This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 9920, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Introduction, and Conference Committee listing.

There is an increased emphasis on obtaining imaging systems with on-demand spectro-polarimetric information at the pixel level. Meta-infrared detectors in which infrared detectors are combined with metamaterials are a promising way to realize this. The infrared region is appealing due to the low metallic loss, large penetration depth of the localized field and the larger feature sizes compared to the visible region. I will discuss approaches to realize multispectral detectors including our recent work on double metal meta-material design combined with Type II superlattices that have demonstrated enhanced quantum efficiency (collaboration with Padilla group at Duke University).

Controlled absorption/emission is important for many optical devices such as photovoltaic and thermal photovoltaic. In this paper we show experimental and theoretical results of deeply subwavelength epsilon-near-zero materials using degenerately doped semiconductors, such as indium tin oxide, can be used to spectrally tailor perfect absorption/emission in the near-ir region. At mid-infrared frequencies, a superlattice of doped and undoped quantum wells can be used to create epsilon-near-zero medium for directional and spectrally tailored emission.

We design nanopatterned, all-dielectric structures that heat up suddenly when illuminated by a laser. The delay time for heating can be programmed into the structure by adjusting the spacing and size of holes in the pattern. The key operating principle is excitation of an absorptive, electromagnetic resonance in the structure by laser light, combined with a thermooptic response. Shifting of the resonance in time leads to a sudden increase in absorptive heating when the resonance aligns with the laser wavelength. We use optical transmission measurements to characterize the heating behavior in both air and water and demonstrate controlled microbubble formation.

Surrounded by electromagnetic radiation coming from wireless power transfer to consumer devices such as mobile phones, computers and television, our society is facing the scientific and technological challenge to recover energy that is otherwise lost to the environment. Energy harvesting is an emerging field of research focused on this largely unsolved problem, especially in the microwave regime. Metamaterials provide a very promising platform to meet this purpose. These artificial materials are made from subwavelength building blocks, and can be designed by resonate at particular frequencies, depending on their shape, geometry, size, and orientation. In this work, we show that an efficient electromagnetic energy harvester can be design by inserting a nonlinear element directly within the metamaterial unit cell, leading to the conversion of RF input power to DC charge accumulation. The electromagnetic energy harvester operating at microwave frequencies is built from a cut-wire metasurface, which operates as a quasistatic electric dipole resonator. Using the equivalent electrical circuit, we design the parameters to tune the resonance frequency of the harvester at the desired frequency, and we compare these results with numerical simulations. Finally, we discuss the efficiency of our metamaterial energy harvesters. This work potentially offers a variety of applications, for example in the telecommunications industry to charge phones, in robotics to power microrobots, and also in medicine to advance pacemakers or health monitoring sensors.

Design of perfect absorbers and emitters has been a primary focus of the metamaterials community owing to their potential to enhance device efficiency and sensitivity in energy harvesting and sensing applications, specifically photovoltaics, thermal emission control, bolometers and photodetectors, to name a few. While reports of perfect absorbers/emitters for a specific frequency, wavevector, and polarization are ubiquitous, a broadband and polarization- and angle-insensitive perfect absorber remains a particular challenge. In this work, we report on directed optical design and fabrication of sparse III-V nanowire arrays as broadband, polarization- and angle-insensitive perfect absorbers and emitters. Specifically, we target response in the UV-Vis-NIR and NIR-SWIR-MWIR via two material systems, InP (Eg=1.34 eV) and InSb (Eg=0.17 eV), respectively. Herein, we present results on InP and InSb nanowire array broadband absorbers, supported by experiment, simulation and analytic theory. Electromagnetic simulations indicate that, with directed optical design, tapered nanowire arrays and multi-radii nanowire arrays with 5% fill fraction can achieve greater than 95% broadband absorption (λInP=400-900nm, λInSb=1.5-5.5µm), due to efficient excitation and interband transition-mediated attenuation of the HE11 waveguide mode. Experimentally-fabricated InP nanowire arrays embedded in PDMS achieved broadband, polarization- and angle-insensitive 90-95% absorption, limited primarily by reflection off the PDMS interface. Addition of a thin, planar VO2 layer above a sparse InSb nanowire array enables active thermal tunability in the infrared, effecting a 50% modulation, from 87% (insulating VO2) to 43% (metallic VO2) average absorption. These concepts and results along with photovoltaic and other optical and optoelectronic device applications will be discussed.

For 75 years it has been known that radiative heat transfer can exceed far-field blackbody rates when two bodies are separated by less than a thermal wavelength. Yet an open question has remained: what is the maximum achievable radiative transfer rate? Here we describe basic energy-conservation principles that answer this question, yielding upper bounds that depend on the temperatures, material susceptibilities, and separation distance, but which encompass all geometries. The simple structures studied to date fall far short of the bounds, offering the possibility for significant future enhancement, with ramifications for experimental studies as well as thermophotovoltaic applications.

The spontaneous breaking of mirror-symmetry in two coupled photonic crystal nanocavity-lasers is experimentally demonstrated. The inter-cavity evanescent coupling is tuned such that the nonlinear interaction –the carrier-induced nanolaser frequency shift– overcomes photon tunneling. This, together with the optimization of the nanocavity beaming, allows us to observe a spontaneous transition from a delocalized mode to two spatially localized states, in the form of a pitchfork bifurcation. Coexistence of these states is demonstrated through short pulse excitation. This kind of devices based on symmetry breaking could yield new types of flip-flop memories and nanolaser sources with strong photonic correlations.

Recently, plasmon laser has been attracted great attention at length scales below diffraction limit. It has been demonstrated not only in single nanocavity systems, but also been observed in periodic nanoplasmonic structures. We propose a kind of lasing scheme in a nano-grating with three slits and three metal strips (one fat metal strip and two thin metal strips) in each supercell. There exists a bright mode and a dark mode in the nano-grating, due to the inter-couple among the cavity modes in the slits. The most interesting issue is that such two modes can be independently controlled by tuning the widths of the fat and thin metal stripes. It enables the flexibility to choose the gain medium and the corresponding cavity surrounding in nanoscale. Based on such guideline, we investigate a lasing system consisting of nano-grating and Rhodamine dye molecules by using self-consistent finite element method. We show the lasing dynamic process with both the matched and mismatched nano-grating. As a result, when it well matches, the dark mode will provide higher feedback and amplification than those of the mismatched system. Consequently, when the same optical pump power is applied, the matched case will have shorter lasing onset time and higher output power than the mismatched structure. More calculations can conclude that the perfect-matched nano-grating system will have minimum threshold and maximum lasing slope efficiencies. Our findings may provide a new way on plasmon laser with low threshold and high efficiency.

We present theoretical and experimental results for a novel laser structure where one of the mirrors is realized by a Fano resonance between the laser waveguide and a side-coupled nano cavity. The laser may be modulated via the mirror resonance, enabling ultrahigh modulatioon speeds and pulse generation. Experimental results for a photonic crystal structure with quantum dot active layers will be presented.

We report our results on random lasing from rhodamine 6G based colloidal gain medium consisting of urchin-like TiO₂ structures. Multimode behaviour is observed even at low pump laser powers. Emission linewidth narrowing and lasing threshold are investigated. Coherent back scattering is used to obtain the disorder degree of the sample. This urchin based system is demonstrated to possess lower lasing thresholds and enhanced efficiency with multimode behaviour compared to a TiO₂ spherical particle system with same disorder degree. This work opens up a new avenue for low threshold, high efficiency lasing.

STUDENT CONTRIBUTION: Cholesteric liquid crystals (CLC) self-assemble into a periodic supramolecular helical structure with properties of a one-dimensional photonic crystal. The CLCs doped with a fluorescent dye and optical pump enable a distributed feedback cavity and lasing [1]. Although lasing was observed in range of wavelength from near UV to near IR, a practical method of tuning of emission wavelength from a dye-doped CLC without structural destruction of a helix is not demonstrated yet. In this work, we demonstrate an electrically tunable dye-doped CLC laser based on the so-called oblique helicoidal, or heliconical, CLC state [2,3]. In this state, the molecules twist around the helicoidal axis, making an angle smaller than 90 degrees with the axis. Molecular tilt makes the heliconical structure different from the regular CLC (in which the molecules are perpendicular to the axis) and enable electric tunability [2,3]. An electric field applied parallel to the heliconical axis changes the pitch but does not realign the axis. When the field increases, the pitch decreases. As a result, the selective reflection band and a lasing wavelength move towards shorter wavelength. Using heliconical CLC and two laser dyes DCM and LD688, we demonstrate effective tuning of the laser emission wavelength from 574 nm to 722 nm. With appropriate laser dyes, the spectrum can be extended from near UV to near IR. Efficient electric tuning in the broad spectral range and small size of the heliconical cholesteric lasers makes them potentially useful for optical and biomedical applications. [1] P. Palffy-Muhoay, W.Y. Cao, M. Moreira, B. Taheri, A. Munoz, Photonics and lasing in liquid crystal [2] J. Xiang, S.V. Shiyanovskii, C.T. Imrie, O.D. Lavrentovich, Electrooptic Response of Chiral Nematic Liquid Crystals with Oblique Helicoidal Director, Phys Rev Lett, 112 (2014) 217801. [3] J. Xiang, Y.N. Li, Q. Li, D.A. Paterson, J.M.D. Storey, C.T. Imrie, O.D. Lavrentovich, Electrically Tunable Selective Reflection of Light from Ultraviolet to Visible and Infrared by Heliconical Cholesterics, Adv Mater, 27 (2015) 3014-3018.

We have demonstrated for the first time lasing action in a Bound stae in the Continuum (BIC)-based cavity. We have achieved this result on a platform made of an ensemble of dielectric resonators that is compatible with electrical pumping. Lasing action was observed at room temperature in a compact array with a footprint as small as 9x9 μm2. The lasing wavelength follows the prediction of the BIC mode as the radius is varied for different array sizes thereby demonstrating the robustness and scalability of the system. Additionally, this work paves the way for future investigation into the intriguing topological properties of BICs. Furthermore, this design can be implemented for an electrically pumped equivalent thereby taking full advantage of its power-efficient performance. The fundamental principle of bound states can also be used to design in-plane emitting laser.

Transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) have long been used in optics and electronics for their unique combination of both high transmission and high electrical conductivity. In recent years, the impact of such TCOs has been felt in the subgenre of nanophotonics and plasmonics.1-3 Specifically, the TCOs provide plasmonic response in the near infrared and infrared region,4 epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) properties in the telecom band, tunable static optical properties through deposition/annealing control,5 and the potential for dynamic control of their properties under electrical or optical biasing.6-8 Due to the combination of these interesting properties, TCOs such as In:SnO (ITO), Al:ZnO (AZO), and Ga:ZnO (GZO) have become leaders in the drive to produce high-performance dynamic and alternative nanophotonic devices and metamaterials. In our work, we have studied the potential for optical control of AZO thin films using both above bandgap and below bandgap excitation, noting strong changes in reflection/transmission with enhancement due to the ENZ as well as ultrafast response times less than 1 ps. Using a photo-modified carrier density and recombination to model above bandgap excitation, we demonstrated 40%/30% change in the reflection/transmission of a 350 nm AZO film with an 88 fs recombination time, corresponding to a modification of the carrier density by 10%.6 Below bandgap excitation has experimentally shown the potential for similar variations in the reflection and transmission under increased fluences with a factor of ~8x increase in the normalized ΔR at ENZ. Current efforts are focused to model the material response as well as to investigate electrical modulation of AZO films. In summary, our work has demonstrated the potential for optical control of AZO films both above and below bandgap on an ultrafast timescale which can be enhanced through ENZ. Combining this with traditional nanophotonic and metamaterial devices opens a broad range of high impact studies such as tunable optical components, on-chip photonic elements, and controllable nonlinear enhancement.

Transition metals (TM) doped ZnSe crystals were synthesized by vapor phase thermal diffusion method. The absorption spectra of TM²⁺-doped ZnSe crystal were measured. First-principles calculations of the electronic structure and optical properties of TM²⁺: ZnSe were performed. The results demonstrate that when Zn is replaced by a TM atom, impurity bands (IB) are created in the bandgap and additional absorption peak appears in infrared region. The experimental absorption spectra match well with the calculated results, which is identified by electronic calculations to be caused by d-d transitions of TM²⁺ ions.

Peculiar physical properties of graphene offer remarkable potential for advanced photonics, particularly in the area of nonlinear optics at deep-subwavelength scale. In this article, we use a theoretical and computational analysis to demonstrate an efficient mechanism for enhancing the third-harmonic generation in graphene diffraction gratings. By taking advantage of the relation between the resonance wavelength of localized surface-plasmon polaritons of graphene ribbons and disks their specific geometry, we can engineer the spectral response of graphene gratings so as strong plasmonic resonances exist at both the fundamental frequency and third-harmonic (TH). As a result of this dual resonance mechanism for optical near-field enhancement, the intensity of the TH can be increased greatly.

The optical response of graphene is described by its surface conductivity - a multivariate function of frequency, temperature, chemical potential, and scattering rate. A Kubo formula that accounts for both interband and intraband transitions with two Fermi-Dirac-like integrals is conventionally used to model graphene. The first (intraband) integral can be reduced analytically to a Drude term. The second (intraband) term requires computationally expensive numerical integration over the infinite range of energies, and thus it is usually either neglected or substituted with a simpler approximation (typically valid within a limited range of parameters). Additional challenge is an integral-free time-domain (TD) formulation that would allow efficient coupling of the interband conductivity term to TD electromagnetic solvers. We propose Kubo-equivalent models of graphene surface conductivity that offer closed-form computationally efficient representations in time and frequency domains. We show that in time domain Kubo’s formula reduces to a combination of rational, trigonometric, hyperbolic, and exponential functions. In frequency domain the integral term is equivalent to an expression with digamma and incomplete gamma functions. The accuracy and improved performance of our integral-free formulations versus the direct integration of Kubo’s formula is critically analyzed. The result provides efficient broadband multivariate coupling of graphene dispersion to time-domain and frequency-domain solvers. To reinforce theory with practical examples, we use obtained closed-form frequency-domain model to retrieve the optical properties of graphene samples from variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry (VASE) measurements. . We present ellipsometry fitting cases that are built on an in-the-cloud tool freely available online (https://nanohub.org/resources/photonicvasefit).

In nanophotonics we create material-systems, which are structured at length scales smaller than the wavelength of light. When light propagates inside such effective materials numerous novel physics phenomena emerge including thresholdless lasing, atto-joule per bit efficient modulators, and exciton-polariton effects. However, in order to make use of these opportunities, synergistic device designs have to be applied to include materials, electric and photonic constrains - all at the nanoscale. In this talk, I present our recent progress in exploring 2D and TCO materials for active optoelectronics. I highlight nanoscale device demonstrations including their physical operation principle and performance benchmarks. Details include epsilon-bear-zero tuning of thin-film ITO, Graphene electro-static gating via Pauli-blocking, plasmonic electro-optic modulation, and hetero-integrated III-V and carbon-based plasmon lasers on Silicon photonics.

We outline the recent progress in developing new plasmonic materials that will form the basis for future low-loss, CMOS-compatible devices, enabling full-scale development of the metamaterial and nanophotonic technologies. Novel metasurface designs as a basis for a chip-compatible platform for nanophotonics and quantum photonics applications will be also discussed.

We show that quantum antenna and metasurface can be realized by a cluster of quantum two level systems such as atoms or quantum dots. They offer a new way to dynamically control non-classical light with sophisticated functionalities.

In contrast to paraxial light fields, the intrinsic angular momentum of transversally confined light fields is position-dependent and can be oriented perpendicular to the propagation direction. The interaction of emitters with such light fields leads to new and surprising effects. For example, the intrinsic mirror symmetry of dipolar emission can be broken. This allowed us to realize chiral interfaces between plasmonic nanoparticles or atoms and a nanophotonic waveguide in which the emission direction into the waveguide is controlled by the polarization of the emitted light. Moreover, we employed this chiral interaction to demonstrate nonreciprocal transmission of waveguided light.

Metamaterials can be designed to exhibit extraordinarily strong chiral responses. Here we present a chiral metamaterial that produces both distinguishable linear and nonlinear features in the visible to near-infrared range. In additional to the gigantic chiral effects in the linear regime, the metamaterial demonstrates a pronounced contrast between second harmonic responses from the two circular polarizations. Linear and nonlinear images probed with circularly polarized lights show strongly defined contrast. Moreover, the chiral centers of the nanometallic structures with enhanced hotspots can be purposely opened for direct access, where emitters occupying the light-confining regions produce chiral-selective enhancement of two-photon luminescence.

We describe a powerful quasinormal mode (QNM) approach to characterizing the decay properties of quantum emitters in metal-dielectric resonator systems, including hybrid plasmonic-photonic coupled cavities as well as hyperbolic metamaterial resonators. We quantify both the radiative and non-radiative decay rates in these complex structures using these QNMs and a Green function expansion, which yields an excellent agreement with full-dipole calculations of Maxwell’s equations. Using this analytical QNM theory, we can map the Purcell factor for the system over a wide range of frequencies and dipole positions. We further show that how individual QNMs of these systems contribute to the underlying physics, whether it is strong interference effects between the sub-systems, in the case of a hybrid structure, or it is a physically meaningful explanation of very low beta factor for single photon emission in the case of hyperbolic metamaterials.

We study a device that consist of quantum resonators coupled to a mesoscopic photonic structure, such as a metasurface or a 2D metamaterial. For metasurfaces, we use surface Bloch modes in order to reach various coupling regimes between the metasurface and a quantum emitter, modelized semi-classically by an oscillator. Using multiple scattering theory and complex plane techniques, we show that the coupling can be characterized by means of a pole-and-zero structure. The regime of strong coupling is shown to be reached when the pole-and- zero pair is broken. For 2D metamaterial, we show the possibility of controlling optically the opening or closing of a gap.

Hybrid nanophotonic structures are structures that integrate different nanoscale platforms to harness light-matter interaction. We propose that combinations of plasmonic antennas inside modest-Q dielectric cavities can lead to very high Purcell factors, yielding plasmonic mode volumes at essentially cavity quality factors. The underlying physics is subtle: for instance, how plasmon antennas with large cross sections spoil or improve cavities and vice versa, contains physics beyond perturbation theory, depending on interplays of back-action, and interferences. This is evident from the fact that the local density of states of hybrid systems shows the rich physics of Fano interferences. I will discuss recent scattering experiments performed on toroidal microcavities coupled to plasmon particle arrays that probe both cavity resonance shifts and particle polarizability changes illustrating these insights. Furthermore I will present our efforts to probe single plasmon antennas coupled to emitters and complex environments using scatterometry. An integral part of this approach is the recently developed measurement method of `k-space polarimetry’, a microscopy technique to completely classify the intensity and polarization state of light radiated by a single nano-object into any emission direction that is based on back focal plane imaging and Stokes polarimetry. I show benchmarks of this technique for the cases of scattering, fluorescence, and cathodoluminescence applied to directional surface plasmon polariton antennas.

Quantum walks have attracted significant attention due to the possibility to propagate and reshape large-scale photon entanglement based on the superposition of possible photon paths. Entangling photons brings the promise of secure communication and ultra-fast quantum computing. Another phenomenon called optical nonlinearity allows interaction between electro-magnetic waves through matter. Bringing the concepts of quantum walks and optical nonlinearity together, and integrating them on a chip, opens a way to efficiently generate entangled photons and tune the entanglement. In this talk we will show the first experiments and theoretical studies featuring such tunable integrated sources.

By performing a full analysis of the projected local density of states (LDOS) in a photonic crystal waveguide, we show that phase plays a crucial role in the symmetry of the light-matter interaction. By considering a quantum dot (QD) spin coupled to a photonic crystal waveguide (PCW) mode, we demonstrate that the light-matter interaction can be asymmetric, leading to unidirectional emission and a deterministic entangled photon source. Further we show that understanding the phase associated with both the LDOS and the QD spin is essential for a range of devices that can be realized with a QD in a PCW. We also show how suppression of quantum interference prevents dipole induced reflection in the waveguide, and highlight a fundamental breakdown of the semiclassical dipole approximation for describing light-matter interactions in these spin dependent systems.

Integration of solid-state quantum emitters such as NV center in diamond with tapered optical fiber is demanded by number of applications ranging from sensing and imaging to quantum communications and computations. Nevertheless, utilization of a single NV center coupled with an optical fiber meets significant challenge of fiber fluorescence that can considerably mask emission of the quantum object. In this paper, we analyze main sources of such fluorescence for the case of NV center coupled to tapered single mode optical fiber and discuss possible ways of improving signal to noise ratio in this case.

The negatively charged nitrogen vacancy (NV) center in diamond is a promising solid-state quantum memory. However, developing networks comprising such quantum memories is limited by the fabrication yield of the quantum nodes and the collection efficiency of indistinguishable photons. In this letter, we report on advances on a hybrid quantum system that allows for scalable production of networks, even with low-yield node fabrication. Moreover, an NV center in a simple single mode diamond waveguide is shown in simulation and experiment to couple well to a single mode SiN waveguide with a simple adiabatic taper for optimal mode transfer. In addition, cavity enhancement of the zero phonon line of the NV center with a resonance coupled to the waveguide mode allows a simulated <1800 fold increase in the collection of photon states coherent with the state of the NV center into a single frequency and spatial mode.

During recent years, advances in the design of arrays of subwavelength optical elements with special electromagnetic properties have enabled quasi two-dimensional structures that control and manipulate electromagnetic phase, amplitude and polarization. Active control of the response of metasurfaces is possible using transparent conducting oxides such as Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) as a tunable active material [1]. Changing the complex permittivity of ITO by applying a voltage yields modulation of reflected wave phase and amplitude. To achieve this, we designed subwavelength antenna arrays consisting of a gold back reflector and gold fishbone antennas. Planar dielectric layers containing a gate tunable layer of ITO are sandwiched between the back reflector and the antenna. The obtained structure shows resonance around 1.5 µm. As a result, based on the 1.54 µm photoluminescence emission of Er doped Al2O3 films, we embedded trivalent erbium ions as quantum emitters inside an alumina host within the metasurface in order to enhance the local density of optical states (LDOS). Simulations indicate the designed structure shows a significant LDOS enhancement (of order of hundreds). By applying a bias between the antenna and the ITO layer, across an HfO2 gate dielectric, we can control the permittivity of ITO and hence dynamically modulate the decay rate of quantum emitters embedded within the structure. In this way, we can achieve LDOS enhancement modulation of about 325%. 1. Y. W Huang, H. W. H. Lee, R. Sokhoyan, R. Pala, K. Thyagarajan, S. Han, D. P. Tsai, H. A. Atwater, “Gate-tunable conducting oxide metasurfaces”. (arXiv:1511.09380).

We propose modification to gain spectra of semiconductor quantum heterostructures by incorporation of nanostructured metal, paving the way for tailor made “meta-gain” media. We show that the wavelength dependence of the principal direction of energy propagation in media with hyperbolic dispersion leads to blue-shifting of peak photoluminescence (PL), and thereby optical gain, relative to emission from the bare semiconductor. Additionally we show that emission spectra from metal-semiconductor hyperbolic metasurfaces depends strongly upon the polarization of an external optical pump. The simultaneous co-optimization of pump properties and optical and electronic densities of states provides a platform for not only compensating losses in metallic metamaterials, but also designing emission spectra beyond that provided by the constituent quantum heterostructures.

Fluorescence-based processes are strongly modified by the electromagnetic environment in which the emitters are placed. Hence, the design of nanostructured materials with appropriate electromagnetic properties opens up a new route in the control of, for instance, the spontaneous rate of emission or the energy transfer rate in donor-acceptor pairs. In particular, hyperbolic plasmonic metamaterials have emerged as a very flexible and powerful platform for these applications as they provide a high local density of electromagnetic states due to their peculiar mode structure which is governed by both the structural nonlocal response and the dispersion properties. Here, we will discuss an experimental and theoretical study of the influence of a hyperbolic metamaterial comprised of an array of gold nanorods on the radiative properties of quantum emitters and the energy-transfer processes between them.

We show that dynamic refractive index modulation provides a route towards non-reciprocal topological photonics. In particular, the phase of the modulation provides an effective gauge field for photons that breaks time-reversal symmetry, and can be used to create a wide range of topological effects, in both real space as well as in spaces that involve a synthetic frequency dimension. These topological effects are pointing to new capabilities for controlling the properties of light.

In this talk, we discuss our recent results in the area of active and tunable metasurfaces, including the possibility of inducing hyperbolic plasmons and topological transitions on graphene-based metasurfaces, the realization of cloaks and planar lenses based on parity-time symmetric metasurfaces, and of isolators and non-reciprocal components based on time-varying metasurfaces.

Electromagnetic (EM) waves propagating through an inhomogeneous medium inevitably scatter whenever the medium’s electromagnetic properties change on the scale of a single wavelength. This fundamental phenomenon constrains how optical structures are designed and interfaced with each other. Recent theoretical work indicates that electromagnetic structures collectively known as photonic topological insulators (PTIs) can be employed to overcome this fundamental limitation, thereby paving the way for ultra-compact photonic structures that no longer have to be wavelength-scale smooth. I will review some of the recent developments in the field of topological photonics and discuss several novel directions. Those include the first experimental realization of the topologically robust (i.e. reflections- and interference-free) delay line that enables nearly-arbitrary engineering of the optical phase along the light’s path. Novel concepts such as all-dielectric PTIs that emulate the valley degree of freedom, as well as topologically protected high-Q cavities will also be discussed.

INVITED We suggest several all-dielectric photonic structures for realising topological edge states including zigzag arrays of dielectric nanoparticles based on optically induced magnetic Mie resonances and all-dielectric metacrystals. We demonstrate experimentally the ability to control the subwavelength topologically protected optical edge modes by changing the polarization of the incident wave. In addition, we suggest theoretically and demonstrate experimentally that the photonic spin Hall effect can be enhanced by topologically protected edge states. Finally, we demonstrate that symmetry protected three-dimensional topological states can be engineered in an all-dielectric platform with the electromagnetic duality between electric and magnetic fields ensured by the structure design.

We propose a photonic crystal with Z2 topology purely based on dielectric materials. Deforming the honeycomb lattice of dielectric cylinders, such as silicon, we identify a pseudo spin degree of freedom, and the associated time-reversal symmetry similar to that of electronic systems [1]. We demonstrate theoretically the nontrivial topology by showing photonic band inversion, and helical edge electromagnetic-wave propagation. Without requiring gyromagnetic, bi-anisotropic or piezo-magnetic materials, this topological photonic crystal can be fabricated easily and is compatible to electronics. Reference: [1] L.-H. Wu and X. Hu: Phys. Rev. Lett. vol. 114, 223901 (2015).

“Photonic graphene” has been demonstrated as a useful platform to study fundamental physics such as edge states and topological insulators. Recently, we have demonstrated pseudospin-mediated generation of topological charges in photonic graphene. Due to sublattice degree of freedom, charge flipping is observed as the sublattices are selectively excited. Our experimental results are confirmed by numerical simulation as well as by theoretical analysis of the 2D Dirac-Weyl equations. In this talk, we will discuss such pseudospin-related phenomena due to the sublattice degree of freedom, along with our recent work on related phenomena due to the graphene valley degree of freedom.

The concepts of topological states have captured much attention in condensed-matter physics and the importance of these systems is subsequently realized in other subfields, such as cold atom and classical waves. In the past few years, the attention was focused on “topological insulators” while very recently, the attention is shifting to “Weyl semi-metals” which have gapless bulk band structures with pairs of topological points (called Weyl points) and topologically-protected surface states. In this work, we designed, fabricated and experimentally characterized a Weyl photonic crystal with both single and double Weyl points. We used tight-binding Hamiltonian as a starting point to guide us to the structures that have the correct symmetry to support topological features including synthetic gauge flux and associated Weyl points. We fabricated for the first time a system that exhibits Weyl points of topological charge higher than 1. In our photonic crystal, the existence of the double Weyl point is made possible by the degeneracy between the two single Weyl points which is protected by C3 symmetry and time reversal. Once the C3 symmetry is broken, two Weyl points with charge of ±1 will separate and each forms a linear dispersion in all three directions. Nontrivial 2D bulk band gaps for fixed kz and Weyl points were confirmed by angle-resolved transmission spectra. The robustness of the associated surface states against kz-preserved scattering was experimentally observed.

Optical cavities are imperative in micro/nanophotonics for their ability to provide resonance feedback and radiation enhancement. In recent years, the interplay between gain and loss using parity-time (PT) symmetry has opened up a new degree of freedom for cavity mode and emission control. I will first discuss a PT micro-ring cavity with the unique features of thresholdless PT symmetry breaking and single-mode lasing. Next, I will reveal a novel PT optical cavity which can support lasing and coherent perfect absorption modes within a single device and enable strong modulation from coherent amplification to coherent absorption.

We experimentally demonstrate the realization of a parity-time (PT) symmetry breaking in optically coupled semiconductor lasers (SCLs). The two SCLs are identical except for a detuning between their optical emission frequencies. This detuning is analogous to the gain-loss parameter found in optical PT systems. To model the coupled SCLs, we employ the standard rate equations describing the electric field and carrier inversion of each SCL, and show that, under certain conditions, the rate equations reduce to the canonical, two-site PT- symmetric model. This model captures the global behavior of the laser intensity as the system parameters are varied. Overall, we find that this bulk system (coupled SCLs) provides an excellent test-bed to probe the characteristics of PT-breaking transitions, including the effects of time delay.

We consider a complex photonic lattice by placing PT-symmetric dimers at the Kagome lattice points. This lattice is a two-dimensional network of corner-sharing triangles. Each dimer represents a pair of strongly coupled waveguides. The frustrated coupling between waveguide modes results in a dispersionless flat band comprising spatially localized modes. For a balanced arrangement of gain and loss on each dimer, up to a critical value of the gain/loss parameter the system exhibits a PT-symmetric phase. The beam evolution in the waveguide array leads to an oscillatory rotation of the optical power. We observe local chiral structures with a narrow beam excitation. We also study nonlinearity and disorder in this set up.

Over the past five years, open systems with balanced gain and loss have been investigated for extraordinary properties that are not shared by their closed counterparts. Non-Hermitian, Parity-Time (PT ) symmetric Hamiltonians faithfully model such systems. Such a Hamiltonian typically consists of a reflection-symmetric, Hermitian, nearest-neighbor hopping profile and a PT-symmetric, non-Hermitian, gain and loss potential, and has a robust PT -symmetric phase. Here we investigate the robustness of this phase in the presence of long-range hopping disorder that is not PT-symmetric, but is periodic. We find that the PT-symmetric phase remains robust in the presence of such disorder, and characterize the configurations where that happens. Our results are found using a tight-binding model, and we validate our predictions through the beam-propagation method.

There has been considerable recent interest in realizing non-reciprocal interactions in driven photonic systems, with the goal of building devices like isolators and circulators. In this talk, I’ll present theoretical work showing how engineered dissipation in a photonic system can make almost any kind of interaction between two subsystems non-reciprocal. These ideas can be used to construct new kinds of non-reciprocal devices, including directional quantum-limited amplifiers. They can be implemented in a variety of different physical systems, including superconducting circuits and optomechanical systems.

Parity time (PT) symmetric systems are known to exhibit two distinct phases: those associated with an unbroken and broken symmetry. In the domain of optics, PT-symmetry can be established by incorporating a balanced distribution of gain and loss in a system. Under linear conditions, in a coupled dimer, composed of two cavities or waveguides, if the gain-loss contrast increases beyond a critical value with respect to the coupling constant, a transition is expected from the unbroken symmetry to the broken symmetry regime. However, in the presence of nonlinearity, this transition behavior can be drastically modified. We here study a system of two coupled semiconductor-based resonators that are lasing around an exceptional point. The quantum wells in such structures not only provide gain but also lead to strong levels of saturable loss in the absence of any optical pumping. Interestingly, in sharp contrast with linear PT-symmetric configurations, such nonlinear processes are capable of reversing the order in which the symmetry breaking occurs. If the ratio of the net loss to coupling is less than unity in one of the cavities, as the pumping level in the other resonator is increased, the nonlinear eigenmodes move from an unbroken symmetric state to a broken one. Moreover, in this nonlinear domain, the structural form of the resulting solutions are isomorphic to the corresponding linear eigenvectors expected above and below the phase transition point. Experimental results are in good agreement with these predictions.

Parity-time (PT) symmetry is a fundamental notion in quantum field theories and opens a new paradigm of non-Hermitian photonics. Instead of counteracting optical losses in integrated photonics, we start from an opposite viewpoint to strategically manipulate optical losses by the concept of PT symmetry. In this talk, I will discuss harnessing PT symmetry using the state-of-the-art integrated nanophotonics technology for novel optoelectronic functionalities. I will present unidirectional reflectionless light transport and coherent light control on a passive silicon platform and effective control of cavity resonant modes for stable lasing actions on an active III-V semiconductor platform.

We discuss asymmetric reflectance in surface plasmon Bragg gratings incorporating optical gain, referred to as active asymmetric surface plasmon Bragg gratings. It is shown that balanced modulation of index and gain/loss with quarter pitch spatial shift causes unidirectional coupling between contra-propagating modes in long-range surface plasmon polariton Bragg gratings. Such gratings operate at the breaking threshold of parity-time symmetry (exceptional point). Two active asymmetric surface plasmon Bragg gratings designs are proposed and their performance is examined through modal and transfer matrix method computations.

PT-symmetric structures in photonic crystals, combining refractive index and gain-loss modulations is becoming a research field with increasing interest due to the light directionality induced by these particular potentials. Here, we consider PT-symmetric potentials with axial symmetry to direct light to the crystal central point obtaining a localization effect. The axial and PT-symmetric potential intrinsically generates an exceptional central point in the photonic crystal by the merge of both symmetries. This particular point in the crystal lattice causes field amplitude gradients with exponential slopes around the crystal center. The field localization strongly depends on the phase of the central point and on the complex amplitude of the PT-potential. The presented work analyzes in a first stage 1D linear PT-axisymmetric crystals and the role of the central point phase that determines the defect character, i.e. refractive index defect, gain-loss defect or a combination of both. The interplay of the directional light effect induced by the PT-symmetry and the light localization around the central point through the axial symmetry enhances localization and allows higher field concentration for certain phases. The linearity of the studied crystals introduces an exponential growth of the field that mainly depends on the complex amplitude of the potential. The work is completed by the analysis of 2D PT-axisymmetric potentials showing different spatial slopes and growth rates caused by symmetry reasons.

We explore the characteristics of exceptional points of degeneracies (EPDs) in coupled waveguides. Second order EPDs are manifested when two modes coalesce, and we show how this can be associated with PT-symmetry. We also demonstrate fourth order EPDs that are manifested in periodic waveguides when four modes coalesce at the degenerate band edge (DBE). Moreover, we elucidate the impact of imperfect coupling, symmetry breaking or balancing gain and loss on the EPDs. Realization of EPDs in resonators can substantially enhance the slow-light characteristics, such as quality factors and local density of states for various applications including low-threshold lasers and sensors.

Emission quenching is analysed at nanometer distances from the surface of an absorbing nanoparticle. It is demonstrated that emission quenching at small distances to the surface is much weaker for magnetic-dipole (MD) than for electric-dipole (ED) transitions. This difference is explained by the fact that the electric field induced by a magnetic dipole has a weaker distance dependence than the electric field of an electric dipole. It is also demonstrated that in the extreme near-field regime the non-locality of the optical response of the metal results in additional emission quenching for both ED and MD transitions.

Rare earth ions having both electric and magnetic dipole transitions in emission spectra can be used as local probe to provide information on degree of modification and local distribution of optical electric and magnetic fields in plasmonic systems. In our research, we use highly luminescent organic systems with Eu3+ to study and analyze modification of magnetic and electric dipoles emission in different environment, including systems having plasmonic electric resonance or magnetic resonance in the range of Eu3+ emission, and flat metal. Experimental setup based on selective detection of the particular transition was built and used for probing and mapping of electric and magnetic fields in plasmonic systems and metasurfaces. The method developed can find applications in characterization of plasmonic systems and metamaterials, and engineering of emission properties of rare earth ions and other emitters.

We design a non-parity-time-symmetric plasmonic waveguide-cavity system, consisting of two metal-dielectric-metal stub resonators side coupled to a metal-dielectric-metal waveguide, to form an exceptional point, and realize unidirectional reflectionless propagation at the optical communication wavelength. We also show that slow-light-enhanced ultra-compact plasmonic Mach-Zehnder interferometer sensors, in which the sensing arm consists of a waveguide system based on a plasmonic analogue of electromagnetically induced transparency, lead to an order of magnitude enhancement in the refractive index sensitivity compared to a conventional metal-dielectric-metal plasmonic waveguide sensor. Finally, we show that plasmonic coaxial waveguides offer a platform for practical implementation of plasmonic waveguide-cavity systems.

We report the theory and experiment of how an ultrathin (<80 nm) layer of vanadium dioxide (VO₂) can be used to control and adjust the polarization state of light. The refractive index of vanadium dioxide undergoes large changes when the material makes a phase transition from semiconductor to metal at a temperature of 68 °C. In a thin film, this results in optical phase shifts that are different for s- and p-polarizations in reflection or transmission. We investigate the conditions under which the polarization state would changes between linear or circular or between linear polarizations oriented differently during the material’s phase transition. The effect is demonstrated from 600 nm to 1600 nm and optical devices are proposed based on experimental data on refractive indices with temperature.

The promise of metamaterials lies in the realization of desirable electromagnetic functionalities simply through tailoring the geometric structure and deliberate arrangement of metal/dielectric building blocks (meta-atoms) to yield envisaged material properties that may be difficult or impossible to accomplish using natural materials. Integration of functional materials into metamaterial structures further extends switchable and frequency tunable functionalities through applying an external stimulus such as temperature change, photoexcitation, and voltage bias. Among them electrically switchable metamaterials are of particular interest for a host of applications. In this work we present our recent progress in this direction. More specifically, hybrid terahertz metamaterials can be formed through integrating semiconducting Schottky junctions into the metallic resonators, enabling highly efficient, electrically switchable resonant response. Such hybrid terahertz metamaterials can be applied in creating terahertz spatial light modulators and active diffraction gratings. Furthermore, graphene can be used to extend the active metamaterials to the mid-infrared frequency range.

With vibrant colors and simple, room-temperature processing methods, electrochromic polymers have long attracted attention as active materials for flexible, low-power consuming devices such as smart windows and displays. However, despite their many advantages, slow switching speed and complexity of combining several separate polymers to achieve full-color gamut has limited electrochromic materials to niche applications. Here we exploit the enhanced light-matter interaction associated with the deep-subwavelength mode confinement of surface plasmon polaritons propagating in metallic nanoslit arrays coated with ultra-thin electrochromic polymers to build a novel configuration for achieving high-contrast and fast electrochromic switching. The switchable configuration retains the short temporal charge-diffusion characteristics of thin electrochromic films while maintaining the high optical-contrast associated with thicker electrochromic coatings. We further demonstrate that by controlling the pitch of the nanoslit arrays, it is possible to achieve a full-color response with high-contrast and fast switching-speeds while relying on just one electrochromic polymer.

A highly sensitive distributed feedback (DFB) dye laser sensor for high frame rate imaging refractometry without moving parts is presented. The laser sensor surface comprises areas of different grating periods. Imaging in two dimensions of space is enabled by analyzing laser light from all areas in parallel with an imaging spectrometer. Refractive index imaging of a 2 mm by 2 mm surface is demonstrated with a spatial resolution of 10 μm, a detection limit of 8 10-6 RIU, and a framerate of 12 Hz, limited by the CCD camera. Label-free imaging of dissolution dynamics is demonstrated.

Achieving active control of the flow of light in nanoscale photonic devices is of fundamental interest in nanophotonics. For practical implementations of active nanophotonic devices, it is important to determine the sensitivity of the device properties to the refractive index of the active material. Here, we introduce a method for the sensitivity analysis of active nanophotonic waveguide devices to variations in the dielectric permittivity of the active material. More specifically, we present an analytical adjoint sensitivity method for the power transmission coefficient of nanophotonic devices, which is directly derived from Maxwell’s equations, and is not based on any specific numerical discretization method. We show that in the case of symmetric devices the method does not require any additional simulations. We apply the derived theory to calculate the sensitivity of the power transmission coefficient with respect to the real and imaginary parts of the dielectric permittivity of the active material for both two-dimensional and three-dimensional plasmonic devices. We consider Fabry-Perot cavity switches consisting of a plasmonic waveguide coupled to a cavity resonator which is filled with an active material with tunable refractive index. To validate our method, we compare it with the direct approach, in which the sensitivity is calculated numerically by varying the dielectric permittivity of the active material, and approximating the derivative using a finite difference. We find that the results obtained with our method are in excellent agreement with the ones obtained by the direct approach. In addition, our method is accurate for both lossless and lossy devices.

In this paper we investigate the potentials of liquid crystalline elastomer microstructures for the realization of optically tunable photonic microstructures. While certain limitations regarding the compromise between feature size and structure warping have been observed, it turns out that the simultaneous presence of a refractive index tuning effect and of a shape tuning effect intrinsic to the LCE material can be harnessed to design tunable photonic devices with unique behavior.

A series of dipolar and quadrupolar two-photon absorption (2PA) photoinitiators (PIs) based around the well-known triphenylamine (TPA) core and tricyanofuran (TCF) acceptors have been prepared for use in two-photon polymerisation (TPP). The synthesised dipolar species are designated as 5 and 7, and the remaining quadrupolar species are 6, 8, 9 and 10. Large two-photon absorption cross-sections (δ_2PA) ranging between 333 - 507 GM were measured at 780 nm using the z-scan technique. Fluorescence quantum yields (ΦF) were below 3% across the series when compared to Rhodamine 6G as a reference standard. Finally, TPP tests were conducted on PIs 7 and 8 to assess their ability to initiate the polymerisation of acrylate monomers using an 800 nm femtosecond Ti:Sapphire laser system.

We analyze amplification of terahertz plasmons in a grating-gate semiconductor hetero-structure. The device consists of a resonant-tunneling-diode gated high-electron-mobility transistor (RTD-gated HEMT), i.e. a HEMT structure with a double-barrier gate stack enabling resonant tunneling from gate to channel. In these devices, the key element enabling substantial power gain is the coupling of terahertz waves into and out of plasmons in the RTD-gated HEMT channel, i.e. the gain medium, via the grating-gate itself, part of the active device, rather than by an external antenna structure as in previous works, enabling amplification with associated power gain >> 30 dB at room temperature.

Using computer simulation, we show a possibility of ultrafast switching between stable states of an optical bistable device based on nano-film of semiconductor. Optical bistability occurs because of nonlinear dependence of semiconductor absorption coefficient on electric field potential. Electric field is induced by a laser pulse due to charged particles generation. The main feature of this bistable element is low absorption energy, which is necessary for switching, in comparison with bistable element based on other physical mechanism of laser energy absorption. For computer simulation of a problem under consideration a new finite-difference scheme is proposed using the original iterative process.