No Arabic abstract
We study, both theoretically and experimentally, tunable metasurfaces supporting sharp Fano-resonances inspired by optical bound states in the continuum. We explore the use of arsenic trisulfide (a photosensitive chalcogenide glass) having optical properties which can be finely tuned by light absorption at the post-fabrication stage. We select the resonant wavelength of the metasurface corresponding to the energy below the arsenic trisulfide bandgap, and experimentally control the resonance spectral position via exposure to the light of energies above the bandgap.
We reveal that metasurfaces created by seemingly different lattices of (dielectric or metallic) meta-atoms with broken in-plane symmetry can support sharp high-$Q$ resonances that originate from the physics of bound states in the continuum. We prove rigorously a direct link between the bound states in the continuum and the Fano resonances, and develop a general theory of such metasurfaces, suggesting the way for smart engineering of resonances for many applications in nanophotonics and meta-optics.
Bound states in the continuum (BICs) represent localized modes with energies embedded in the continuous spectrum of radiating waves. BICs were discovered initially as a mathematical curiosity in quantum mechanics, and more recently were employed in photonics. Pure mathematical bound states have infinitely-large quality factors (Q factors) and zero resonant linewidth. In optics, BICs are physically limited by a finite size, material absorption, structural disorder, and surface scattering, and they manifest themselves as the resonant states with large Q factors, also known as supercavity modes or quasi-BICs. Optical BIC resonances have been demonstrated only in extended 2D and 1D systems and have been employed for distinct applications including lasing and sensing. Optical quasi-BIC modes in individual nanoresonators have been discovered recently but they were never observed in experiment. Here, we demonstrate experimentally an isolated subwavelength nanoresonator hosting a quasi-BIC resonance. We fabricate the resonator from AlGaAs material on an engineered substrate, and couple to the quasi-BIC mode using structured light. We employ the resonator as a nonlinear nanoantenna and demonstrate record-high efficiency of second-harmonic generation. Our study brings a novel platform to resonant subwavelength photonics.
Nonlinear nanostructured surfaces provide a paradigm shift in nonlinear optics with new ways to control and manipulate frequency conversion processes at the nanoscale, also offering novel opportunities for applications in photonics, chemistry, material science, and biosensing. Here, we develop a general approach to employ sharp resonances in metasurfaces originated from the physics of bound states in the continuum for both engineering and enhancing the nonlinear response. We study experimentally the third-harmonic generation from metasurfaces composed of symmetry-broken silicon meta-atoms and reveal that the harmonic generation intensity depends critically on the asymmetry parameter. We employ the concept of the critical coupling of light to the metasurface resonances to uncover the effect of radiative and nonradiative losses on the nonlinear conversion efficiency.
Bound states in the continuum (BICs), an emerging type of long-lived resonances different from the cavity-based ones, have been explored in several classical systems, including photonic crystals and surface acoustic waves. Here, we reveal symmetry-protected mechanical BICs in the structure of slab-on-substrate optomechanical crystals. Using a group theory approach, we identified all the mechanical BICs at the $Gamma$ point in optomechanical crystals with $C_{4v}$ and $C_{6v}$ symmetries as examples, and analyzed their coupling with the co-localized optical BICs and guided resonances due to both moving boundary and photo-elastic effects. We verified the theoretical analysis with numerical simulations of specific optomechanical crystals which support substantial optomechanical interactions between the mechanical BICs and optical resonances. Due to the unique features of high-$Q$, large-size mechanical BICs and substrate-enabled thermal dissipation, this architecture of slab-on-substrate optomechanical crystals might be useful for exploring macroscopic quantum mechanical physics and enabling new applications such as high-throughput sensing and free-space beam steering.
We introduce the concept and a generic approach to realize Extreme Huygens Metasurfaces by bridging the concepts of Huygens conditions and optical bound states in the continuum. This novel paradigm allows creating Huygens metasurfaces whose quality factors can be tuned over orders of magnitudes, generating extremely dispersive phase modulation. We validate this concept with a proof-of-concept experiment at the near-infrared wavelengths, demonstrating all-dielectric Huygens metasurfaces with different quality factors. Our study points out a practical route for controlling the radiative decay rate while maintaining the Huygens condition, complementing existing Huygens metasurfaces whose bandwidths are relatively broad and complicated to tune. This novel feature can provide new insight for various applications, including optical sensing, dispersion engineering and pulse-shaping, tunable metasurfaces, metadevices with high spectral selectivity, and nonlinear meta-optics.