Tunable wide-angle high-efficiency polarization selectivity based on a one-dimensional photonic crystal containing elliptical metamaterials

Abstract

Recently, researchers achieved wide-angle high-efficiency polarization selectivity based on polarization-sensitive photonic bandgaps in one-dimensional photonic crystals containing elliptical metamaterials. However, wide-angle high-efficiency polarization selectivity can only operate at fixed wavelengths (around band edges), which intensively limits the practical applications. To overcome this limitation, we construct a one-dimensional photonic crystal containing phase-change-material-based elliptical metamaterials. The position of the polarization-sensitive photonic bandgap can be flexibly controlled by the crystallization rate of the phase change material. Empowered by the wavelength-tunable polarization-sensitive photonic bandgap, we achieve wavelength-tunable wide-angle high-efficiency polarization selectivity. As the crystallization rate increases from 0 % to 100 %, the operating wavelength of polarization selectivity can be flexibly tuned from 1440 to 1796 nm. Meanwhile, the operating angular width remains larger than 50° and the optimal polarization extinction ratio remains on the order of 104. Our work provides a viable route to designing tunable high-performance polarizers.