Prasad P. Iyer

Widely Tunable Infrared Antennas Using Free Carrier Refraction.

We demonstrate tuning of infrared Mie resonances by varying the carrier concentration in doped semiconductor antennas. We fabricate spherical silicon and germanium particles of varying sizes and doping concentrations. Single-particle infrared spectra reveal electric and magnetic dipole, quadrupole, and hexapole resonances. We subsequently demonstrate doping-dependent frequency shifts that follow simple Drude models, culminating in the emergence of plasmonic resonances at high doping levels and long wavelengths. These findings demonstrate the potential for actively tuning infrared Mie resonances by optically or electrically modulating charge carrier densities, thus providing an excellent platform for tunable metamaterials.

Beam engineering for selective and enhanced coupling to multipolar resonances

The ability to control multipolar light-matter interactions in metamaterials and other photonic systems has traditionally relied on engineering the physical properties of the resonators. In this paper, the authors follow the reverse approach. By tailoring the optical beam that illuminates a spherical nanoparticle, they demonstrate selective and enhanced coupling to the optical modes excited on the nanoparticle.

Ultrawide thermal free-carrier tuning of dielectric antennas coupled to epsilon-near-zero substrates

The principal challenge for achieving reconfigurable optical antennas and metasurfaces is the need to generate continuous and large tunability of subwavelength, low-Q resonators. We demonstrate continuous and steady-state refractive index tuning at mid-infrared wavelengths using temperature-dependent control over the low-loss plasma frequency in III–V semiconductors. In doped InSb we demonstrate nearly two-fold increase in the electron effective mass leading to a positive refractive index shift (Δn > 1.5) that is an order of magnitude greater than conventional thermo-optic effects. In undoped films we demonstrate more than 10-fold change in the thermal free-carrier concentration producing a near-unity negative refractive index shift. Exploiting both effects within a single resonator system—intrinsic InSb wires on a heavily doped (epsilon-near-zero) InSb substrate—we demonstrate dynamically steady-state tunable Mie resonances. The observed line-width resonance shifts (Δλ > 1.7 μm) suggest new avenues for highly tunable and steady-state mid-infrared semiconductor antennas.Achieving large tunability of subwavelength resonators is a central challenge in nanophotonics. Here the authors demonstrate refractive index tuning at mid-infrared wavelengths using temperature-dependent control over the low loss plasma frequency in III-V semiconductors.

Widely tunable infrared semiconductor Mie resonators(Conference Presentation)

Optical antenna metasurfaces have attracted substantial attention in recent years, as they may enable new classes of planar optical elements. However, actively tuning nanoantenna resonances, whether dielectric or plasmonic, remains an unresolved challenge. In this work, we investigate tuning mid-infrared (MIR) Mie resonances in semiconductor subwavelength particles by directly modulating the permittivity with free charge carriers. Using femtosecond laser ablation, we fabricate spherical silicon and germanium particles of varying sizes and doping concentrations. Single-particle infrared spectra reveal electric and magnetic dipole, quadrupole, and hexapole resonances. We first demonstrate size-dependent Si and Ge Mie resonances spanning the entire mid-infrared (2-16 μm) spectral range. We subsequently show doping-dependent resonance frequency shifts that follow simple Drude models. Taking advantage of the large doping dependence of Si and Ge MIR permittivities, we demonstrate a huge tunability of Mie resonance wavelengths (up to ~ 9 μm) over a broad 2-16 μm MIR range. This tuning range corresponds to changes of permittivity as large as 30 within a single material system, culminating in the emergence of plasmonic modes at high carrier densities and long wavelengths. We also demonstrate dynamic tuning of intrinsic semiconductor antennas using thermo-optic effects. These findings demonstrate the potential for actively tuning infrared Mie resonances, thus providing an excellent platform for tunable metamaterials.

Dynamically reconfigurable metasurfaces (Presentation Recording)

Recently, the use of phased array metasurfaces to control the phase and amplitude of electromagnetic waves at subwavelength dimensions have led to large number of devices ranging from flat optical elements to holographic projections. Here we analytically (and numerically using FDTD techniques) develop a design principle to form reconfigurable metasurfaces that control the phase of transmitted beam between 0 and 2π in a lossless manner. For a linearly polarized plane wave incident on a sub-wavelength array of dielectric resonators, we engineer the size of the individual resonators and the array periodicity such that the fundamental Electric and Magnetic dipole resonances of the device cross each other. This mode crossing caused by coupling of individual resonator modes with the surface lattice resonances, constructively interferes with the incident plane wave enabling us to form lossless metasurfaces. By optically pumping charge carriers into the resonators, we can tune the refractive index of the individual resonators leading to arbitrary control over the phase of the transmitted beam between 0 and 2π with less than 3dB loss in intensity. Further, we extend these strategies by redesigning the resonator elements by forming core-shell (metal-dielectric) resonators to cause the resonance matching within each resonator. This enables the mode crossing to be independent of the periodicity of the resonator elements while preserving the arbitrary control over the phase through charge carrier modulation. Such metasurfaces with spectrally overlapping electric and magnetic dipole modes may form the basis for a range of metadevices with unprecedented control over the Electromagnetic wave front.

Properties of infrared doped semiconductor Mie resonators (Presentation Recording)

Dielectric optical antenna resonators have recently emerged as a viable alternative to plasmonic resonators for metamaterials and nanophotonic devices, due to their ability to support multipolar Mie resonances with low losses. In this work, we experimentally investigate the mid-infrared Mie resonances in Si and Ge subwavelength spherical particles. In particular, we leverage the electronic and optical properties of these semiconductors in the mid-infrared range to design and tune Mie resonators through free-carrier refraction. Si and Ge semiconductor spheres of varying sizes of 0.5-4 μm were fabricated using femtosecond laser ablation. Using single particle infrared spectroscopy, we first demonstrate size-dependent Si and Ge Mie resonances spanning the entire mid-infrared (2-16 μm) spectral range. Subsequently we show that the Mie resonances can be tuned by varying material properties rather than size or geometry. We experimentally demonstrate doping-dependent resonance frequency shifts that follow simple Drude models of free-carrier refraction. We show that Ge particles exhibit a stronger doping dependence than Si due to the smaller effective mass of the free carriers. Using the unique size and doping dispersion of the electric and magnetic dipole modes, we identify and demonstrate a size regime where these modes are spectrally overlapping. We also demonstrate the emergence of plasmonic resonances for high doping levels and long wavelengths. These findings demonstrate the potential for tuning infrared semiconductor Mie resonances by optically or electrically modulating charge carrier densities, thus providing an excellent platform for tunable electromagnetic metamaterials.