Embodiments of the present invention relate to optical devices at nanometer scale utilizing hyperbolic media tunable using phase change materials.
Optical near and far fields can be manipulated by coupling light into the hybrid optical modes called polaritons. These modes can be stimulated in a variety of materials where oscillating charges couple to light (photons), creating a negative real part of the electric permittivity. Polaritons form at the interface of these ‘polaratonic materials’ and a dielectric, existing as a wave oscillating at the frequency of incident light, but with a wavelength that is compressed to values much smaller than the diffraction limit. Hyperbolic polaritons occur within materials or metamaterials/metasurfaces where the real part of the permittivity is negative along one or two axes (e.g., x,y direction in Cartesian coordinates) and positive along the other(s) (e.g., z direction). Hyperbolic polaritons differ from traditional surface-bound polaritons in several key ways; the electromagnetic fields of the light/charge hybrid mode (polariton) are confined within the volume of the hyperbolic media, the polariton propagates at an angle with respect to the z-axis dictated by the material properties and incident frequency and a superposition of multiple polaritons with decreasing wavelengths exist simultaneously, referred to as higher order modes. Hyperbolic media exist naturally in highly anisotropic crystals (e.g., hexagonal boron nitride or molybdenum trioxide), or as artificial three-dimensional materials (e.g., planar layers of alternating metals and dielectrics) or metasurfaces (alternating stripes of metallic and dielectric materials).
Phase change materials are class of materials which undergo a structural change upon exposure to external stimuli, resulting in a change in their optical properties.
Reconfigurability, that is, substantial changing of the optical response with a given external stimulus, has been a challenge in polaritonic materials in general, as it requires arbitrarily changing the shape of individual elements of the structure, dynamically controlling the local dielectric environment, or controlling the optical properties of the polaritonic material itself.
In accordance with the purpose(s) of this invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, this invention, in one aspect, relates to an optical component comprising a phase change material having an optical property having a first value associated with a first material phase and a second value associated with a second material phase; and a hyperbolic polaritonic material on the phase change material, the hyperbolic polaritonic material having a first optical response in a first direction and a second optical response in a second direction and a third optical response in the third direction.
In another aspect, the invention relates to a method of performing optical functions with an optical component comprising a phase change material having an optical property having a first value associated with a first material phase and a second value associated with a second material phase; and a hyperbolic material in stacked geometry on the phase change material, the hyperbolic material having a first optical response in a first direction and a second optical response in a second direction, and a third optical response in a third direction. The method comprises applying hyperbolic polaritons in the hyperbolic polaritonic material such that the hyperbolic polaritons cross over a boundary between the first material phase and the second material phase; and changing phase of the phase change material in the optical component by applying stimulus to the phase change material to change at least one the first value of the optical property and the second value of the optical property.
In yet another aspect, the invention relates to a hyperbolic waveguide, comprising: a dielectric domain dielectric/α-phase change material; a metallic/c-phase domain of a phase change material within the dielectric/α-phase of the phase change material; a hyperbolic polaritonic material on the metallic/c phase domain; and a gap in the metallic phase domain of the phase change material below a portion of the hyperbolic polaritonic material.
Additional advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.
Accordingly, the present disclosure describes a means to actively control hyperbolic polariton propagation through changing the ambient environment via inducing a change in phase within a suitable phase change material, placed adjacent to the hyperbolic media. By inducing local changes in the refractive index of the phase change material (PCM) by external stimulus (electrical, thermal or optical) via the phase change, the wavelength of the polariton can be modified. Therefore, as a result of locally controlling the refractive index of the PCM, the polariton propagation within the hyperbolic media can then be controlled. This can be used to direct light propagation on-chip, including focusing, diverging, waveguiding, etc. . . . . The benefit of the PCM is that this response can be reconfigurable, that is, designed, erased and redesigned.
Prior works demonstrated surface polaritons coupled to PCMs, however, with surface-confined modes, the mode can only propagate useable distances when the PCM is in a low-loss dielectric phase. Other approaches towards on-chip photonics are dictated by the design, which cannot be changed.
Principles described herein provide means to control light at deeply sub-diffractional dimensions. This offers avenues to directing light on-chip or providing approaches towards creating refractive optical components.
Further embodiments, features, and advantages of the actively reconfigurable, hyperbolic-PCM metasurfaces, as well as the structure and operation of the various embodiments of the actively reconfigurable, hyperbolic-PCM metasurfaces, are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention as claimed.
The patent or application file contains at least one drawing executed in color. Copies of this patent or patent application publication with color drawing(s) will be provided by the Office upon request and payment of the necessary fee.
The accompanying figures, which are incorporated herein and form part of the specification, illustrate actively reconfigurable, hyperbolic metasurfaces. Together with the description, the figures further serve to explain the principles of the actively reconfigurable, hyperbolic metasurfaces described herein and thereby enable a person skilled in the pertinent art to make and use the actively reconfigurable, hyperbolic-PCM metasurfaces.
Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the actively reconfigurable, hyperbolic-PCM metasurfaces with reference to the accompanying figures, in which like reference numerals indicate like elements.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
Referring to
Referring to
By integrating PCMs and polaritonic materials, changes in optical properties induced by such a phase transition can provide the means to control the polariton dispersion by changing the local dielectric environment in which the evanescent polaritonic near-fields propagate. Thus, they can be exploited to realize reconfigurable metasurfaces. One of the phases of PCMs is typically metallic and/or can exhibit high optical losses. Consequently, in previous studies of surface-confined polaritons, such as surface plasmon or surface phonon polaritons, the propagation was restricted to spatial regions over the PCM where a low-loss dielectric phase was present. This spatial propagation makes concepts such as nanophotonic waveguides, grating couplers and focusing elements that are difficult to realize in PCM-surface-polariton-based systems, despite the opportunities available.
Two changes in approach that overcome these previous limitations are applied according to principles described herein. Although not required for exercise of the principles described herein, isotopically enriched hBN, a natural hyperbolic medium that supports low-loss hyperbolic phonon polaritons (HPhPs), may be used as the polaritonic material, and may result in reduced losses in polariton propagation. The use of hyperbolic polaritons (HPs), (here hyperbolic phonon polaritons) where the polariton fields are largely confined to the bulk of the low-loss hBN, rather than at the interface between the polaritonic medium and the PCM, allows longer propagation lengths than in prior known devices. The ability to control and refract propagating hyperbolic polaritons with PCMs suggest the ability to create a reconfigurable metasurface.
According to principles described herein, hyperbolic polaritons allow the polaritons to remain sensitive to local changes in the dielectric function of the ambient environment, but the electromagnetic near-fields are strongly confined to the volume of the hyperbolic material. The HPs can interact with spatially localized regions where the phase transitions of the PCM occur without suffering significant optical losses from the interaction. Thus, the HPs propagate over both metallic and dielectric phases. For example, differences in the local dielectric environment between the metallic and dielectric domains results in a large change in the HP wavelength in the hBN over each domain, which in turn results in the refraction of the polariton when transmitting across the PCM phase-domain boundaries as dictated by Snell's law (Eq. (1), below). This means that the combination of hyperbolic media and PCMs employed here, and the like, can be used to create refractive optical elements and waveguides, as well as components benefiting from full optical functionalities that to this point have been limited to far-field optics.
Concepts according to these principles were demonstrated using electromagnetic modeling, showing that PCM-HPhP heterostructures can be designed as optical resonators and metasurfaces, as well as refractive near-field components, such as waveguides and lenses. This combination of PCMs with hyperbolic media provides a new toolset for near-field optical design and structuring. For reversible PCM transitions, any of these designs can be fully reconfigured using either thermal changes or approaches based on laser writing, for example. By exploiting the increasingly wide range of different PCMs and hyperbolic materials and metamaterials, such as hBN, MoO3 and alternating stacks of doped and undoped semiconductor layers or metal/dielectric layers, and the like, these effects can be realized over an extended range of frequencies.
Referring to
The illustrated sample presents three different interfaces, each of which can have distinctive properties in terms of launching polaritons in the s-SNOM experiment. Observing a tip-launched mode requires a strong reflection from an interface, while observation of an edge-launched mode demands strong scattering off the sample edge. Considering the edge of the hBN flake, the polariton cannot propagate past the edge of the flake and therefore nearly 100% is reflected, leading to a strong tip-launched mode. On the other hand, these hBN flakes are thin (24 nm), and therefore interact only weakly with incident waves, suppressing the edge-launched mode. Thus, only the tip-launched mode can be observed near the hBN crystal edge.
Second, there is an interface where the hBN extends over the edge of the VO2 crystal. As the flakes of hBN are continuous across the VO2 edge, tip-launched modes can propagate over this interface and will only be weakly reflected. On the other hand, the VO2 crystal itself strongly scatters incident waves to launch polaritons from the VO2 crystal edges. Therefore, the edge-launched modes can only be seen at the interfaces between hBN and the VO2 crystal.
The third type of interface is the domain boundaries between dielectric and metallic VO2. Due to the relatively small size of the domains in this sample, these show much weaker s-SNOM signals, however, the same arguments as for the edge of the VO2 crystal hold. Therefore, the edge-launched polaritons are mainly seen. This hypothesis is qualitatively supported by electromagnetic simulations of plane waves incident on these three types of boundaries presented in
For the experimental efforts exploring the changes in polariton wavelength, refraction and propagation over the two VO2 domain types, a series of heating and cooling cycles was employed, with s-SNOM measurements performed at various temperatures and incident frequencies. The generalized process for these measurements is summarized in
Propagation of HPhPs is strongly influenced by the local dielectric environment. For example, the influence of the VO2 phase transition can be evaluated by measuring the s-SNOM response of the sample as a function of temperature, traversing the full dielectric-to-metal transition from 60° C. to 80° C. The sample was heated in situ inside the s-SNOM microscope on a custom-built heating stage. Individual VO2 domains were directly observed with s-SNOM due to the dielectric contrast between domains, with metallic (dielectric) VO2 appearing as bright (dark) regions, as shown in
When the s-SNOM maps the evanescent fields of propagating HPhP waves in the presence of multiple interfaces, complex images result from the superposition of the waves launched, transmitted across and reflected by each domain boundary, crystal edge, and the s-SNOM tip. The simplest polaritons to identify are the modes launched from the edge of the VO2 crystal, as they form straight fringes aligned parallel to the crystal edge. Due to the difference in local dielectric environment, these HPhPs propagating over the dielectric and metallic domains will possess different polariton wavelengths λp. Here the HPhP mode launched by the VO2 crystal edge over the dielectric (metallic) domain is highlighted by the light blue (red) arrow in
Although past work has shown that PCM domain boundaries can serve to launch polaritons, here they are launched and propagate over both phases, with a different wavelength over each, promising the potential for dynamically reconfiguring HP properties and propagation.
A heterostructure (or superlattice) as described herein enables the transmission of polaritons across the aforementioned domain boundaries. To simplify s-SNOM images and subsequent analysis, domain geometries with only a single boundary are required. As the positions of domain boundaries induced via thermal cycling of the VO2 phase change are naturally quasi-random, multiple heating and cooling cycles (see
Of interest is the polariton wave front that propagates away from the VO2 crystal edge in the y direction (purple dashed line with black arrows in
If a hyperbolic polariton traverses the boundary between metallic and insulating VO2 domains, the angle of propagation changes to conserve momentum in accordance with Snell's law:
where n1 and n2 are the indices of refraction in the first and second media, and θI and θR are the corresponding angles of incidence and refraction. To demonstrate that the experimentally measured images are due to refraction, the results in
To quantify the change in the polariton wavevector and HPhP refraction induced by the VO2 domains and to test the ability to reconfigure the metasurface, the polariton wavelength dependence on incident frequency and refracted angle in different domain geometries were studied. In the first case, s-SNOM images of the HPhPs within hBN were systemically recorded at several monochromatic incident laser frequencies over both metallic and dielectric domains, and the polariton wavelength subsequently extracted through Fourier analysis of the s-SNOM maps, as has been reported previously. The experimentally extracted polariton wavevector (symbols) agrees well with numerical calculations of the HPhP dispersion for thin hBN slabs on a substrate consisting of either the dielectric or metallic phase of VO2 (see
Experimental demonstration of HPhP refraction for polaritons transmitted across a dielectric-metallic domain was presented in
To quantify this phenomenon, we compared the measured dispersion relation of hBN polaritons propagating over both metal and dielectric VO2 to analytically calculated results. Due to the thin layer of boron nitride, even relatively small changes in frequency produce a significant shift in propagation constant in both waves—changing in the ratio n1/n2. As such, by examining the refracted angle as a function of both frequency and incident angle we verify that Snell's law holds for tightly confined polaritons propagating along a surface.
Again, the change in wavevector between domains at the same incident frequency is attributable to the change in the dielectric constant of VO2 between the two PCM states. From the measured change in polariton wavelength, the ratio of the indices of refraction, n1/n2, can be calculated to determine the expected angle of refraction for the HPhP waves from Snell's Law Eq. (1) and compared with the refracted angle extracted from the s-SNOM images of
To supplement experimental results on polariton refraction, electromagnetic simulations were conducted for various metallic-dielectric domain angles and frequencies, identical to
Results presented here demonstrate that the tools and concepts of refractive optics are therefore applicable in near-field optical designs. Indeed, the repeatable nature of both the change in polariton wavelength and Snell's law demonstrates that this platform can steer polariton propagation by proper design of the local dielectric environment, thus enabling the rational design of polariton-based, compact and/or on-chip optical components.
The ability to control HPs propagating across phase-domain boundaries opens several possibilities for engineering lithography-free metasurfaces and near-field optics. A rewritable nanoresonator can be designed, in which a periodic array of metallic square domains is created inside the VO2 crystal underneath the hBN (see inset
Patterning of the PCM allows control of the optical properties, such as focal length. According to principles described herein, use of a PCM that can be reconfigured by an external stimulus, such as the application of heat or laser or electricity or other known reconfiguration impetus, may allow for controlling the optical properties of the HP modes. This can be used to realize a number of reconfigurable optical processes, such as modifying the focal length of a planar lens design, local optical contrast, index of refraction, absorption, etc., and therefore enabling devices according to principles described herein to optical communication in a compact environment.
Frequency tuning may be achieved by, for example, changing resonator size L (L=250 nm in
Accordingly, the phase change material can be manipulated by changing the local structure, for example, to manipulate polaritons in the adjacent hyperbolic material, thus tuning the wave-propagation properties of the polaritons in the hyperbolic material.
Refraction of HPs across boundaries also enlarges the toolbox for near-field optics to include those of conventional refractive systems, such as in-plane lenses, whereby polaritons are focused to a point via refraction. A simulation of such a lens is shown in
Devices and methods according to principles described herein may be reduced to practice and scaled by using VO2 or GeSbTe films grown by sputtering and boron nitride grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition. Alternatively, the devices and methods can be reduced to practice in different wavelength regimes by changing the hyperbolic material (such as MoO3)
Without limitation to the overall principles described herein, devices fabricated for the purposes of demonstration were fabricated according to the following methods. VO2 single crystals were grown by physical vapor transport in a quartz tube furnace at 810° C. under 1.7 Torr Ar gas at a flow rate of 25 s.c.c.m. Vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) powder (˜0.3 g, Sigma Aldrich 221899) was placed in a quartz boat (10×1×1 cm) upstream of the desired substrates and heated for 1 h. Evaporated V2O5 was reduced to VO2 in this process and deposited on quartz (0001) substrates. Representative crystals from each sample were investigated using Raman spectroscopy to identify the VO2 phase and optical microscopy to verify the thermal phase transition. Smaller, loose crystals located on the substrate surface were removed by adhesion to a heated (60° C.) layer of PMMA firmly brought into contact with the sample and subsequently retracted.
The isotopically enriched hBN crystals were grown from high-purity elemental 10B (99.22 at %) powder by using the metal-flux method. A Ni—Cr—B powder mixture at respectively 48 wt %, 48 wt %, and 4 wt % was loaded into an alumina crucible and placed in a single-zone furnace. The furnace was evacuated and then filled with N2 and forming gas (5% hydrogen in balance argon) to a constant pressure of 850 Torr. During the reaction process, the N2 and forming gases continuously flowed through the system with rates of 125 s.c.c.m. and 25 s.c.c.m., respectively. All the nitrogen in the hBN crystal originated from the flowing N2 gas.
The forming gas was used to minimize oxygen and carbon impurities in the hBN crystal. After a dwell time of 24 h at 1550° C., the hBN crystals were precipitated onto the metal surface by cooling at a rate of 1° C./h to 1500° C., and then the system was quickly quenched to room temperature. Bulk crystals were exfoliated from the metal surface using thermal release tape. Crystals were subsequently mechanically exfoliated onto a PMMA/PMGI (polymethylglutarimide) polymer bilayer on silicon. Flakes were then transferred from the polymer substrate onto VO2 single crystals using a semi-dry technique and the polymer membrane was removed using acetone and isopropyl alcohol.
Numerical simulations were conducted in CST Studio Suite 2017 using the frequency-domain solver with plane waves incident at 450 and Floquet boundary conditions. In these simulations, polariton modes were only launched by scattering from edges in the simulation and field profiles were extracted using frequency monitors. All results used thicknesses consistent with those measured in topographic scans of the samples. Dielectric functions were taken from literature for isotopically enriched hBN, VO2, and GeSbTe.
Near-field nano-imaging experiments were carried out in a commercial (www.neaspec.com) s-SNOM based around a tapping-mode atomic force microscope. A metal-coated Si-tip of apex radius R≈20 nm that oscillates at a frequency of 2≈280 kHz and tapping amplitude of about 100 nm is illuminated by monochromatic quantum cascade laser beam at a wavelength λ=6.9 μm and at an angle 45° to the sample surface. Scattered light launches hBN HPhPs in the device and the tip then re-scatters light for detection in the far field. Background signals are efficiently suppressed by demodulating the detector signal at the second harmonic of the tip oscillation frequency and employing pseudo-heterodyne interferometric detection.
As shown herein, the dispersion of HPs can be controlled using the permittivity changes inherent in the different (insulating vis á vis metallic) phases of PCMs. This enables the direct launching, reflection, transmission, and refraction of HP waves at the domain boundaries between the different phases of the PCM, due to the large change in HPhP wavelength (by a factor of 1.6 as shown in the experiments) that occurs for modes propagating in the hBN over each of these domains. Thermal cycling of the hBN-VO2 heterostructure creates a range of domain-boundary geometries in the PCM, enabling the demonstration of various near-field phenomena. By inducing well-defined domain structures, it will be possible to design reconfigurable HP resonators and refractive optics in a planar, compact format at dimensions far below the diffraction limit.
Beyond the implications for integrated nanophotonics, reconfigurable HP resonators could be used to match resonant frequencies to local molecular vibrational modes for the relation of dynamic surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) spectroscopy. Although the present case experimentally demonstrates these concepts using hBN on VO2, using different combinations of PCMs (such as GeSbTe) and other hyperbolic materials (such as metal/dielectric metamaterials) could see expanded applications over a wide frequency range. Ultimately, it is anticipated that the combination of low-loss, hyperbolic materials, and latchable PCMs will result in applications in lithography-free design and fabrication of optical and optoelectronic devices, whereas volatile PCMs could be used for dynamic modulation in photonic structures.
According to principles described herein, the combination of a hyperbolic material or metamaterial, which can be a natural (e.g. hBN) or artificial (metal/dielectric stack), features an in- or out-of-plane hyperbolic response. The hyperbolic material or metamaterial is combined with a PCM that can be a latchable (e.g. GST) or non-latchable (e.g. VO2) material that can be successfully switched between two material states (e.g. dielectric and metal, crystalline and amorphous, . . . ) via external stimuli (e.g. laser excitation, heat, electrical bias, pressure). The combined hyperbolic material or metamaterial combined with PCM may be used in a variety of technologies to replace far-field refractive optics, whereby index contrast and variable path lengths are used to perform optical functions, but in this case, on a planar surface at length scales smaller than the diffraction limit of light. For example, reconfigurable hyperbolic metasurface devices, tuned by a PCM, may be applied to lenses, beam expanders, beam telescopes, waveguides (confinement of propagating mode due to index contrast between inner and outer regions), directional couplers, interferometer, phase-delay components, prisms and the like. By implementing a gradient in the phase change, such that intermediate states are induced in a defined manner, concepts such as gradient index lenses may be fabricated, but at size scales well below the diffraction limit, unlike conventional devices. Antennas (e.g. gratings, rods, rings, disk arrays, nano-scale versions of standard antennas such as the Yagi-Uda) are also possible.
This concept is based on the principle of defining domains of one phase within a PCM film, with the surrounding material being the other phase. This localized index contrast defines an antenna within the hyperbolic material, thus making a reconfigurable antenna design, including: antenna designs for transmit/receive functions, as in free-space or on-chip communications or signal processing, antenna designs for chemical sensing, including resonant enhancement schemes such as surface enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) or via sensitivity to a local change in the refractive index on the surface of the hyperbolic material, as in surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensing approaches, antennas for modulators (amplitude modulation schemes).
Thus, metasurfaces according to principles described herein control light propagation at the nanoscale for applications in both free-space and surface-confined geometries. What is demonstrated is a reconfigurable hyperbolic metasurface comprising a heterostructure of isotopically enriched hBN in direct contact with the phase-change material (PCM) single-crystal vanadium dioxide (VO2). Metallic and dielectric domains in VO2 provide spatially localized changes in the local dielectric environment, enabling launching, reflection, and transmission of hyperbolic phonon polaritons (HPhPs) at the PCM domain boundaries, and tuning the wavelength of HPhPs propagating in hBN over these domains by a factor of 1.6. The system supports in-plane HPhP refraction, thus providing a prototype for a class of planar refractive optics. This approach offers reconfigurable control of in-plane HP propagation and exemplifies a generalizable framework based on combining hyperbolic media and PCMs to design optical functionality. Devices according to the principles described herein may also be used for beam control and shaping. This concept is based on the principle of defining wavelength or sub-wavelength scale optical domains such that the far-field response is dictated by an effective medium that superimposes all of the components simultaneously. These include beam-steering and beam-shaping approaches, as well as metasurface and metamaterial concepts using spatially varying nanoscale elements, such as nano disks or rods arranged by a computer-generated scheme to produce a desired output beam shape.
While various embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not limitation. It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art that various changes in form and detail can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.
This application is a non-provisional of Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/641,089, filed Mar. 9, 2018, which application is hereby incorporated by this reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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62641089 | Mar 2018 | US |