High-efficiency optical limiter using metasurface and phase-change material

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11209716-B2
Application number	US-201916593551-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 4, 2019
Priority date	Oct 5, 2018
Publication date	Dec 28, 2021
Grant date	Dec 28, 2021

Abstract

According to some aspects, a transmissive and all-dielectric optical component/limiter with great cutoff efficiency using Vanadium Dioxide (VO2) as the active component is disclosed. In some embodiments, Vanadium dioxide is used for an optical limiter due to the large contrast in optical constants upon undergoing the semiconductor to metal phase transition. When triggered optically, this transition occurs within 60 fs, making the device suitable for an ultrafast laser environment. In addition, the phase transition threshold is tunable by applying stress or doping; therefore, the device cutoff intensity can be adjusted to fulfill specific requirements.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An optical component, comprising:
a dielectric resonator; and
a phase-change material on the dielectric resonator, the phase-change material having an optical property having a first characteristic associated with a first material phase and a second characteristic associated with a second material phase,
wherein an electric dipole of the dielectric resonator and a magnetic dipole of the dielectric resonator are spectrally overlapped at a resonance wavelength.

2. The optical component of claim 1 , wherein the dielectric resonator has a cylindrical profile having a height H res and diameter D res and wherein phase-change material has a cylindrical profile having a height t pcm and a diameter D pcm , wherein D res =D pcm and the phase-change material is on the dielectric resonator such that a total height H tot of the optical component H tot =H res +t pcm .

3. The optical component of claim 1 , wherein the dielectric resonator comprises Si and the phase-change material comprises VO 2 .

4. The optical component of claim 3 , wherein the VO 2 extends from the surface of the Si a predetermined thickness.

5. The optical component of claim 4 , wherein the VO 2 has a cylindrical profile having a height t VO2 and diameter D VO2 and wherein the Si has a cylindrical profile having a height h Si and a diameter D Si .

6. The optical component of claim 5 , wherein t VO2 2=30 nm and h Si =180 nm and D VO2 =D Si .

7. The optical component of claim 1 , further comprising an insulating substrate wherein the dielectric resonator is on the substrate and the phase-change material is on the dielectric resonator.

8. An optical component, comprising:
a dielectric resonator; and
a phase-change material on the dielectric resonator, the phase-change material having an optical property having a first characteristic associated with a first material phase and a second characteristic associated with a second material phase,
wherein the first characteristic is semiconducting and the second characteristic is reflectivity.

9. The optical component of claim 8 , wherein an electric dipole of the dielectric resonator and a magnetic dipole of the dielectric resonator are spectrally overlapped at a resonance wavelength.

10. An optical device having tunable light transmission properties comprising:
an insulating substrate;
dielectric resonator structures on the insulating substrate and periodically spaced apart on a surface of the insulating substrate by a predetermined pitch p; and
a phase-change material structures, each phase-change material structure corresponding to and located on one of the dielectric resonator structures, wherein each of the phase-change material structures has an optical property having a first characteristic associated with a first material phase and a second characteristic associated with a second material phase,
wherein an electric dipole of the dielectric resonator and a magnetic dipole of the dielectric resonator are spectrally overlapped at a resonance wavelength.

11. The optical device of claim 10 , wherein the pitch p is p x in a first direction the substrate and p y in a second direction on the substrate.

12. The optical device of claim 11 , wherein p x =p y and the first direction is substantially perpendicular to the second direction.

13. The optical device of claim 10 , wherein each of the dielectric resonators has a cylindrical profile having a height H res and diameter D res and wherein each of the phase-change material structures has a cylindrical profile having a height t pcm and a diameter D pcm , wherein D res =D pcm and each of the phase-change material structures is on one of the dielectric resonators such that a total height H tot of an optical component comprising one of the dielectric resonators and one of the phase-change material structures is H tot =H res +t pcm .

14. The optical device of claim 10 , wherein the dielectric resonator comprises Si and the phase-change material comprises VO 2 .

15. The optical component of claim 14 , wherein the VO 2 extends from the surface of the Si a predetermined thickness.

16. The optical device of claim 14 , wherein the VO 2 has a cylindrical profile having a height t VO2 and diameter D VO2 and wherein the Si has a cylindrical profile having a height h Si and a diameter D Si .

17. The optical component of claim 16 , wherein t VO2 =30 nm and h Si =180 nm and D VO2 =D Si .

18. The optical device of claim 10 , wherein the first characteristic is semiconducting and the second characteristic is reflectivity.

Assignees

• Univ Vanderbilt
• Vanderbuilt Univ

Inventors

• Valentine Jason G
• Haglund Richard F
• Zhu Zhihua
• Howes Austin

Classifications

• G02F1/3523 Primary

  Non-linear absorption changing by light, e.g. bleaching · CPC title

• G02F1/3509

  Shape, e.g. shape of end face · CPC title

• G02F1/3501 Primary

  Constructional details or arrangements of non-linear optical devices, e.g. shape of non-linear crystals · CPC title

• G02F1/3556

  Semiconductor materials, e.g. quantum wells · CPC title

• G02F2202/30

  Metamaterials · CPC title