10.1021/acsphotonics.8b00313.s001
Chenghao Wan
Chenghao
Wan
Erik H. Horak
Erik H.
Horak
Jonathan King
Jonathan
King
Jad Salman
Jad
Salman
Zhen Zhang
Zhen
Zhang
You Zhou
You
Zhou
Patrick Roney
Patrick
Roney
Bradley Gundlach
Bradley
Gundlach
Shriram Ramanathan
Shriram
Ramanathan
Randall H. Goldsmith
Randall H.
Goldsmith
Mikhail A. Kats
Mikhail A.
Kats
Limiting Optical Diodes Enabled by the Phase Transition
of Vanadium Dioxide
American Chemical Society
2018
Optical Diodes Enabled
VO 2 phase transition
vanadium dioxide
index orders
incident-direction-dependent absorption
VO 2 layer
free-space wavelength
proof-of-concept device
nonlinear device
Vanadium Dioxide
diode
broadband operation
incident intensity
field enhancement
Phase Transition
light incident
phase-transition material
VO 2 film
2018-06-20 00:00:00
Journal contribution
https://acs.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Limiting_Optical_Diodes_Enabled_by_the_Phase_Transition_of_Vanadium_Dioxide/6685553
A limiting
optical diode is an asymmetric nonlinear device that
is bidirectionally transparent at low power but becomes opaque when
illuminated by sufficiently intense light incident from a particular
direction. We explore the use of a phase-transition material, vanadium
dioxide (VO<sub>2</sub>), as an active element of limiting optical
diodes. The VO<sub>2</sub> phase transition can be triggered by optical
absorption, resulting in a change in refractive index orders of magnitude
larger than what can be achieved with conventional nonlinearities.
As a result, a limiting optical diode based on incident-direction-dependent
absorption in a VO<sub>2</sub> layer can be very thin, and can function
at low powers without field enhancement, resulting in broadband operation.
We demonstrate a simple thin-film limiting optical diode comprising
a transparent substrate, a VO<sub>2</sub> film, and a semitransparent
metallic layer. For sufficiently high incident intensity, our proof-of-concept
device realizes broadband asymmetric transmission across the near-infrared,
and is approximately ten times thinner than the free-space wavelength.