Large Refractive Index Change Research Articles

Design and fabrication of indium tin oxide for high performance electro-optic modulators at the communication wavelength

In recent years, transparent conductive oxides(TCO) based electro-optic modulators has garnered significant attention due to its epsilon-near-zero(ENZ) effect to enhance the local optical field and produce a large refractive index change in the vicinity of ENZ wavelength, thereby enabling substantial optical field modulation at micrometer size. The modulators manipulate the light field by altering the carrier concentration in TCO through an electric field. Therefore, the modulator's performance is closely related to the TCO's material behavior. In this paper, the effect of carrier concentration and mobility of indium tin oxide(ITO) on the modulation efficiency, depth and bandwidth was analyzed and it is found that ITO with the carrier concentration near 1 × 1020 cm−3 and mobility as high as 80 cm2/Vs is beneficial to the electro-optic modulators with large modulation depth and bandwidth. Specifically, our research shows that the carrier concentration and mobility of ITO films can be tunned over a wide range from 2.2 × 1019cm−3 to 7.7 × 1020cm−3 and 7.2 cm2/Vs to 82.3 cm2/Vs respectively, by changing doping concentration, deposition conditions and annealing parameters. As a result, ITO film integrated on a 3.5-μm-long silicon waveguide with an MOS structure can achieves a high modulation bandwidth of over 40 GHz at the optical communication wavelength.

Colossal Optical Anisotropy from Atomic-Scale Modulations.

Materials with large birefringence (Δn, where n is the refractive index) are sought after for polarization control (e.g., in wave plates, polarizing beam splitters, etc.), nonlinear optics, micromanipulation, and as a platform for unconventional light-matter coupling, such as hyperbolic phonon polaritons. Layered 2Dmaterials can feature some of the largest optical anisotropy; however, their use in most optical systems is limited because their optical axis is out of the plane of the layers and the layers are weakly attached. This work demonstrates that a bulk crystal with subtle periodic modulations in its structure-Sr9/8 TiS3 -is transparent and positive-uniaxial, with extraordinary index ne = 4.5 and ordinary index no = 2.4 in the mid- to far-infrared. The excess Sr, compared to stoichiometric SrTiS3 , results in the formation of TiS6 trigonal-prismatic units that break the chains of face-sharing TiS6 octahedra in SrTiS3 into periodic blocks of five TiS6 octahedral units. The additional electrons introduced by the excess Sr form highly oriented electron clouds, which selectively boost the extraordinary index ne and result in record birefringence (Δn > 2.1 with low loss). The connection between subtle structural modulations and large changes in refractive index suggests new categories of anisotropic materials and also tunable optical materials with large refractive-index modulation.

Improving Accuracy and Sensitivity of a Tilted Fiber Bragg Grating Refractometer Using Cladding Mode Envelope Derivative

Tilted fiber Bragg grating (TFBG) sensors are widely used in biochemical and electrochemical sensing due to their high sensitivity to refractive index (RI) of the surrounding medium. Ability of TFBGs to measure small RI change is currently limited due to the discrete spectral characteristics of TFBG cladding modes. Here we propose a novel method to measure both small and large RI changes with high accuracy and sensitivity by measuring the derivative of the intensity of the entire cladding mode envelope. The peak of the derivative curve provides a continuous and linear response to the RI change, which overcomes the problem of “cut-off mode hopping” that, until now, has limited the resolution of RI measurement using TFBGs. Experimental results demonstrate that, for small RI change (less than 0.002 RIU), the cladding envelope derivative method improves the interrogation sensitivity from tens of nm/RIU (using cut-off mode) to hundreds of nm/RIU (this method) together with a linear response (better than 98%),Moreover, such method provides the ability of temperature crosstalk calibration, offering a powerful new tool for biochemical detection.

Time-refraction optics with single cycle modulation

Abstract We present an experimental study of optical time-refraction caused by time-interfaces as short as a single optical cycle. Specifically, we study the propagation of a probe pulse through a sample undergoing a large refractive index change induced by an intense modulator pulse. In these systems, increasing the refractive index abruptly leads to time-refraction where the spectrum of all the waves propagating in the medium is red-shifted, and subsequently blue-shifted when the refractive index relaxes back to its original value. We observe these phenomena in the single-cycle regime. Moreover, by shortening the temporal width of the modulator to ∼5–6 fs, we observe that the rise time of the red-shift associated with time-refraction is proportionally shorter. The experiments are carried out in transparent conducting oxides acting as epsilon-near-zero materials. These observations raise multiple questions on the fundamental physics occurring within such ultrashort time frames, and open the way for experimenting with photonic time-crystals, generated by periodic ultrafast changes to the refractive index, in the near future.

Three-dimensional, label-free cell viability measurements in tissue engineering scaffolds using optical coherence tomography.

In the field of tissue engineering, 3D scaffolds and cells are often combined to yield constructs that are used as therapeutics to repair or restore tissue function in patients. Viable cells are often required to achieve the intended mechanism of action for the therapy, where the live cells may build new tissue or may release factors that induce tissue regeneration. Thus, there is a need to reliably measure cell viability in 3D scaffolds as a quality attribute of a tissue-engineered medical product. Here, we developed a noninvasive, label-free, 3D optical coherence tomography (OCT) method to rapidly (2.5min) image large sample volumes (1 mm3 ) to assess cell viability and distribution within scaffolds. OCT imaging was assessed using a model scaffold-cell system consisting of a polysaccharide-based hydrogel seeded with human Jurkat cells. Four test systems were used: hydrogel seeded with live cells, hydrogel seeded with heat-shocked or fixed dead cells and hydrogel without any cells. Time series OCT images demonstrated changes in the time-dependent speckle patterns due to refractive index (RI) variations within live cells that were not observed for pure hydrogel samples or hydrogels with dead cells. The changes in speckle patterns were used to generate live-cell contrast by image subtraction. In this way, objects with large changes in RI were binned as live cells. Using this approach, on average, OCT imaging measurements counted 326 ± 52 live cells per 0.288 mm3 for hydrogels that were seeded with 288 live cells (as determined by the acridine orange-propidium iodide cell counting method prior to seeding cells in gels). Considering the substantial uncertainties in fabricating the scaffold-cell constructs, such as the error from pipetting and counting cells, a 13% difference in the live-cell count is reasonable. Additionally, the 3D distribution of live cells was mapped within a hydrogel scaffold to assess the uniformity of their distribution across the volume. Our results demonstrate a real-time, noninvasive method to rapidly assess the spatial distribution of live cells within a 3D scaffold that could be useful for assessing tissue-engineered medical products.

All-optical polarization tuning based on an intensity-dependent nonlinear metasurface

Active control of light polarization at the nanoscale is essential for integrated photonic devices. Here, an all-optical approach is proposed to tune the polarization state of near-infrared light using a nonlinear metasurface. Based on the large intensity-dependent refractive index change of epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) materials, a phase difference between two orthogonal electric fields at ENZ wavelength can be continuously tuned in a range larger than 0.61π by varying the incident light power. The polarization state of the reflected light can thus be actively tuned from linear to circular state via an all-optical approach. Notably, abundant polarization states can be obtained by altering the polarization angle of incident light. The proposed all-optical approach is promising for tunable photonic functionalities of practical applications.

Ultrafast All-Optical Switching Using Doped Chromoprotein Films

Next-generation communication networks require > Tbit/s single-channel data transfer and processing with sub-picosecond switches and routers at network nodes. Materials enabling ultrafast all-optical switching have high potential to solve the speed limitations of current optoelectronic circuits. Chromoproteins exhibit a large light-controlled refractive index change alleviating the driving energy requirements for optical switching. Here, we report femtosecond transient grating experiments demonstrating the feasibility of < 200 fs all-optical switching by hydrated thin films of photoactive yellow protein and compare the results with those obtained using bacteriorhodopsin. Possibilities for the practical utilization of the scheme in extremely high-speed optical modulation and switching/routing with nominally infinite extinction contrast are discussed.

Stimulated Rayleigh Scattering Enhanced by a Longitudinal Plasma Mode in a Periodically Driven Dirac Semimetal Cd_{3}As_{2}.

Using broadband (12-45THz) multi-terahertz spectroscopy, we show that stimulated Rayleigh scattering dominates the transient optical conductivity of cadmium arsenide, a Dirac semimetal, under an optical driving field at 30THz. The characteristic dispersive line shape with net optical gain is accounted for by optical transitions between light-induced Floquet subbands, strikingly enhanced by the longitudinal plasma mode. Stimulated Rayleigh scattering with an unprecedentedly large refractive index change may pave the way for slow light generation in conductive solids at room temperature.

Space-selective creation of photonics functions in a new organic material: Femtosecond laser direct writing in Zeonex glass of refractive index change and photoluminescence

A Cyclo Olefin Polymer (COP), Zeonex® glass exhibits advantage for applications in photonics: high transparency from NIR to UVA, humidity insensitivity and refractive index stability. We thus studied this organic glass, made with only carbon and hydrogen to show that it can be used as a substrate for photonics. We investigated the microscale transformations induced by fs laser direct writing according to parameters: pulse energy, repetition rate, scanning speed (or time of irradiation). We pointed out two domains of modifications, one at low mean power between 0.1 and 20 mW and another above 20 mW. We called them type I and II. In type I, two basic modifications – photoluminescence (PL) creation are restricted to the irradiated volume at the scale of beam size, a large refractive index change (+0.14) appears when the pulse repetition rate is high(>500 kHz), enabling local modulation of optical properties for potential applications. Here, modification of the COP molecule is moderate and the spatial sensitivity is of the order of μm. In type II, the modification is more extended but PL is much stronger. Through correlations between the PL results, we defined signatures composed of luminophore series: S1 associated to type I, S2 associated to type II and S3 for intermediate conditions. S1 is the luminescent group, with the largest yield excitable at 475 nm with a broad emission from green to orange-yellow. S2 is remarkable with a broad excitation in the green and broad emission in yellow range. S1 and S3 results from small molecular modification but S2 is likely resulting from the disruption of COP molecule forming Carbon Dots.

Cicada wing-inspired solar transmittance enhancement and hydrophobicity design for graphene-based solar steam generation: A novel gas phase deposition approach

The severe light reflection phenomenon has become a critical challenge for the sufficient utilization of solar energy. For preventing the predation risk, cicada’s wings are gradually evolved into transparent morphology to preferably blend into the natural environment. The high solar transmittance in cicada wings is due to the presence of surface micro/nanostructures which avoids the large change of refractive index between air and wings. Herein, inspired by the high solar transmittance of cicada’s wings, an extremely-simple gaseous phase deposition with low heating temperature is developed to cover graphene film with methyl-modified silicon dioxide (CH3-SiO2) nanospheres that decelerate the refractive index reduction. The destructive interference effect of CH3-SiO2 nanospheres effectively increases the solar transmittance to promote the absorption and conversion of solar energy into heat by graphene nanosheets. As a result, compared to pure graphene film, CH3-SiO2 nanospheres covered graphene (SiO2-graphene) film presents a temperature increase of ∼6.3 °C with solar illumination of 1.0 kW/m2. After being combined with zwitterion-modified cotton fabric, a novel solar steam generation system mainly composed of SiO2-graphene film is prepared. Due to the hydrophobicity of CH3-SiO2 nanosphere and the hydration effect of zwitterionic polymer, the salt precipitation and oil fouling problems regarded as major challenges in solar desalination are simultaneously solved, thus achieving water evaporation rate near 1.40 kg/m2h at oily seawater environment. Most importantly, the solar transmittance enhancement and anti-reflection design inspired by cicada wings provide a valuable reference to promote the solar absorption capacity of other photo-thermal conversion materials.

Photosensitization agents for fs laser writing in PDMS

This study aims at identifying compounds incorporated into Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) which produce large refractive index change under fs laser exposition, potentially leading to optimal writing of waveguides or photonic devices in such a soft host. Germanium derivative, titania and zirconite derivatives, benzophenone (Bp), irgacure-184/500/1173 and 2959 are investigated. We show a mapping of the RI index change relative to the writing speed (1 to 40 mm/s), the repetition rate (606 to 101 kHz) and the number of passes (1 to 8) from which we establish quantitative parameters to allow the comparison between samples. We show that the organic materials, especially irgacure-184 and benzophenone yield a significantly higher maximum refractive index change in the order of 10−2. We also show that the strongest photosensitivity is achieved with a mixture of organic/organo-metallic material of Bp + Ge. We report a synergetic effect on photosensitivity of this novel mixture.

Terahertz Refractive Index Sensing Based on Gradient Metasurface Coupled Confined Spoof Surface Plasmon Polaritons Mode

We have investigated the sensing performance of the terahertz (THz) spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SSPs) on a metal groove array excited by a one-dimensional (1D) dielectric gradient metasurface (GMS) coupler. Such a compact SSPs coupler overcomes the disadvantages of their metal counterparts consisted of subwavelength metal antennas such as low efficiency and absorption loss. The normal incident terahertz wave is deflected by the dielectric GMS to the predetermined angles in the dielectric substrate which excites the SSPs modes on the metal groove array. Treating the 1D all-dielectric GMS as the excitation coupler, the confined SSPs modes can be generated in a small resonant cavity, leading to the strong light-matter interaction. The designed SSPs dielectric meta-couplers can be used to construct ultra-thin and compact sensing devices. Detailed investigation shows that the reflected amplitudes and phases of terahertz wave exhibit resonant responses to the change of the sample refractive index filled in the gap between the coupler and the metal groove array. The SSPs sensing by GMS coupling with the resonant frequency around 0.46 THz exhibits a high sensitivity of about 517.9 GHz/RIU with the resolution of 0.0001 RIU. A high Q-factor of 262 can also be achieved. In addition, the sensitivity of 410 GHz/RIU can be achieved with the resolution of 0.05 RIU, which can be used to detect large changes in refractive index. The study paves the ways for practical applications of terahertz trace-amount detection of chemical, organic or biomedical materials.

Large refractive index changes in ZIF-8 thin films of optical quality.

ZIF-8 (zeolitic imidazolate framework-8) is a member of the growing family of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs). Homogeneous and crack-free ZIF-8 thin films of optical quality were crystallized on silicon and glass substrates. The refractive index of such ZIF-8 thin films in the complete visible light spectrum was directly determined for the first time. By incubating the porous films in different substances, the refractive index could be modulated over a wide range, two times larger than previously reported for MOF thin films. Reversible refractive index switching in ZIF-8 thin films was performed via the liquid and the gas phase. The ability to adjust the refractive index over a broad range enables the use of ZIF-8 films for applications in optical devices such as sensors, coatings for mirrors and lenses, or as an optical medium in more complex optical devices.

The ordinary negative changing refractive index for estimation of optical confinement factor

Abstract The electro-optic effect is considered very important in optical communication systems. The small optical confinement factor is attributed to the weak overlap between the electric field and optical wave and hence the optical signal is not efficiently modulated. In this paper, the problem of the small optical confinement factor in the Mach–Zehnder modulator based on lithium niobate (LN) which is deeply studied. The data were analyzed through a proposed mathematical model to explain the relationship between the change in the ordinary negative refractive index and the confinement factor. The system is improved using a small length of the modulator arm as only 3 to 8 µm, low driving power of about 4 V/µm, a large change in the negative ordinary refractive index of about—0.2 × 10−7, and a compact optical modulator. This can reflect a strong optical confinement factor when the electric field is applied to the electrodes of the optical modulator.

ITO-based microheaters for reversible multi-stage switching of phase-change materials: towards miniaturized beyond-binary reconfigurable integrated photonics.

Inducing a large refractive-index change is the holy grail of reconfigurable photonic structures, a goal that has long been the driving force behind the discovery of new optical material platforms. Recently, the unprecedentedly large refractive-index contrast between the amorphous and crystalline states of Ge-Sb-Te (GST)-based phase-change materials (PCMs) has attracted tremendous attention for reconfigurable integrated nanophotonics. Here, we introduce a microheater platform that employs optically transparent and electrically conductive indium-tin-oxide (ITO) bridges for the fast and reversible electrical switching of the GST phase between crystalline and amorphous states. By the proper assignment of electrical pulses applied to the ITO microheater, we show that our platform allows for the registration of virtually any intermediate crystalline state into the GST film integrated on the top of the designed microheaters. More importantly, we demonstrate the full reversibility of the GST phase between amorphous and crystalline states. To show the feasibility of using this hybrid GST/ITO platform for miniaturized integrated nanophotonic structures, we integrate our designed microheaters into the arms of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer to realize electrically reconfigurable optical phase shifters with orders of magnitude smaller footprints compared to existing integrated photonic architectures. We show that the phase of optical signals can be gradually shifted in multiple intermediate states using a structure that can potentially be smaller than a single wavelength. We believe that our study showcases the possibility of forming a whole new class of miniaturized reconfigurable integrated nanophotonics using beyond-binary reconfiguration of optical functionalities in hybrid PCM-photonic devices.

Influence of surface and interface roughness on X-ray and extreme ultraviolet reflectance: A comparative numerical study

The influence of surface and interface roughness on X-ray and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) reflectometry is becoming increasingly important as layer thicknesses decrease to a few nanometers in next-generation nanodevices and multilayer optics. Here we simulate two different approaches for numerically modeling roughness, the Névot–Croce factor and the graded-interface method, in the Parratt formalism of calculating the complex reflectance of multilayer systems. The simulations were carried out at wavelengths relevant to widely used metrology techniques, including 0.154 nm for X-ray reflectometry and 13.5 nm for EUV lithography. A large discrepancy is observed between the two approaches in several situations: when the roughness is large with respect to the wavelength, for interfaces with large changes in refractive index across the boundary, as well as around reflectance peaks due to interference effects. Caution is thus required when using either approach to model roughness in these situations.

Excitonic nonlinear shifts in photonic crystal nanocavities with buried multiple quantum wells

We investigate strong excitonic absorption and large nonlinear wavelength shifts in buried multiple-quantum-well photonic crystal L3 nanocavities that well confine the carriers. The confined carriers can survive as long as the radiative lifetime because carrier diffusion is negligible and surface recombination is well suppressed. In addition, strong optical confinement and small mode volume provided by photonic crystals can enhance excitonic nonlinearity. Therefore, our structure shows a strong excitonic effect that induces large refractive index changes by exciton bleaching and exhibits a large cavity-frequency shift. Our results will contribute to the development of ultralow energy all-optical switching devices in the future.

Rewritable color nanoprints in antimony trisulfide films.

Materials that exhibit large and rapid switching of their optical properties in the visible spectrum hold the key to color-changing devices. Antimony trisulfide (Sb2S3) is a chalcogenide material that exhibits large refractive index changes of ~1 between crystalline and amorphous states. However, little is known about its ability to endure multiple switching cycles, its capacity for recording high-resolution patterns, nor the optical properties of the crystallized state. Unexpectedly, we show that crystalline Sb2S3 films that are just 20 nm thick can produce substantial birefringent phase retardation. We also report a high-speed rewritable patterning approach at subdiffraction resolutions (>40,000 dpi) using 780-nm femtosecond laser pulses. Partial reamorphization is demonstrated and then used to write and erase multiple microscale color images with a wide range of colors over a ~120-nm band in the visible spectrum. These solid-state, rapid-switching, and ultrahigh-resolution color-changing devices could find applications in nonvolatile ultrathin displays.

Strain measurement range enhanced chirped pulse φ-OTDR for distributed static and dynamic strain measurement based on random fiber grating array

A high-performance distributed sensing system based on a random fiber grating array (RFGA) and multi-frequency database demodulation (MFDD) method for strain induced delay time measurement is demonstrated. It enables a wide measurement range for both static and dynamic strain sensing. The proposed MFDD method can enlarge the strain measurement range, since the large strain variation induced time domain trace distortion could be compensated for by laser initial frequency changes. Furthermore, a random fiber grating made with embedded large random refractive index changes along the single-mode fiber could provide a stable reflection with a wide reflection spectrum range. Such a structure successfully improves the time delay measurement precision and achieves a large tuning range, as demonstrated by the database in which a set of pre-recorded undisturbed reflected Rayleigh traces form RFGA at various laser frequencies. Ultimately, a dynamic strain with a peak-to-peak value of 12.5µε at a vibration frequency of 50 Hz is accurately reconstructed when the pulse repetition rate is 1 kHz, which was not detected using a conventional chirped pulse phase-sensitive optical frequency domain reflectometers. The maximum measurable strain variation of about 12.5µε represents a factor of 3 improvement. This number is limited by a pre-recorded frequency scanning range of RFGA response in the database.

The Potential of Combining Thermal Scanning Probes and Phase‐Change Materials for Tunable Metasurfaces

AbstractMetasurfaces allow for the spatiotemporal variation of amplitude, phase, and polarization of optical wavefronts. Implementation of active tunability of metasurfaces promises compact flat optics capable of reconfigurable wavefront shaping. Phase‐change materials (PCMs) are a prominent material class enabling reconfigurable metasurfaces due to their large refractive index change upon structural transition. However, commonly employed laser‐induced switching of PCMs limits the achievable feature sizes and restricts device miniaturization. Thermal scanning‐probe‐induced local switching of the PCM germanium telluride is proposed to realize near‐infrared metasurfaces with feature sizes far below what is achievable with diffraction‐limited optical switching. The design is based on a planar multilayer and does not require fabrication of protruding resonators as commonly applied in the literature. Instead, it is numerically demonstrated that a broad‐band tuning of perfect absorption can be realized by the localized tip‐induced crystallization of the PCM. The spectral response of the metasurface is explained using resonance mode analysis and numerical simulations. To facilitate experimental realization, a theoretical description of the tip‐induced crystallization employing multiphysics simulations is provided to demonstrate the great potential for fabricating compact reconfigurable metasurfaces. The concept can be applied not only for plasmonic sensing and spatial frequency filtering, but also be transferred to all‐dielectric metasurfaces.