High-efficiency tunable circular asymmetric transmission using dielectric metasurface integrated with graphene sheet

Multifunctional metasurfaces for switchable polarization selectivity and absorption

A multifunctional metasurface capable of dynamic control for polarization selectivity and absorption is proposed by controlling the phase of Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ (GST) in the near-infrared region. At amorphous state of GST (a-GST), the proposed GST strip array realized polarization selectivity in transmission-reflection integrated modes. The high-efficiency asymmetric transmission (AT = 0.92) and asymmetric reflection (AR = -0.82) are both obtained by selectively exciting Mie multipole resonances. With the transition from a-GST to crystalline (c-GST) state, the giant polarization selectivity almost disappeared, and the absorptions climb from < 0.1 to > 0.9. The maximum modulation depth reaches 94%. The mechanism of the dynamic switching between polarization selectivity and absorption is quantitively analyzed via multipole expansion. The GST based metasurfaces simultaneously possess excellent switchable capability for AT, AR, and absorption without refabricating structures, which is promising to the applications for next generation optical devices.

Tunable circular dichroism based on graphene-metal split ring resonators

The chiroptical response of the chiral metasurface can be characterized by circular dichroism, which is defined as the absorption difference between left-handed circularly polarized incidence and right-handed circularly incidence. It can be applied in biology, chemistry, optoelectronics, etc. Here, we propose a dynamically tunable chiral metasurface structure, which is composed of two metal split-ring resonators and a graphene layer embedded in dielectric. The structure reflects right-handed circularly polarized waves and absorbs left-handed circularly polarized waves under normal incidence. The overall unit structural parameters of the chiral metasurface were discussed and analyzed, and the circular dichroism was 0.85 at 1.181 THz. Additionally, the digital imaging function can be realized based on the chiral metasurface structure, and the resolution of terahertz digital imaging can be dynamically tuned by changing the Fermi level of graphene. The proposed structure has potential applications in realizing tunable dynamic imaging and other communication fields.

All-dielectric bifunctional polarization converter with high transmission efficiency in near-infrared region

In this paper, we demonstrate a polarization control device with different functions for oppositely propagating directions by a two-layer twisted silicon column array separated by a silica layer. The proposed structure can rotate the electric field directions of polarized linear wave backwards by 45º and serve as a linear-to-circular converter for the polarized linear wave forwards . The physical mechanism is discussed by the Jones matrix, and the numerical results show that the maximum transmissions ${ \gt }{0.9}$>0.9 for the two functions of the proposed structure are achieved in the near-infrared region. The high transmission originates from the all-dielectric materials, which is a major advance compared with previously reported bifunctional converters. The proposed simply shaped device with high transmission efficiency has potential applications in optical imaging, sensing, etc.

Controllable broadband asymmetric transmission of terahertz wave based on Dirac semimetals

We present a dynamic metamaterial based on Dirac semimetals and capable of realizing broadband and tunable asymmetric transmission in the terahertz region. The Dirac semimetal resonators have a chiral structure patterned with double-T resonators that results in partial polarization conversion of waves incident upon the material, leading to asymmetric transmission across a wide frequency range. We show how the gradual shift of the semimetal Fermi energy permits a method of control over the asymmetric total transmission.

Tunable chiroptical response of graphene achiral metamaterials in mid-infrared regime

We numerically investigate a tunable and extrinsic chiroptical response of a graphene achiral metamaterial in mid-infrared regime. The achiral metamaterial is composed of cascaded metallic split ring apertures and complementary graphene rings patterned on a dielectric layer. The strong extrinsic chiroptical responses of the metamaterial are allowed at oblique incidence and the integrated graphene can dynamically modulate extrinsic chirality by changing its Fermi level. The spectra of the chiroptical responses will show a blue shift with increasing the Fermi level of the patterned graphene. The maximal values of circular dichroism in the reflection and transmission modes can reach 80% and 50%, respectively. The maximal values of polarization rotation angle in the reflection and transmission modes can reach 80° and 60°, respectively. This graphene-based metamaterial design paves a way for a myriad of important terahertz (THz) and mid-infrared applications, such as optical modulators, absorbers and polarizers.

Controllable linear asymmetric transmission and perfect polarization conversion in a terahertz hybrid metal-graphene metasurface

We propose a three layered metal-graphene-metal metasurface to investigate the controllable linear asymmetric transmission and perfect polarization conversion in THz regime, by using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. An on-to-off control of asymmetric transmission and perfect polarization conversion is achieved by changing the Fermi energy of graphene from 0.8 eV to 0 eV. We present the electric field distribution and Fabry-Perot-like cavity model to analyze the working mechanisms. By gradually shifting the Fermi energy of graphene, two functions are realized, i.e., controllable linear asymmetric transmission and controllable total transmission with near perfect polarization conversion.

Asymmetric Transmission in a Mie-Based Dielectric Metamaterial with Fano Resonance

Chiral metamaterials with asymmetric transmission can be applied as polarization-controlled devices. Here, a Mie-based dielectric metamaterial with a spacer exhibiting asymmetric transmission of linearly polarized waves at microwave frequencies was designed and demonstrated numerically. The unidirectional characteristic is attributed to the chirality of the metamolecule and the mutual excitation of the Mie resonances. Field distributions are simulated to investigate the underlying physical mechanism. Fano-type resonances emerge near the Mie resonances of the constituents and come from the destructive interference inside the structure. The near-field coupling further contributes to the asymmetric transmission. The influences of the lattice constant and the spacer thickness on the asymmetric characteristics were also analyzed by parameter sweeps. The proposed Mie-based metamaterial is of a simple structure, and it has the potential for applications in dielectric metadevices, such as high-performance polarization rotators.

Experimental verification of asymmetric transmission in continuous omega-shaped metamaterials

A bi-layer continuous omega-shaped metamaterial was proposed and fabricated to measure the asymmetric transmission (AT) effect of a linearly polarized light at near-infrared region.