Liquid crystal based nonlinear fishnet metamaterials

Abstract

We study experimentally the nonlinear properties of fishnet metamaterials infiltrated with nematic liquid crystals and find that moderate laser powers result in significant changes of the optical transmission of the composite structures. We also show that the nonlinear response of our structure can be further tuned with a bias electric field, enabling the realization of electrically tunable nonlinear metamaterials.

Nano-optomechanical nonlinear dielectric metamaterials

“…1 It has already been shown that oxides and nitrides, 2 graphene, 3 topological insulators, 4 and high-index dielectrics [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] can be used as platforms for the realization of high-Q resonant metamaterials. A variety of non-metallic media, such as graphene, 14 carbon nanotubes, 15 liquid crystals, 16 and semiconductors, 17,18 have also been engaged through hybridization with plasmonic metamaterials to create media with strongly enhanced optical nonlinearities, while a nano-optomechanical nonlinearity has recently been observed in a plasmonic metamaterial. 19 Here, we experimentally demonstrate an all-dielectric metamaterial, fabricated from a free-standing semiconductor nano-membrane, with sharp near-infrared optical resonances.…”

MAXWELL STRESS INDUCED FLOW-DEFORMATION AND OPTICAL NONLINEARITIES IN LIQUID CRYSTALS (Invited Paper)

“…As a result of such nonlinearity and extreme sensitivities to external field, NLC have been a favorite material for incorporation in specialized micro-and nano-structure for tunable optical devices or switches [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] with low power threshold requirement. In this article, we will delve into a hitherto relatively unexplored physical property that is unique to transparent liquid crystals, namely, the ability to flow and a strong coupling between flow and crystalline axis rotation or lattice distortion under the action of an applied field.…”

MULTIPLE TIME SCALES OPTICAL NONLINEARITIES OF LIQUID CRYSTALS FOR OPTICAL-TERAHERTZ-MICROWAVE APPLICATIONS (Invited Review)

“…Figure 13(a) that tends to diminish the overall response of the NLC-infiltrated structures such as inverse opal photonic crystal or micro-ring resonator [7,11]. In complex non-planar structures with numerous tight corners and crevices such as fishnet or splitring metamaterials other sub-wavelength structures and resonators [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] non-uniform director axis alignment, c.f. Figure 13(b) in addition to the immobile layer significantly diminish the effective tunable birefringence of the NLC and device performance.…”

“…The fluid nature of NLC's and their compatibility with other widely used materials ranging from semiconductors to polymers and plasmonics (metals) enable easy integration of such 'crystal' into a large assortment of non-planar structures ranging from nm-sized photonics elements [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] such as inverse opal photonic crystals and plasmonic/metamaterial structures, c.f. Figures 2(c)-(d), to millimeter-or bulkier microwave devices for tunable -delay line, -phase shifter, -wavelength selector and beam steering devices [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40], to name a few.…”