Enabling infinite QQ factors in absorbing optical systems

Resonant optical systems have widespread applications in science and technology. However, their quality ($Q$) factors can be significantly deteriorated, if some of their parts exhibit optical absorption. Here, we show that by coupling a lossy mode of such a structure to two independent lossless modes, one can create a nonradiating and absorption-free bound state in the continuum (BIC). The $Q$ factor of such a BIC is theoretically unlimited despite interaction with an absorbing structure. We use this mechanism to design a plasmonic metasurface with $Q$ factors that are close to $10^7$ in the visible spectral range. The proposed mechanism is general and can be used to engineer ultrahigh-$Q$ resonances in various absorbing structures.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Nonlinear nonlocal metasurfaces

Optical metasurfaces have recently emerged as the game changer in light manipulation and opened up new perspectives in many subfields of optics and photonics. Recent developments in nonlocal metasurfaces, in which the nanoscale building blocks respond to the incoming light collectively rather than as individual objects, are especially promising for enhancing and controlling the nonlinear optical phenomena. In this article, we provide a brief overview of the basic principles of nonlocal metasurfaces in the context of their nonlinear optical functionalities. We discuss the origin and the regimes of the nonlocal response, covering the aspects of multiple scattering, radiation damping, quality factor, local-field enhancement, and temporal dynamics. Some important aspects are illustrated by computational examples. We also give our personal viewpoint on the selected ideas and research directions in nonlocal and nonlinear metasurfaces, including the role of spatial symmetry in nonlocal interactions, the effects of phase and momentum matching in frequency conversion, as well as the possibilities offered by new material platforms and novel concepts, such as bound states in the continuum, parity-time symmetry, and time-variant metasurfaces.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Badanie nieliniowych właściwości optycznych nanostruktur plazmonicznych

The aim of this thesis and the underlying research work is to demonstrate the benefits emerging from combination of the peculiar properties of plasmonic nanostructures with the most interesting aspects of nonlinear optics. For this purpose, analytical and numerical modeling was combined with experimental work, which included nanofabrication and measurements performed by means of polarization-resolved nonlinear confocal microscopy and by modified Z-scan technique (called "f-scan").It has been shown that the effective anisotropy of the second-harmonic generation in plasmonic crystals (formed by rectangular arrays of tetrahedral recesses in silver surface) can be controlled by proper choice of lattice constants. It also has been shown that this anisotropy arises mainly from the anisotropic photonic band structure, exhibiting plasmonic band gap with plasmonic band edge states, enabling enhancement of the local electric field.Two-dimensional chiral arrangements of triangular gold nanoparticles, forming plasmonic enantiomeric "meta-molecules", have been studied by nonlinear microscopy operating with circularly polarized light and by numerical modeling, revealing strong chiroptical effect in backscattered second-harmonic radiation. Small size of individual enantiomers allows to create "watermarks", encoded by the chirality of meta-molecules, which can be readout by imaging of second-harmonic generation excited by circularly polarized laser beam.Quantitative characterization of the third-order optical nonlinearity and saturable absorption efficiency of aqueous solutions of graphene and gold-nanoparticle decorated graphene has been performed by novel "f-scan" technique, which has been created and developed by incorporation of a focus-tunable lens into traditional Z-scan. These studies have shown that the graphene exhibits very efficient ultrafast saturable absorption, which is occasionally suppressed by reverse saturable absorption. Moreover, it turns out that decoration of graphene by gold nanoparticles may cause a slight improvement of the saturable absorption efficiency parameter within spectral range of their plasmon resonances.In summary, the following thesis presents various nonlinear optical properties of plasmonic nanostructures. Different possibilities of controlling these properties by means of nano-engineering, supported by analytical and numerical modeling, is also analyzed and demonstrated. This work opens up new perspectives for fabrication and rational design of novel photonic nano-materials and nano-devices based on nonlinear nanoplasmonic phenomena.Le but de cette thèse et de la recherche associée est une démonstration des avantages d’une combinaison de propriétés inhabituelles de nanostructures plasmoniques avec des aspects parmi les plus intéressants de l’optique non-linéaire. Pour cet effet, la modélisation analytique et numérique a été combiné avec le travail expérimental, qui comprenait la production de nanostructures et les mesures effectuées au moyen de la microscopie confocale non-linéaire résolue en polarisations et de la technique Z-scan modifiée (nommée “f-scan”).Il a été montré que l’anisotropie efficace de génération de seconde-harmonique dans les cristaux plasmoniques (formés par des réseaux rectangulaires de cavités tétraédriques sur une surface d’argent) peut être contrôlée par un choix approprié des paramètres de maille. Il a aussi été montré que cette anisotropie provient principalement d’une structure de bande photonique elle-même anisotrope, présentant une bande interdite plasmonique avec des états plasmoniques en bord de bande, permettant de renforcer le champ électrique local. Les arrangements chiraux bidimensionnels de nanoparticules triangulaires d’or, forment des “meta-molécules” plasmoniques énantiomériques, ont été analysés par microscopie non-linéaire à la lumière polarisée circulairement et par modélisation numérique, révélant un fort effet chiroptique par génération de seconde harmonique en rétro-réflexion. La petite taille des énantiomères uniques permet de créer “des filigranes” (“watermarks”) codés par la chiralité des meta-molécules, qui peuvent être lu par imagerie de la génération de seconde harmonique excitée par un rayon polarisé circulairement. Les caractéristiques quantitatives de la non-linéarité optique du troisième ordre et de l’efficacité d’absorption saturable des solutions aqueuses de fragments de graphène et de graphène dopé par des nanoparticules d’or a été effectuée par une nouvelle technique “f-scan”, qui a été créée et développée par incorporation d’une lentille à distance focale accordable dans une technique de Z-scan traditionnelle. Ces études ont montrées que le graphène présente une absorption saturable ultra-rapide très efficace, qui est parfois convertie en absorption saturable inverse. Il apparaît alors qu’une décoration du graphène par des nanoparticules d’or peut causer une légère amélioration du paramètre d’efficacité d’absorption saturable dans la plage spectrale de leurs résonances plasmoniques. En résumé, cette thèse présente une variété de propriétés optiques non-linéaires apparaissant dans les nanostructures plasmoniques. Différentes possibilités de contrôle de ces propriétés au moyen d’une démarche de nano-ingénierie, soutenue par des modélisations à la fois analytique et numérique ont été démontrées et analysées. Ces travaux ouvrent la voie à la fabrication et à l‘optimisation sur mesure de nouveaux nano-matériaux et nano-dispositifs photoniques reposant sur des effets de nano-plasmonique non-linéaire

Enabling infinite Q factors in absorbing optical systems

Resonant optical structures have widespread applications in science and technology. However, their quality (Q) factors can be significantly deteriorated, if some of their parts exhibit optical absorption. Here, we show that by coupling a lossy mode of such a structure to two independent lossless modes, one can create a nonradiating and absorption-free bound state in the continuum (BIC). The Q factor of such a BIC is theoretically unlimited despite interaction with an absorbing structure. We use this mechanism to design a plasmonic metasurface with Q factors that are close to 107 in the visible spectral range. The proposed mechanism is general and can be used to engineer ultrahigh-Q resonances in various systems containing absorbing structures

Gain-induced scattering anomalies of diffractive metasurfaces

Photonic nanostructures with gain and loss have long been of interest in the context of diverse scattering anomalies and light-shaping phenomena. Here, we investigate the scattering coefficients of simple gain-doped diffractive metasurfaces, revealing pairs of scattering anomalies surrounded by phase vortices in frequency–momentum space. These result from an interplay between resonant gain, radiative loss, and interference effects in the vicinity of Rayleigh anomalies. We find similar vortices and singular points of giant amplification in angle-resolved reflectivity spectra of prism-coupled gain slabs. Our findings could be of interest for gain-induced wavefront shaping by all-dielectric metasurfaces, possibly employing gain coefficients as low as ∼50 cm−1

Hybridization of electromagnetic multipoles in a nanoscatterer in the presence of another nanoscatterer

Coupling between multipolar modes of different orders has not been investigated in depth, despite its fundamental and practical relevance in the context of optical metamaterials and metasurfaces. Here, we use an electromagnetic multipole expansion of both the scattered fields and the oscillating electric currents to reveal the multipolar excitations in a nanoparticle positioned close to another nanoparticle. The considered single-particle multipoles radically differ from multipoles excited in a pair of nanoparticles. Using the expansion, we reveal the multipole character of the electric currents and the contributions of the multipole moments to the scattering cross section of each particle, including the effect of their interaction. We find that light scattered by the particles plays the role of an inhomogeneous incident field for each of the particles, leading to hybridization of the originally independent orthogonal multipole resonances. For an incident plane wave polarized along the nanoparticle pair, the hybridization of the dipole and quadrupole resonances gives rise to a significant narrowband resonance in the spectrum of the dipole scattering, which can be of interest for various applications, e.g. in surface-enhanced fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy. In general, this work shows that the multipole-multipole interaction between nanoparticles must be treated by taking into account also such hybridized multipole resonances

Crosstalk Reduction between Closely Spaced Optical Waveguides by Using Higher-Order Modes

Funding Information: This work is funded by the Academy of Finland (308394). A significant part of the numerical calculations was performed using computational resources within the Aalto University School of Science “Science-IT” project. We also acknowledge the Academy of Finland Flagship Programme, Photonics Research and Innovation (Grant No. 320167, PREIN). Publisher Copyright: © 2022 authors. Published by the American Physical Society.Optical waveguide structures can make the state-of-the-art micro- and nanofabricated devices faster and less energy consuming. However, on-chip optical components must be placed at relatively large distances from each other, on the order of the wavelength λ, to eliminate the crosstalk between them. This makes on-chip optical structures too large to compete with their electronic counterparts. In this work, we explore the possibility of suppressing the crosstalk between closely spaced dielectric waveguides by making use of higher-order modes. We show that the crosstalk between two waveguides can be essentially eliminated, even if the waveguides are separated by a distance of λ/10 only. We also study arrays of more than two waveguides and find the conditions for the efficient crosstalk reduction in them. Our results can lead to further miniaturization of photonic integrated circuits.Peer reviewe