Abstract
Effectively continuous control over propagation of a beam of light requires light modulation with pixelation that is smaller than the optical wavelength. Here we propose a spatial intensity modulator with sub-wavelength resolution in one dimension. The metadevice combines recent advances in reconfigurable nanomembrane metamaterials and coherent all-optical control of metasurfaces. It uses nanomechanical actuation of metasurface absorber strips placed near a mirror in order to control their interaction with light from perfect absorption to negligible loss, promising a path towards dynamic diffraction and focusing of light as well as holography without unwanted diffraction artefacts.
Highlights
Spectrum are typically based on a dielectric membrane of nanoscale thickness which is coated by a plasmonic material or a high index dielectric, which is structured by reactive ion etching and focused ion beam milling to create the metamaterial pattern and strip actuators with or without the original dielectric layer[46]
We demonstrate that nanoscale actuation of metamaterial strips placed at a nanoscale distance from a mirror could be the basis for a spatial light modulator with sub-wavelength spatial resolution in one dimension and — in principle — unlimited optical contrast resulting from complete reflection and coherent perfect absorption
Potential application areas of such metadevices include dynamic diffraction, focusing and attenuation of light as well as holography
Summary
Spectrum are typically based on a dielectric membrane of nanoscale thickness (e.g. silicon nitride) which is coated by a plasmonic material (e.g. gold) or a high index dielectric (e.g. silicon), which is structured by reactive ion etching and focused ion beam milling to create the metamaterial pattern and strip actuators with or without the original dielectric layer[46]. The optical properties of metasurface and metadevice were simulated for normal incidence illumination by a coherent plane wave using finite element modelling (COMSOL Multiphysics 4.4) in three dimensions, approximating the device with metastrips that have prescribed displacements and infinite length.
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