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Register a new userElectrically actuated varifocal lens based on liquid-crystal-embedded dielectric metasurfaces
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Added by
Maxim Shcherbakov R.
Publication date
2021
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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Compact varifocal lenses are essential to various imaging and vision technologies. However, existing varifocal elements typically rely on mechanically-actuated systems with limited tuning speeds and scalability. Here, an ultrathin electrically controlled varifocal lens based on a liquid crystal (LC) encapsulated semiconductor metasurface is demonstrated. Enabled by the field-dependent LC anisotropy, applying a voltage bias across the LC cell modifies the local phase response of the silicon meta-atoms, in turn modifying the focal length of the metalens. In a numerical implementation, a voltage-actuated metalens with continuous zoom and up to 20% total focal shift is demonstrated. The concept of LC-based metalens is experimentally verified through the design and fabrication of a bifocal metalens that facilitates high-contrast switching between two discrete focal lengths upon application of a 3.2 V$_{rm pp}$ voltage bias. Owing to their ultrathin thickness and adaptable design, LC-driven semiconductor metasurfaces open new opportunities for compact varifocal lensing in a diversity of modern imaging applications.
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Optical metasurfaces have shown to be a powerful approach to planar optical elements, enabling an unprecedented control over light phase and amplitude. At that stage, where wide variety of static functionalities have been accomplished, most efforts are being directed towards achieving reconfigurable optical elements. Here, we present our approach to an electrically controlled varifocal metalens operating in the visible frequency range. It relies on dynamically controlling the refractive index environment of a silicon metalens by means of an electric resistor embedded into a thermo-optical polymer. We demonstrate precise and continuous tuneability of the focal length and achieve focal length variation larger than the Rayleigh length for voltage as small as 12 volts. The system time-response is of the order of 100 ms, with the potential to be reduced with further integration. Finally, the imaging capability of our varifocal metalens is successfully validated in an optical microscopy setting. Compared to conventional bulky reconfigurable lenses, the presented technology is a lightweight and compact solution, offering new opportunities for miniaturized smart imaging devices.
Vertical stacking of atomically thin layered materials opens new possibilities for the fabrication of heterostructures with favorable optoelectronic properties. The combination of graphene, hexagonal boron nitride and semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides allows fabrication of electroluminescence (EL) devices, compatible with a wide range of substrates. Here, we demonstrate a full integration of an electroluminescent van der Waals heterostructure in a monolithic optical microcavity made of two high reflectivity dielectric distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs). Owing to the presence of graphene and hexagonal boron nitride protecting the WSe$_2$ during the top mirror deposition, we fully preserve the optoelectronic behaviour of the device. Two bright cavity modes appear in the EL spectrum featuring Q-factors of 250 and 580 respectively: the first is attributed directly to the monolayer area, while the second is ascribed to the portion of emission guided outside the WSe$_2$ island. By embedding the EL device inside the microcavity structure, a significant modification of the directionality of the emitted light is achieved, with the peak intensity increasing by nearly two orders of magnitude at the angle of the maximum emission compared with the same EL device without the top DBR. Furthermore, the coupling of the WSe$_2$ EL to the cavity mode with a dispersion allows a tuning of the peak emission wavelength exceeding 35 nm (80 meV) by varying the angle at which the EL is observed from the microcavity. This work provides a route for the development of compact vertical-cavity surface-emitting devices based on van der Waals heterostructures.
As two-dimensional metamaterials, metasurfaces open up new avenues for designing static planar optics. However, the dynamic modulation of metasurfaces in the optical band is required for practical applications. The existing dynamic devices rarely utilized the polarization manipulation capability of metasurfaces. Here, we demonstrate an electrically tunable multifunctional metasurface in the visible range by integrating birefringent liquid crystals (LCs) with all-dielectric metasurfaces based on a novel packaging scheme. By combining the helicity-dependent geometric phase of the metasurface and the polarization control ability of LC molecules, continuous intensity tuning and switching of two helicity channels are realized. Electrically tunable single-channel switchable metaholograms, multicolor multiplexed metaholograms, and dynamic varifocal metalenses are designed to verify the concept. The exploration of polarization control in dynamic tuning can pave the way for dynamic metasurface devices in various applications, such as space light modulators, light detection and ranging systems, and holographic displays.
The improvement of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is one of the major goals of optoelectronics and photonics research. While emission rate enhancement is certainly one of the targets, in this regard, for LED integration to complex photonic devices, one would require to have, additionally, precise control of the wavefront of the emitted light. Metasurfaces are spatial arrangements of engineered scatters that may enable this light manipulation capability with unprecedented resolution. Most of these devices, however, are only able to function properly under irradiation of light with a large spatial coherence, typically normally incident lasers. LEDs, on the other hand, have angularly broad, Lambertian-like emission patterns characterized by a low spatial coherence, which makes the integration of metasurface devices on LED architectures extremely challenging. A novel concept for metasurface integration on LED is proposed, using a cavity to increase the LED spatial coherence through an angular collimation. Due to the resonant character of the cavity, extending the spatial coherence of the emitted light does not come at the price of any reduction in the total emitted power. The experimental demonstration of the proposed concept is implemented on a GaP LED architecture including a hybrid metallic-Bragg cavity. By integrating a silicon metasurface on top we demonstrate two different functionalities of these compact devices: directional LED emission at a desired angle and LED emission of a vortex beam with an orbital angular momentum. The presented concept is general, being applicable to other incoherent light sources and enabling metasurfaces designed for plane waves to work with incoherent light emitters.
Metasurface-mediated bound states in the continuum (BIC) provides a versatile platform for light manipulation at subwavelength dimension with diverging radiative quality factor and extreme optical localization. In this work, we employ magnetic dipole quasi-BIC resonance in asymmetric silicon nanobar metasurfaces to realize giant Goos-Hanchen (GH) shift enhancement by more than three orders of wavelength. In sharp contrast to GH shift based on the Brewster dip or transmission-type resonance, the maximum GH shift here is located at the reflection peak with unity reflectance, which can be conveniently detected in the experiment. By adjusting the asymmetric parameter of metasurfaces, the $Q$-factor and GH shift can be modulated accordingly. More interestingly, it is found that GH shift exhibits an inverse quadratic dependence on the asymmetric parameter. Furthermore, we design an ultrasensitive environmental refractive index sensor based on the quasi-BIC enhanced GH shift, with a maximum sensitivity of 1.5$times$10$^{7}$ $mu$m/RIU. Our work not only reveals the essential role of BIC in engineering the basic optical phenomena, but also suggests the way for pushing the performance limits of optical communication devices, information storage, wavelength division de/multiplexers, and ultrasensitive sensors.
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