrared regime that can simultaneously encode optical images in the real and Fourier spaces. This is achieved by designing a diatomic meta-molecule, which enables the independent control of the nonlinear geometric phase, polarization, and intensity of second harmonic waves. The proposed nonlinear diatomic metasurface provides an ultracompact platform for implementing multidimensional optical information encoding and may hold great potential in optical information security and optical anticounterfeiting.

Extraordinary Multipole Modes and Ultra-Enhanced Optical Lateral Force by Chirality.

Strong mode coupling and Fano resonances arisen from exceptional interaction between resonant modes in single nanostructures have raised much attention for their advantages in nonlinear optics, sensing, etc. Individual electromagnetic multipole modes such as quadrupoles, octupoles, and their counterparts from mode coupling (toroidal dipole and nonradiating anapole mode) have been well investigated in isolated or coupled nanostructures with access to high Q factors in bound states in the continuum. Albeit the extensive study on ordinary dielectric particles, intriguing aspects of light-matter interactions in single chiral nanostructures is lacking. Here, we unveil that extraordinary multipoles can be simultaneously superpositioned in a chiral nanocylinder, such as two toroidal dipoles with opposite moments, and electric and magnetic sextupoles. The induced optical lateral forces and their scattering cross sections can thus be either significantly enhanced in the presence of those multipoles with high-Q factors, or suppressed by the bound states in the continuum. This work for the first time reveals the complex correlation between multipolar effects, chiral coupling, and optical lateral force, providing a distinct way for advanced optical manipulation.

Observation and Manipulation of Visible Edge Plasmons in Bi2Te3 Nanoplates.

Noble metals, like Ag and Au, are the most intensively studied plasmonic materials in the visible range. Plasmons in semiconductors, however, are usually believed to be in the infrared wavelength region due to the intrinsic low carrier concentrations. Herein, we observe the edge plasmon modes of Bi2Te3, a narrow-band gap semiconductor, in the visible spectral range using photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM). The Bi2Te3 nanoplates excited by 400 nm femtosecond laser pulses exhibit strong photoemission intensities along the edges, which follow a cos4 dependence on the polarization state of incident beam. Because of the phase retardation effect, plasmonic response along different edges can be selectively exited. The thickness-dependent photoemission intensities exclude the spin-orbit induced surface states as the origin of these plasmonic modes. Instead, we propose that the interband transition-induced nonequilibrium carriers might play a key role. Our results not only experimentally demonstrate the possibility of visible plasmons in semiconducting materials but also open up a new avenue for exploring the optical properties of topological insulator materials using PEEM.

Self-Induced Backaction Optical Pulling Force.

We achieve long-range and continuous optical pulling in a periodic photonic crystal background, which supports a unique Bloch mode with the self-collimation effect. Most interestingly, the pulling force reported here is mainly contributed by the intensity gradient force originating from the self-induced backaction of the object to the self-collimation mode. This force is sharply distinguished from the widely held conception of optical tractor beams based on the scattering force. Also, this pulling force is insensitive to the angle of incidence and can pull multiple objects simultaneously.

Numerical study of tunable enhanced chirality in multilayer stack achiral phase-change metamaterials.

We numerically demonstrate a multiband circular dichroism (CD) by tilting achiral metamaterials (MMs) composed of an elliptical nanoholes array (ENA) penetrating through metal/ phase-change material (PCM) /metal multilayer stack, with respect to the incident light. The CD spectrum can be actively tuned across a wide range from the near-infrared (NIR) to mid-infrared (MIR) regime by transiting the state of the PCM (Ge2Sb2Te5) from amorphous to crystalline. Thus, it can switch on/off a multiband chiroptical response in the infrared region. Our simulation also elucidates that the achiral multilayer stack MMs, which have strong magnetic resonances, can enhance the optical chirality inside the elliptical apertures for both amorphous and crystalline states. The switching of the enhanced chirality may pave the way to manipulate electromagnetic waves, such as tunable circular polarizers, chiroptical spectroscopy, and chiral biosensors.

Ultrafast tunable chirped phase-change metamaterial with a low power.

We numerically demonstrate an all-optical tunable dual-band double negative (DNG) index chirped metamaterial (MM) in the mid-infrared (M-IR) region. This MM possesses an ultrafast and significant tunability under low pump light power, realized by combining phase change material (PCM). It has a configuration of elliptical nanohole array (ENA) penetrating through metal/PCM/metal (Au-Ge(2)Sb(2)Te(5)-Au) films. Here, we consider the case when the chirp is introduced by displacing the positions of the ENA along the short axis of the elliptical apertures inside the primitive cell, which can achieve multiple internal surface-plasmon polariton (SPP) modes at the inner metal-dielectric interfaces of the structure and thus providing a dual-band negative index with simultaneous negative permittivity and permeability. The influence of amorphous and crystalline states of Ge(2)Sb(2)Te(5) on the effective optical parameters of the structure is analyzed. Switching between these states provides a large wavelength shift of the structure's effective optical parameters. A photothermal model is used to study the temporal variation of the temperature of the Ge(2)Sb(2)Te(5) layer to show a potential to switch the phase of Ge(2)Sb(2)Te(5) by optical heating. Generation of the tunable dual-band DNG index presents clear advantages as it possesses a fast tuning time of 0.4 ns, a low pump light intensity of 7.3µW/µm(2), and a large tunable wavelength range of 978 nm. We expect that our design may have potential applications in actively tunable multi-band nanodevices.

Ultrafast beam steering using gradient Au-Ge2Sb2Te5-Au plasmonic resonators.

Beam steering devices have gained extensive interests in the fields of optical interconnects, communications, displays and data storages. However, the challenge lies in obtaining an ultrafast beam steering structure in the optical regime. Here, we propose phase-array-like plasmonic resonators based on metal/phase-change materials (PCMs)/metal trilayers for all-optical ultrafast beam steering in the mid-infrared (MIR) region. We numerically demonstrate an angle beam steering of 11° for transmitted wave (front lobe) and 22° for reflected wave (back lobe) by switching between the amorphous and crystalline states of the PCM (Ge2Sb2Te5). A photothermal model is used to study the temporal variation of the temperature of the Ge2Sb2Te5 film to show potential for switching the phase of Ge2Sb2Te5 by optical heating. Generation of the beam steering in this structure exhibits a fast beam steering time of 3.6 ns under a low pump light intensity of 2.6 µW/µm2. Our design possesses a simple geometry which can be fabricated using standard photolithography patterning and is essential for exploiting the ultrafast beam steering in various applications in the MIR regime.

Tuning of giant 2D-chiroptical response using achiral metasurface integrated with graphene.

Tuning the chiroptical response of a molecule is crucial for detecting the material's chirality. Here, we demonstrate a pronounced circular conversion dichroism (CCD) by using an achiral metasurface (AMS) which is composed of a rectangular reflectarray of Au squares separated from a continuous Au film by a dielectric interlayer. This extrinsically 2D chirality originates from the mutual orientation between the AMS and oblique incident wave. The AMS is further incorporated with graphene to tune the CCD spectra in the mid-infrared (MIR) region by electrically modulating the graphene's Fermi level. This approach offers a high fabrication tolerance and will be a promising candidate for controlling electromagnetic (EM) waves in the MIR region from 1500 to 3000 nm.

Directive emission of red conjugated polymer embedded within zero index metamaterials.

We numerically demonstrate an impedance-matched multilayer stacked fishnet metamaterial that has zero index with flat high transmittance from 600 nm to 620 nm. The effective refractive index(n(eff)) is calculated to be -0.045 + 0.466 i and the normalize effective impedance(Z(eff)/Z(0)) is 0.956-0.368 i at 610 nm. The light emitted by a red conjugated polymer layer embedded in such a zero index metamaterial (ZIM) is concentrated in a narrow cone in the surrounding media, where the half-power beam width (HPBW) of the center lobe of the radiation pattern is around 25° in the wavelength range between 600 nm and 620 nm, giving directive emission in the visible region. This proposed light focusing system can be applied to sensing, beam collimating and filtering functionalities.

An ultra-low detection-limit optofluidic biosensor based on all glass Fabry-Perot cavity.

An all glass optofludic biosensor with high quality-factor Fabry-Perot cavity (FPC) channel was reported. The all glass sandwich structure can completely eliminate the etching roughness of the channel surface, and can extend the operating wavelength to visible and ultraviolet regions compared with that of Si-based sensor. The quality-factor of the FPC channel is 875, and the system noise can be reduced to 1.2 nV by combining optical differential detection with phase lock-in detection. A detection limit of 15ng/mL for glucose solution, which corresponds to a refractive index unit of 2.0 × 10-9, was experimentally demonstrated. The all glass FPC sensor features low cost and robust compared with surface-plasmon-resonance sensor and ring-resonator sensor.

Enhancement of Fano resonance in metal/dielectric/metal metamaterials at optical regime.

Fano resonance (FR) within the transmission spectrum is demonstrated in the near infrared (NIR) region using elliptical nanoholes array (ENA) embedding through metal-dielectric-metal (MDM) layers. For the symmetric MDM-ENA, it has been shown that a FR can be excited by the normally incident light. This FR response is attributed to the interplay between the bright modes and dark modes, where the bright modes originate from the electric resonance (localized surface plasmon resonance) caused by the ENA and the dark modes are due to the magnetic resonance (inductive-capacitive resonance) induced by the MDM multilayers. Displacement of the elliptical nanoholes from their centers breaks the structural symmetry to excite a double FR as a result of the coherent interaction of the electric resonance with two splitting sub-magnetic resonances at different wavelengths. Moreover,the degree of the asymmetry allows for the tuning of the amplitude and bandwidth of the double FR window. The sensitivity to the slight variations of the dielectric environment has been calculated and yields a figure-of-merit of 0.8RIU(-1) for the symmetric MDM-ENA and 3.0RIU(-1) for the asymmetric MDM-ENA.

Strongly tunable circular dichroism in gammadion chiral phase-change metamaterials.

A metal/phase-change material/metal tri-layer planar chiral metamaterial in the shape of a gammadion is numerically modelled. The chiral metamaterial is integrated with Ge2Sb2Te5 phase-change material (PCM) to accomplish a wide tuning range of the circular dichroism (CD) in the mid-infrared wavelength regime. A photothermal model is used to study the temporal variation of the temperature of the Ge2Sb2Te5 layer and to show the potential for fast switching the phase of Ge2Sb2Te5 under a low incident light intensity of 0.016mW/µm2.

Highly sensitive fiber pressure sensor based on off-center diaphragm reflection.

A fiber pressure sensor with a collimator at the off-center position of a diaphragm is demonstrated. The detection mechanism is incident-angle sensitive rather than traditional working-distance sensitive. Due to the small beam divergence of the collimator, the control on working distance is less stringent, and high sensitivity can be realized because the coupling efficiency of the collimator is very sensitive to the incident angle decided by the off-center diaphragm reflection. Sensitivity of 1.11 and 0.16 dB/KPa can be achieved with silicon diaphragm thicknesses of 100 and 150 µm, respectively. Moreover, the detection range can be continually shifted by changing the pressure in the sealed diaphragm cavity.

Transport of dynamic biochemical signals in steady flow in a shallow Y-shaped microfluidic channel: effect of transverse diffusion and longitudinal dispersion.

Dynamic biochemical signal control is important in in vitro cell studies. This work analyzes the transportation of dynamic biochemical signals in steady and mixing flow in a shallow, Y-shaped microfluidic channel. The characteristics of transportation of different signals are investigated, and the combined effect of transverse diffusion and longitudinal dispersion is studied. A method is presented to control the widths of two steady flows in the mixing channel from two inlets. The transfer function and the cutoff frequency of the mixing channel as a transmission system are presented by analytically solving the governing equations for the time-dependent Taylor-Aris dispersion and molecular diffusion. The amplitude and phase spectra show that the mixing Y-shaped microfluidic channel acts as a low-pass filter due to the longitudinal dispersion. With transverse molecular diffusion, the magnitudes of the output dynamic signal are reduced compared to those without transverse molecular diffusion. The inverse problem of signal transportation for signal control is also solved and analyzed.

Tunable parity-time symmetry vortex laser from a phase change material-based microcavity.

Traditional light sources cannot emit an electromagnetic (EM) field with an orbital angular momentum (OAM), limiting their applications in modern optics. The recent development of the OAM laser, mainly based on micro- and nanostructures, can satisfy the increasing requirements for on-chip photonics and information capacities. Nevertheless, the photonic structures have fixed parameters that prevent these OAM lasers from being dynamically tuned. Here, we propose tunable vortex lasing from a microring cavity integrated by a phase change material, Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST225). By modulating the complex refractive index to create an exceptional point (EP) to break the degeneracy of whispering gallery modes with opposite orientations, the microlaser working at the EP can impart an artificial angular momentum, thus emitting vortex beams with well-defined OAM. The grating scatter on the edge of the microring can provide efficient vertical radiation. The vortex laser wavelength from the GST225/InGaAsP dual-layered microring cavity can be dynamically tuned by switching the state of GST225 between amorphous and crystalline without changing the microring geometry. We construct an electric-thermal model to show the tuning range of operating wavelengths (EPs) from 1544.5 to 1565.9 nm in ~25 ns. Our study on high-speed tunable PT-symmetry vortex lasers facilitates the next generation of integrated optoelectronic devices for optical computing and communications in both classical and quantum regions.

Roadmap for phase change materials in photonics and beyond.

Phase Change Materials (PCMs) have demonstrated tremendous potential as a platform for achieving diverse functionalities in active and reconfigurable micro-nanophotonic devices across the electromagnetic spectrum, ranging from terahertz to visible frequencies. This comprehensive roadmap reviews the material and device aspects of PCMs, and their diverse applications in active and reconfigurable micro-nanophotonic devices across the electromagnetic spectrum. It discusses various device configurations and optimization techniques, including deep learning-based metasurface design. The integration of PCMs with Photonic Integrated Circuits and advanced electric-driven PCMs are explored. PCMs hold great promise for multifunctional device development, including applications in non-volatile memory, optical data storage, photonics, energy harvesting, biomedical technology, neuromorphic computing, thermal management, and flexible electronics.

Erratum: Roadmap for phase change materials in photonics and beyond.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107946.].

Study of incident angle dependence for dual-band double negative-index material using elliptical nanohole arrays.

This work demonstrates the angular dependence of dual-band negative-index materials implemented by elliptical nanohole arrays (ENAs) consisting of an Al2O3 dielectric layer between two Au films. This article, it is believed for the first time, analyzes the scattering coefficients and displacement current of the ENA at different angles of plane-wave incidence to show that the ENA is double negative (showing both a negative effective permeability µ(eff) and a negative effective permittivity ε(eff) at multiple wavelengths (1095 and 1680 nm) for p polarization over a broad range of incident angles.