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The color of light is a fundamental property of electromagnetic radiation; as such, control of the frequency is a cornerstone of modern optics. Nonlinear materials are typically used to generate new frequencies, however the use of time-variant systems provides an alternative approach. Utilizing a metasurface that supports a high-quality factor resonance, we demonstrate that a rapidly shifting refractive index will induce frequency conversion of light that is confined in the nanoresonator meta-atoms. We experimentally observe this frequency conversion and develop a time-dependent coupled mode theory model that well describes the system. The intersection of high quality-factor resonances, active materials, and ultrafast transient spectroscopy leads to the demonstration of metasurfaces operating in a time-variant regime that enables enhanced control over light-matter interaction.

Toroidal moment is an electromagnetic excitation that lies outside the familiar picture of electric and magnetic multipoles. It has recently been a topic of intense research in the fields of nanoph...

We study the polarization properties of photon pairs emitted via spontaneous parametric down-conversion from a nonlinear metasurface driven by symmetry-protected, bound state in the continuum.

We use disordered and random Mie-resonant metasurfaces to eliminate diffraction of harmonic generation to potentially improve the nonlinear signal collection efficiency compared to harmonic generation obtained from periodic metasurfaces with equivalent nanoresonator dimensions.

Arbitrary spatiotemporal shaping requires complete control of the electric-field vector at each space-time coordinate. Here, we demonstrate simultaneous and independent tailoring of spatial and temporal properties of femtosecond pulses using a single-layer dielectric metasurface.

We report, for the first time, the generation of non-degenerate photon pairs via spontaneous parametric down-conversion driven by Bound States in the Continuum resonances in semiconductor metasurfaces.

Saturable optical elements lie at the cornerstone of many modern optical systems. Regularly patterned quasi-planar nanostructures—metasurfaces—are known to facilitate nonlinear optical processes. S...

Terahertz (THz) photoconductive devices are used for generation, detection, and modulation of THz waves, and they rely on the ability to switch electrical conductivity on a subpicosecond time scale using optical pulses. However, fast and efficient conductivity switching with high contrast has been a challenge, because the majority of photoexcited charge carriers in the switch do not contribute to the photocurrent due to fast recombination. Here, we improve efficiency of electrical conductivity switching using a network of electrically connected nanoscale GaAs resonators, which form a perfectly absorbing photoconductive metasurface. We achieve perfect absorption without incorporating metallic elements, by breaking the symmetry of cubic Mie resonators. As a result, the metasurface can be switched between conductive and resistive states with extremely high contrast using an unprecedentedly low level of optical excitation. We integrate this metasurface with a THz antenna to produce an efficient photoconductive THz detector. The perfectly absorbing photoconductive metasurface opens paths for developing a wide range of efficient optoelectronic devices, where required optical and electronic properties are achieved through nanostructuring the resonator network.

We developed terahertz detectors with integrated perfectly-absorbing photoconductive metasurfaces as an active region for improved efficiency and performance. The metasurface switches photoconductivity in the detector with contrast of ~107 using substantially reduced (>10X) optical power.

We design a resonant metasurface that uses Mie quadrupole modes to suppress the -1 diffraction order. We show that this suppression can be spectrally tuned using optical pumping on a picosecond timescale.

Toroidal dielectric metasurface with a Q-factor of 728 in 1500 nm wavelength are reported. The resonance couples strongly to the environment, as demonstrated with a refractometric sensing experiment.

We experimentally observe frequency conversion via electromagnetic wave interaction with a high quality-factor resonance in an array of resonators whose refractive indices are varied on an ultrafast timescale. Further, we describe the observations using coupled-mode-theory.

In this work, we investigate cascaded third harmonic generation in a dielectric metasurface by exploiting high quality factor Fano resonances obtained using broken symmetry unit cells.

A frequency mixer is a nonlinear device that combines electromagnetic waves to create waves at new frequencies. Mixers are ubiquitous components in modern radio-frequency technology and microwave signal processing. The development of versatile frequency mixers for optical frequencies remains challenging: such devices generally rely on weak nonlinear optical processes and, thus, must satisfy phase-matching conditions. Here we utilize a GaAs-based dielectric metasurface to demonstrate an optical frequency mixer that concurrently generates eleven new frequencies spanning the ultraviolet to near-infrared. The even and odd order nonlinearities of GaAs enable our observation of second-harmonic, third-harmonic, and fourth-harmonic generation, sum-frequency generation, two-photon absorption-induced photoluminescence, four-wave mixing and six-wave mixing. The simultaneous occurrence of these seven nonlinear processes is assisted by the combined effects of strong intrinsic material nonlinearities, enhanced electromagnetic fields, and relaxed phase-matching requirements. Such ultracompact optical mixers may enable a plethora of applications in biology, chemistry, sensing, communications, and quantum optics., Frequency mixers are hard to achieve at optical frequencies because it is difficult to meet different phase-matching conditions. Here, the authors show that GaAs metasurfaces can mix laser beams to generate eleven new wavelengths through different nonlinear optical processes occurring simultaneously.

All-dielectric metasurfaces, two-dimensional arrays of subwavelength low loss dielectric inclusions, can be used not only to control the amplitude and phase of optical beams, but also to generate new wavelengths through enhanced nonlinear optical processes that are free from some of the constraints dictated by the use of bulk materials. Recently, high quality factor (Q) resonances in these metasurfaces have been revealed and utilized for applications such as sensing and lasing. The origin of these resonances stems from the interference of two nanoresonator modes with vastly different Q. Here we show that nonlinear optical processes can be further enhanced by utilizing these high-Q resonances in broken symmetry all-dielectric metasurfaces. We study second harmonic generation from broken symmetry metasurfaces made from III–V semiconductors and observe nontrivial spectral shaping of second-harmonic and multifold efficiency enhancement induced by high field localization and enhancement inside the nanoresonators.

Perfect absorption is desired in many photonic devices, in particular in optoelectronic switches, where the ability to change electrical conductivity with photoexcitation enables fast detectors and modulators. A metallic layer is typically introduced underneath the absorbing layer to realize perfect absorption, however this approach is often impractical for photoconductive devices. Here, we demonstrate perfect absorption using an all-dielectric metasurface consisting of a network of electrically connected nanoscale GaAs resonators. We develop a metasurface structure supporting two critically-coupled and degenerate magnetic dipole modes, with their effective magnetic dipole vectors in and out of the metasurface plane. Since the latter mode is symmetry-protected for incident waves at normal incidence, we break the resonator symmetry to enable excitation of the two modes simultaneously. We provide a physical model for the metasurface design and support it with detailed numerical simulations and experimental verification. We show that this metasurface can be switched between conductive and resistive states with extremely high contrast using an unprecedentedly low level of optical excitation. Funding statement: Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-mission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC., a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA-0003525.

Performance of terahertz (THz) photoconductive devices, including detectors and emitters, has been improved recently by means of plasmonic nanoantennae and gratings. However, plasmonic nanostructures introduce Ohmic losses, which limit gains in device performance. In this presentation, we discuss an alternative approach, which eliminates the problem of Ohmic losses. We use all-dielectric photoconductive metasurfaces as the active region in THz switches to improve their efficiency. In particular, we discuss two approaches to realize perfect optical absorption in a thin photoconductive layer without introducing metallic elements. In addition to providing perfect optical absorption, the photoconductive channel based on all-dielectric metasurface allows us to engineer desired electrical properties, specifically, fast and efficient conductivity switching with very high contrast. This approach thus promises a new generation of sensitive and efficient THz photoconductive detectors. Here we demonstrate and discuss performance of two practical THz photoconductive detectors with integrated all-dielectric metasurfaces.

We demonstrate a unique photoconductive design for terahertz (THz) detection based on a perfectly absorbing, all-dielectric metasurface. Our design exploits Mie resonances in electrically connected cubic resonators fabricated in low-temperature grown (LT) GaAs. Experimentally, the detector achieves very high contrast between ON/OFF conductivity states (107) whilst also requiring extremely low optical power for optimal operation (100 $\mu$W). We find that the Mie resonances dissipate sufficiently fast and maintain the detection bandwidth up to 3 THz.

In this work we show our results on the harmonic generation and nonlinear frequency mixing enhanced by Mie modes in GaAs metasurfaces. Moreover, we show enhancement and directionality control of the quantum dot emission embedded in the metasurface.

Ultrafast all-optical switching using Mie resonant metasurfaces requires both on-demand tunability of the wavefront of the light and ultrafast time response. However, devising a switching mechanism that has a high contrast between its “on” and “off” states without compromising speed is challenging. Here, we report the design of a tunable Mie resonant metasurface that achieves this behavior. Our approach utilizes a diffractive array of semiconductor resonators that support both dipolar and quadrupolar Mie resonances. By balancing the strengths of the dipole and quadrupole resonances, we can suppress radiation into the first diffraction order, thus creating a clearly delineated “off”-state at the operating wavelength. Then, we use optical injection of free- carriers to spectrally shift the multipoles and rebalance the multipole strengths, thereby enabling radiation into the diffraction order—all on an ultrafast timescale. We demonstrate ultrafast off-to-on switching with Ion/Ioff ≈ 5 modulation of the diffracted intensity and ultrafast on-to-off switching with Ion/Ioff ≈ 9 modulation. Both switches exhibit a fast τtr ≈ 2.7 ps relaxation time at 215 μJ cm−2 pump fluence. Further, we show that for higher fluences, the temporal response of the metasurface is governed by thermo-optic effects. This combination of multipole engineering with lattice diffraction opens design pathways for tunable metasurface-based integrated devices.

Optical metasurfaces were suggested as a route for engineering advanced light sources with tailored emission properties. In particular, they provide a control over the emission directionality, which is essential for single-photon sources and LED applications. Here, we experimentally study light emission from a metasurface composed of III-V semiconductor Mie-resonant nanocylinders with integrated quantum dots (QDs). Specifically, we focus on the manipulation of the directionality of spontaneous emission from the QDs due to excitation of different magnetic quadrupole resonances in the nanocylinders. To this end, we perform both back focal plane imaging and momentum-resolved spectroscopy measurements of the emission. This allows for a comprehensive analysis of the effect of the different resonant nanocylinder modes on the emission characteristics of the metasurface. Our results show that the emission directionality can be manipulated by an interplay of the excited quadrupolar nanocylinder modes with the metasurface lattice modes and provide important insights for the design of novel smart light sources and new display concepts.

Perfect absorption of light by an optically thin metasurface is among several remarkable optical functionalities enabled by nanophotonics. This functionality can be introduced into optoelectronic devices by structuring an active semiconductor-based element as a perfectly absorbing all-dielectric metasurface, leading to improved optical properties while simultaneously providing electrical conductivity. However, a delicate combination of geometrical and material parameters is required for perfect absorption, and currently, no general all-dielectric metasurface design fulfills these conditions for a desired semiconductor and operation wavelength. Here, using numerical simulations, we demonstrate that Mie resonators with subwavelength-size interconnecting channels allow this combination of perfect absorption requirements to be satisfied for different wavelengths of operation and different levels of intrinsic material absorption. We reveal the underlying physics and show that interconnecting channels play a critical role in achieving perfect absorption through their effects on the resonant wavelengths and losses for the electric dipole and magnetic dipole modes in Mie resonators. By adjusting only the channel widths, perfect absorption can be achieved for an optically thin GaAs-based metasurface at a desired wavelength of operation in a range from 715 nm to 840 nm, where the intrinsic absorption level in GaAs varies by more than a factor of 2. Optical transmission experiments confirm that these metasurfaces resonantly enhance optical absorption. This work lays out the foundation and guidelines for replacing bulk semiconductors with electrically connected, optically thin, perfectly absorbing metasurfaces in optical detectors.

Subwavelength all-dielectric metasurfaces are well-known to support strongly localized Mie-type modes. In this work we show our results on nonlinear optical frequency mixing enhanced by magnetic and electric dipole modes in GaAs metasurfaces. By pumping the semiconductor metasurface with two 45-fs laser pulses, we were able to generate eleven new frequencies simultaneously. Moreover, we experimentally demonstrate that the improvement of the conversion efficiency of the nonlinear processes can be achieved by utilizing out-of-plane Mie resonances in the metasurface using broken-symmetry design nanoresonators.

We report on the results of theoretical and experimental studies of photoluminescense of silicon nanocrystals in the proximity to plasmonic modes of different types. In the studied samples, the type of plasmonic mode is determined by the filling ratio of a one-dimensional array of gold stripes which covers the thin film with silicon nanocrystals on a quartz substrate. We analyze the extinction, photoluminesce spectra and decay kinetics of silicon nanocrystals and show that the incident and emitted light is coupled to the corresponding plasmonic mode. We demonstrate the modification of the extinction and photoluminesce spectra under the transition from wide to narrow gold stripes. The experimental extinction and photoluminescense spectra are in good agreement with theoretical calculations performed by the rigorous coupled wave analysis. We study the contribution of individual silicon nanocrystals to the overall photoluminescense intensity, depending on their spacial position inside the structure.

Light-emitting sources and devices permeate every aspect of our lives and are used in lighting, communications, transportation, computing, and medicine. Advances in multifunctional and ""smart lighting"" would require revolutionary concepts in the control of emission spectra and directionality. Such control might be possible with new schemes and regimes of light-matter interaction paired with developments in light-emitting materials. Here we show that all-dielectric metasurfaces made from III-V semiconductors with embedded emitters have the potential to provide revolutionary lighting concepts and devices, with new functionality that goes far beyond what is available in existing technologies. Specifically, we use Mie-resonant metasurfaces made from semiconductor heterostructures containing epitaxial quantum dots. By controlling the symmetry of the resonant modes, their overlap with the emission spectra, and other structural parameters, we can enhance the brightness by 2 orders of magnitude, as well as reduce its far-field divergence significantly.

In this work, we experimentally demonstrate simultaneous occurrence of second-, third-, fourth-harmonic generation, sum-frequency generation, four-wave mixing and six-wave mixing processes in III-V semiconductor metasurfaces with spectra spanning from the UV to the near-IR.

We study photoluminescence from arrays of GaAs nanoresonators incorporating self-assembled InAs quantum dots. We experimentally observe spectral and spatial reshaping of the quantum dot photoluminescence by the resonant nanostructure.

We use broken symmetry III-V semiconductor Fano metasurfaces to substantially improve the efficiency of second-harmonic generation (SHG) in the near infrared, compared to SHG obtained from metasurfaces created using symmetrical Mie resonators.

The temporal shaping of femtosecond laser pulses reflected from a one-dimensional plasmonic crystal using a commercially available polymer grating coated with a silver film is experimentally demonstrated by timeresolved measurements of the intensity correlation function. Shaping is achieved by the excitation of surface plasmon-polaritons with a lifetime comparable to the 130 fs laser pulse duration. The variety of data obtained demonstrate the flexible shaping of fs-pulses by delaying, advancing, splitting, broadening, compressing, and changing the topological properties of the pulse with the plasmonic crystals under study.

We experimentally demonstrate resonantly enhanced nonlinear optical processes such as 2nd-, 3rd-, and 4th-harmonic generations, sum-frequency generation, four-wave mixing processes, etc., in the visible and near-IR using GaAs dielectric metasurfaces.

Optical metasurfaces are regular quasi-planar nanopatterns that can apply diverse spatial and spectral transformations to light waves. However, metasurfaces are no longer adjustable after fabrication, and a critical challenge is to realise a technique of tuning their optical properties that is both fast and efficient. We experimentally realise an ultrafast tunable metasurface consisting of subwavelength gallium arsenide nanoparticles supporting Mie-type resonances in the near infrared. Using transient reflectance spectroscopy, we demonstrate a picosecond-scale absolute reflectance modulation of up to 0.35 at the magnetic dipole resonance of the metasurfaces and a spectral shift of the resonance by 30 nm, both achieved at unprecedentedly low pump fluences of less than 400 μJ cm–2. Our findings thereby enable a versatile tool for ultrafast and efficient control of light using light., Metasurfaces are not adjustable after fabrication, and a critical challenge is to realise a technique of tuning their optical properties that is both fast and efficient. Here, Shcherbakov et al. realise an ultrafast tunable metasurface with picosecond-scale large absolute reflectance modulation at low pump fluences.

Using III-V dielectric metasurfaces, we experimentally demonstrate resonantly enhanced harmonic generations up to the 4th order. Moreover, we observe large enhancements and spectral tailoring of the photoluminescence of quantum dots embedded inside dielectric metasurfaces.

Using III-V dielectric metasurfaces, we experimentally demonstrate resonantly enhanced nonlinear optical processes up to fifth-order including sum-frequency generation, four-wave mixing, 2nd-, 3rd-, and 4th-harmonic generations, etc., with spectra spanning the UV to the near-IR.

We experimentally demonstrate ultrafast all-optical modulation in periodic arrays of subwavelength gallium arsenide nanodisks with localized Mie-type resonances. The efficient laser pulse modulation of up to 90% on the picosecond scale in the vicinity of the magnetic dipole resonance at a low pump fluence below 400 µJ/cm2 is shown by transient reflectance spectroscopy.

We experimentally realize an ultrafast tunable metasurface consisting of subwave-length gallium arsenide nanoparticles supporting Mie-type resonances, which are all-optically tuned by 30 nm in spectral domain under pump fluences as low as < 400 μJ/cm2.

We demonstrate all-optical switching of high quality factor quasibound states in the continuum resonances in broken symmetry GaAs metasurfaces. By slightly breaking the symmetry of the GaAs nanoresonators, we enable leakage of symmetry protected bound states in the continuum (BICs) to free space that results in sharp spectral resonances with high quality factors of ∼500. We tune the resulting quasi-BIC resonances with ultrafast optical pumping at 800 nm and observe a 10 nm spectral blue shift of the resonance with pump fluences of less than 100 μJ cm−2. The spectral shift is achieved in an ultrafast time scale (

Conventionally, all-optical switching devices made out from bulk silicon and other semiconductors are limited by free-carrier relaxation time which spans from picoseconds to microseconds. In this work, we discuss the possibility to suppress the undesired long free-carrier relaxation in subwavelength dielectric nanostructures exhibiting localized magnetic Mie resonances. Numerical calculations show the unsymmetrical modification of the transmittance spectra of the nanodisks due the free carriers photo-injection. Such a spectral dependance allows to control temporal response of the nanostructure by varying the laser pulse spectum.

Temporal modification of femtosecond laser pulses reflected from planar periodic metal nanostructures with resonant excitation of surface plasmon-polaritons is experimentally studied. Spectral time-resolved measurements of the second-order cross-correlation function performed with the pulse duration comparable with the surface plasmon-polariton relaxation time (about 100 fs) show the strong spectral dependence of the envelope of the reflected femtosecond pulse described by Fano-resonance parameters.

The resonant behavior of linear birefringence and linear dichroism spectra is found in anisotropic optical metamaterials made of noble metal thin films with stripes and rectangular hole nanoapertures forming one- or two-dimensional subwavelength gratings. Differences in effective refractive index and extinction coefficient for linearly polarized eigenstates are increased in spectral range of resonances of local and surface plasmon-polaritons at the normal incidence and reach the values of Δn ≃ 2.5 and Δκ ≃ 2.75, respectively.

We demonstrate experimentally ultrafast all-optical switching in subwavelength nonlinear dielectric nanostructures exhibiting localized magnetic Mie resonances. We employ amorphous silicon nanodisks to achieve strong self-modulation of femtosecond pulses with a depth of 60% at picojoule-per-disk pump energies. In the pump–probe measurements, we reveal that switching in the nanodisks can be governed by pulse-limited 65 fs-long two-photon absorption being enhanced by a factor of 80 with respect to the unstructured silicon film. We also show that undesirable free-carrier effects can be suppressed by a proper spectral positioning of the magnetic resonance, making such a structure the fastest all-optical switch operating at the nanoscale.

We have demonstrated remarkable enhancement of longitudinal and transverse magneto-optical Kerr effects in magnetoplasmonic crystals based on thin nanostructured films of nickel and iron due to resonant excitation of magnetoplasmonic waves in Faraday and Voight configurations . Manifestations of ultrafast time-dependent transverse magneto-optical Kerr effect are experimentally demonstrated in femtosecond laser pulses reflected from a one-dimensional magnetoplasmonic crystal. We show that exciting surface plasmon-polaritons with magnetization-dependent dispersion law allows one to control the shape of the refected pulse.

In magnetoplasmonics, it is possible to tailor the magneto-optical properties of nanostructures by exciting surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs). Thus far, magnetoplasmonic effects have been considered static. Here, we describe ultrafast manifestations of magnetoplasmonics by observing the non-trivial evolution of the transverse magneto-optic Kerr effect within 45-fs pulses reflected from an iron-based magnetoplasmonic crystal. The effect occurs for resonant SPP excitations, displays opposite time derivative signs for different slopes of the resonance, and is explained with the magnetization-dependent dispersion relation of SPPs., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

Ultrafast polarization state alteration is observed in optical response of a plasmonic band gap nanostructure by means of femtosecond time-resolved polarimetry.