Using a Semiconductor‐to‐Metal Transition to Control Optical Transmission through Subwavelength Hole Arrays

Abstract

We describe a simple configuration in which the extraordinary optical transmission effect through subwavelength hole arrays in noble-metal films can be switched by the semiconductor-to-metal transition in an underlying thin film of vanadium dioxide. In these experiments, the transition is brought about by thermal heating of the bilayer film. The surprising reverse hysteretic behavior of the transmission through the subwavelength holes in the vanadium oxide suggest that this modulation is accomplished by a dielectric-matching condition rather than plasmon coupling through the bilayer film. The results of this switching, including the wavelength dependence, are qualitatively reproduced by a transfer matrix model. The prospects for effecting a similar modulation on a much faster time scale by using ultrafast laser pulses to trigger the semiconductor-to-metal transition are also discussed.

Large Scale Synthesis of Nanopyramidal-Like VO2 Films by an Oxygen-Assisted Etching Growth Method with Significantly Enhanced Field Emission Properties

“…Recently, wafer-scale processing with superior thickness uniformity and valence state control have been demonstrated by rf magnetron sputtering [40] and a combinatorial approach [1], giving rise to constructive bridges to further fill the gaps between fundamental research and commercial devices. However, among the numerous reports on the synthesis of VO 2 films, only a few distinct surface structures, e.g., rough pores [41], subwavelength nanoholes [42], nanotetrapods [43], nanobeams [19], have been developed. This may derive from the complexity of the vanadium oxide system [44] which has multiple oxidation states (from +2, as in VO, to +5, as in V 2 O 5 ), different elemental compositions (such as V n O 2n−1 and V n O 2n+1 ) [45,46], and various coordination polyhedra (including the tetrahedron, trigonal bipyramid, square pyramid, regular octahedron, and distorted octahedron) [47]; however, these severely restrict their applications as high performance devices.…”