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Beam steering at the nanosecond time scale with an atomically thin reflector.

Authors :
Andersen, Trond I.
Gelly, Ryan J.
Scuri, Giovanni
Dwyer, Bo L.
Wild, Dominik S.
Bekenstein, Rivka
Sushko, Andrey
Sung, Jiho
Zhou, You
Zibrov, Alexander A.
Liu, Xiaoling
Joe, Andrew Y.
Watanabe, Kenji
Taniguchi, Takashi
Yelin, Susanne F.
Kim, Philip
Park, Hongkun
Lukin, Mikhail D.
Source :
Nature Communications; 6/14/2022, Vol. 13 Issue 1, p1-7, 7p
Publication Year :
2022

Abstract

Techniques to mold the flow of light on subwavelength scales enable fundamentally new optical systems and device applications. The realization of programmable, active optical systems with fast, tunable components is among the outstanding challenges in the field. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a few-pixel beam steering device based on electrostatic gate control of excitons in an atomically thin semiconductor with strong light-matter interactions. By combining the high reflectivity of a MoSe<subscript>2</subscript> monolayer with a graphene split-gate geometry, we shape the wavefront phase profile to achieve continuously tunable beam deflection with a range of 10°, two-dimensional beam steering, and switching times down to 1.6 nanoseconds. Our approach opens the door for a new class of atomically thin optical systems, such as rapidly switchable beam arrays and quantum metasurfaces operating at their fundamental thickness limit. Andersen et al. have demonstrated a new type of beam steering device based on the excitonic response of an atomically thin semiconductor. Using electrostatic gates, the authors achieved tunable steering with switching times on the nanosecond scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
20411723
Volume :
13
Issue :
1
Database :
Complementary Index
Journal :
Nature Communications
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
157431932
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29976-0