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In this paper, we analyze a compact silicon photonic phase modulator at 1.55 μm using epsilon-near-zero transparent conducting oxide (TCO) films. The operating principle of the non-resonant phase modulator is field-effect carrier density modulation in a thin TCO film deposited on top of a passive silicon waveguide with a CMOS-compatible fabrication process. We compare phase modulator performance using both indium oxide (In2O3) and cadmium oxide (CdO) TCO materials. Our findings show that practical phase modulation can be achieved only when using high-mobility (i.e. low-loss) epsilon-near-zero materials such as CdO. The CdO-based phase modulator has a figure of merit of 17.1°/dB in a compact 5 μm length. This figure of merit can be increased further through the proper selection of high-mobility TCOs, opening a path for device miniaturization and increased phase shifts.

We investigate optical polariton modes supported by subwavelength-thick degenerately doped semiconductor nanolayers (e.g. indium tin oxide) on glass in the epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) regime. The dispersions of the radiative (R, on the left of the light line) and non-radiative (NR, on the right of the light line) ENZ polariton modes are experimentally measured and theoretically analyzed through the transfer matrix method and the complex-frequency/real-wavenumber analysis, which are in remarkable agreement. We observe directional near-perfect absorption using the Kretschmann geometry for incidence conditions close to the NR-ENZ polariton mode dispersion. Along with field enhancement, this provides us with an unexplored pathway to enhance nonlinear optical processes and to open up directions for ultrafast, tunable thermal emission.

In this paper we describe a methodology for tailoring the design of metamaterial dielectric resonators, which represent a promising path toward low-loss metamaterials at optical frequencies. We first describe a procedure to decompose the far field scattered by subwavelength resonators in terms of multipolar field components, providing explicit expressions for the multipolar far fields. We apply this formulation to confirm that an isolated high-permittivity cube resonator possesses frequency separated electric and magnetic dipole resonances, as well as a magnetic quadrupole resonance in close proximity to the electric dipole resonance. We then introduce multiple dielectric gaps to the resonator geometry in a manner suggested by perturbation theory, and demonstrate the ability to overlap the electric and magnetic dipole resonances, thereby enabling directional scattering by satisfying the first Kerker condition. We further demonstrate the ability to push the quadrupole resonance away from the degenerate dipole resonances to achieve local behavior. These properties are confirmed through the multipolar expansion and show that the use of geometries suggested by perturbation theory is a viable route to achieve purely dipole resonances for metamaterial applications such as wave-front manipulation with Huygens' metasurfaces. Our results are fully scalable across any frequency bands where high-permittivity dielectric materials are available, including microwave, THz, and infrared frequencies., 13 pages, 11 figures

This paper investigates three-dimensional cut wire pair (CWP) behavior in vertically oriented meta-atoms. We first analyze CWP metamaterial inclusions using full-wave electromagnetic simulations. The scattering behavior of the vertical CWP differs substantially from that of the planar version of the same structure. In particular, we show that the vertical CWP supports a magnetic resonance that is solely excited by the incident magnetic field. This is in stark contrast to the bianisotropic resonant excitation of in-plane CWPs. We further show that this CWP behavior can occur in other vertical metamaterial resonators, such as back-to-back linear dipoles and back-to-back split ring resonators (SRRs), due to the strong coupling between the closely spaced metallic elements in the back-to-back configuration. In the case of SRRs, the vertical CWP mode (unexplored in previous literature) can be excited with a magnetic field that is parallel to both SRR loops, and exists in addition to the familiar fundamental resonances of the individual SRRs. In order to fully describe the scattering behavior from such dense arrays of three-dimensional structures, coupling effects between the close-packed inclusions must be included. The new flexibility afforded by using vertical resonators allows us to controllably create purely electric inclusions, purely magnetic inclusions, as well as bianisotropic inclusions, and vastly increases the degrees of freedom for the design of metafilms.

This erratum corrects the Acknowledgment in [Opt. Express23, 2293 (2015)].

We present the design, realization and characterization of strong coupling between an intersubband transition and a monolithic metamaterial nanocavity in the mid-infrared spectral range. We use a ground plane in conjunction with a planar metamaterial resonator for full three-dimensional confinement of the optical mode. This reduces the mode volume by a factor of 1.9 compared to a conventional metamaterial resonator while maintaining the same Rabi frequency. The conductive ground plane is implemented using a highly doped n+ layer which allows us to integrate it monolithically into the device and simplify fabrication.

Narrow-bandgap semiconductors such as alloys of InAsAlSb and their heterostructures are considered promising candidates for next generation infrared photodetectors and devices. The prospect of actively tuning the spectral responsivity of these detectors at the pixel level is very appealing. In principle, this could be achieved with a tunable metasurface fabricated monolithically on the detector pixel. Here, we present first steps towards that goal using a complementary metasurface strongly coupled to an epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) mode operating in the long-wave region of the infrared spectrum. We fabricate such a coupled system using the same epitaxial layers used for infrared pixels in a focal plane array and demonstrate the existence of ENZ modes in high mobility layers of InAsSb. We confirm that the coupling strength between the ENZ mode and the metasurface depends on the ENZ layer thickness and demonstrate a transmission modulation on the order of 25%. We further show numerically the expected tunable spectral behavior of such coupled system under reverse and forward bias, which could be used in future electrically tunable detectors.

We investigate the directive radiation at 1550 nm from an optical leaky wave antenna (OLWA) with semiconductor perturbations made of silicon (Si). We study the radiation pattern dependence on the physical dimensions, number of perturbations and carrier densities in these semiconductor perturbations through optical excitations at a visible wavelength, 625 nm. In this detailed theoretical study we show the correlation between the pump power absorbed in the perturbations, the signal guided in the waveguide and the radiation through leakage. To overcome the limited control of the radiation intensity through excess carrier generation in Si, we present a new design with the OLWA integrated with a Fabry-Pérot resonator (FPR). We provide analytical and numerical studies of the enhanced radiation performance of the OLWA antenna inside the FPR, and derive closed-form formulas accounting for LW reflection at the edges of the FPR. A discussion on the constructive and destructive radiation by the direct and reflected leaky waves in the FPR resonator is provided. Results shown in this paper exhibit 3 dB variation of the radiation and pave the way for further optimization and theoretical developments.

We propose a design of a dielectric (silicon nitride) optical leaky wave antenna (OLWA) with periodic semiconductor (silicon) corrugations, capable of producing narrow beam radiation. The optical antenna radiates a narrow beam because a leaky wave (LW) with low attenuation constant is excited at one end of the corrugated dielectric waveguide. We show that pointing angle, beam-width, and operational frequency are all related to the LW complex wavenumber, whose value depends on the amount of silicon perturbations in the waveguide. In this paper, the propagation constant and the attenuation coefficient of the LW in the periodic structure are extracted from full-wave simulations. The far-field radiation patterns in both glass and air environments predicted by LW theory agree well with the ones obtained by full-wave simulations. We achieve a directive radiation pattern in glass environment with about 17.5 dB directivity and 1.05 degree beam-width at the operative free space wavelength of 1.55 mu m, pointing at a direction orthogonal to the waveguide (broadside direction). We also show that the use of semiconductor corrugations facilitate electronic tuning of the radiation pattern via carrier injection. (C)2011 Optical Society of America

We demonstrate numerically that two-dimensional arrays of ultrathin CdTe nano-cylinders on Ag can serve as an effective broadband anti-reflection structure for solar cell applications. Such devices exhibit strong absorption properties, mainly in the CdTe semiconductor regions, and can produce short-circuit current densities of 23.4 mA/cm(2), a remarkable number in the context of solar cells given the ultrathin dimensions of our nano-cylinders. The strong absorption is enabled via excitation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) under plane wave incidence. In particular, we identified the key absorption mechanism as enhanced fields of the SPP standing waves residing at the interface of CdTe nano-cylinders and Ag. We compare the performance of Ag, Au, and Al substrates, and observe significant improvement when using Ag, highlighting the importance of using low-loss metals. Although we use CdTe here, the proposed approach is applicable to other solar cell materials with similar absorption properties.

We investigate local electromagnetic field enhancements in oligomers of plasmonic nanospheres. We first evaluate via full-wave simulations the field between spheres in several oligomer systems: linear dimers, linear trimers, trimers 60°, trimers 90° and linear quadrumers. To gain a better understanding of the field enhancement values, we compare the results with local fields in a hexagonal close-packed (HCP) configuration with same structural dimensions. We then inter-relate the field enhancement values found via full-wave simulations to SERS enhancements of actual fabricated self-assembled oligomers. We find that linear oligomers provide the largest field enhancement values. Finally, we provide closed-form formulas for the prediction of the resonance frequency responsible for field enhancement in linear oligomers, namely dimers, trimers and quadrumers, modeling each nanosphere as a single electric dipole. These formulas provide with resonance values less than 7% shifted when compared to full-wave results even when the gap between spheres is only about one fifth of the radius, showing the powerfulness of dipolar approximations. The results shown in this paper demonstrate that ad hoc clusters of nanospheres can be designed and fabricated to obtain larger field enhancements than with the HCP structure and this may pave the way for the development of improved sensors for molecular spectroscopy. © 2013 Optical Society of America.

We characterize the modes with complex wavenumber for both longitudinal and transverse polarization states (with respect to the mode traveling direction) in three dimensional (3D) periodic arrays of plasmonic nanospheres, including metal losses. The Ewald representation of the required dyadic periodic Green's function to represent the field in 3D periodic arrays is derived from the scalar case, which can be analytically continued into the complex wavenumber space. We observe the presence of one longitudinal mode and two transverse modes, one forward and one backward. Despite the presence of two modes for transverse polarization, we notice that the forward one is "dominant" (i.e., it contributes most to the field in the array). Therefore, in case of transverse polarization, we describe the composite material in terms of a homogenized effective refractive index, comparing results from (i) modal analysis, (ii) Maxwell Garnett theory, (iii) Nicolson-Ross-Weir retrieval method from scattering parameters for finite thickness structures (considering different thicknesses, showing consistency of results), and (iv) the fitting of the fields obtained through HFSS simulations. The agreement among the different methods justifies the performed homogenization procedure in case of transverse polarization.

Bound and leaky modes with complex wavenumber in chains (linear arrays) of plasmonic nanospheres are characterized for both longitudinal and transverse polarization states (with respect to the array axis). The proposed method allows for the description of each mode evolution when varying frequency. As a consequence, full characterization of the guided modes with complex wavenumber is provided in terms of propagation direction, guidance or radiance, proper or improper, and physical or nonphysical conditions. Each nanosphere is modeled according to the single dipole approximation, and the metal permittivity is described by the Drude model. Modal wavenumbers are obtained by computing the complex zeroes of the homogeneous equation characterizing the field in the one dimensional periodic array. The required periodic Green's function is analytically continued into the complex wavenumber space by using the Ewald method. Furthermore, a parametric analysis of the mode wavenumbers is performed with respect to the geometrical parameters of the array.