Recent research on epsilon-near-zero (or index-near-zero) materials has revealed their promising applications in
optoelectronics. We explore a novel waveguide structure, namely “epsilon-near-zero-slot waveguide”, by utilizing
transparent conducting oxides as the active medium, which can be tuned between epsilon-near-zero and epsilon-farfrom-
zero by accumulation carriers, resulting in sharp effective index change. We propose laser beam steering by taking
advantage of this epsilon-near-zero-slot waveguide structure. With about 60°steering angle being achieved, this
waveguide structure has the advantages of ultra high speed and compact dimension, as well as easy fabrication.
We demonstrate greatly enhanced light absorption by monolayer graphene over a broad spectral range, from visible to
near infrared, based on attenuated total reflection (ATR). The designed structure consists of two dielectric media and
monolayer graphene between them. Up to 42.7% light absorption has been achieved by this structure. Moreover, when
applying electrolyte gel, electric double layers are formed at the graphene-gel interface, which leads to the change of
graphene’s electrical properties as well as optical properties. As a result, light absorption of graphene can be manually
modulated. This design may help build electro-optic modulators for applications in communications, sensing and
spectroscopy.
We explore tunable plasmonic metamaterials for electro-optic modulator applications based on ITO-based multilayer
structures. Two different structures are investigated, and modulation depth up to 38.8% can be achieved. Preliminary
results are presented for the real time response of an ITO/electrolyte gel/doped Si modulator. Furthermore, another
modulator configuration is investigated by substituting electrolyte gel by high-k dielectric material (HfO2).
The classical self-imaging effect can be observed for a periodic object with a pitch larger than the diffraction limit of an
imaging system. In this paper, we show that the self-imaging effect can be achieved in an indefinite metamaterial even
when the period is much smaller than the diffraction limit in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional numerical
simulations, where the paraxial approximation is not applied. This is attributed to the evanescent waves, which carry the
information about subwavelength features of the object, can be converted into propagating waves and then conveyed to
far field by the metamaterial, where the permittivity in the propagation direction is negative while the transverse ones are
positive. The indefinite metamaterial can be realized and approximated by a system of thin, alternating multilayer metal
and insulator (MMI) stack. As long as the loss of the metamaterial is small enough, deep subwavelength image size can
be achieved.
The Talbot effect (or the self-imaging effect) can be observed for a periodic object with a pitch larger than the diffraction
limit of an imaging system, where the paraxial approximation is applied. In this paper, we show that the super Talbot
effect can be achieved in an indefinite metamaterial even when the period is much smaller than the diffraction limit in
both two-dimensional and three-dimensional numerical simulations, where the paraxial approximation is not applied.
This is attributed to the evanescent waves, which carry the information about subwavelength features of the object, can
be converted into propagating waves and then conveyed to far field by the metamaterial, where the permittivity in the
propagation direction is negative while the transverse ones are positive. The indefinite metamaterial can be
approximated by a system of thin, alternating multilayer metal and insulator (MMI) stack. As long as the loss of the
metamaterial is small enough, deep subwavelength image size can be obtained in the super Talbot effect.
In this paper, we propose an optical switch based on a metal-insulator-metal plasmonic waveguide with Si3N4 core sandwiched between two gallium (Ga) metal layers. Combining the unique structural phase transition property of gallium, within a total length of only 400 nm, an extinction ratio as high as 7.68 dB can be achieved in the proposed nanoplasmonic structure. The phase transition may be achieved by changing the temperature of the waveguide or by external light excitation.
Due to the large transverse mode size in the frequency regime far below plasma frequency, some important applications
of surface plasmons in the THz or microwave frequency regime have been limited where deep subwavelength optical
devices are a critical technique. Here we experimentally demonstrated focusing and guiding electromagnetic (EM) waves
in a 3D spoof surface plasmonic waveguide, which is a row of rectangular rods patterned on an aluminum slab. The
maximum of the mode size can be mapped in the middle plane of two neighboring rods. The mode size slightly varies
with different frequencies and minimizes at 0.04λ-by-0.03λ at 2.25 GHz. Moreover, due to the tight binding of surface
waves, the decrease of the waveguide width does not significantly affect the dispersion of the guided modes. This fact
enables the mode tapering in the transverse direction from a wide waveguide into deep subwavelength waveguide with
high efficiency. To this end, a tapered spoof surface plasmonic waveguide was fabricated as the input is the uniform
spoof surface plasmonic waveguide and its performance was investigated in experiments. From the experimental results,
as the EM waves propagate in the taper, the mode size becomes smaller and smaller with the intensity gradually
increasing, and eventually EM waves are coupled into the deep subwavelength mode.
We propose integrated waveguides for terahertz (THz) and mid-infrared (MIR) applications on wafer platform. Based on
the prototype of spoof plasmonic waveguides consisting of textured metallic surface, we explore the possibility of
coating periodic metallic pattern with silicon (at 0.6 THz) or germanium (at MIR region of 30 THz) to further shrink the
relative mode size of propagation spoof plasmonic waves. Numerical modeling via 3D finite-difference time-domain
(FDTD) has shown deep sub-wavelength mode confinement in transverse directions to smaller than λ/50 by λ/50, with an
estimated propagation loss of less than 0.1 dB for each repetitive unit.
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