Vanadium Dioxide for Dynamically Tunable Photonics

Abstract

As the quest for active photonic devices continues, materials with exotic and exploitable properties have become paramount to enable new advancements. In recent years, phase‐change materials (PCMs) have emerged as an exciting option that open new gateways for both fundamental physics and material science research, while also being applicable to actively tunable photonic devices. One PCM in particular, vanadium dioxide (VO2), has gained a lot of attention due to its interesting reversible insulator‐to‐metal transition that comes along with a drastic change in its optical properties. In this review, starting with a brief description and explanation of the origin of the exciting optical characteristics of VO2, we then present examples of the latest research trends of VO2 in photonic applications. This includes manipulation of the reflection, transmission, and absorption of light to produce color filters and near‐infrared perfect absorbers, as well as applications of telecommunications modulators, and we round up with applications in the energy field, in smart windows and adaptive radiative cooling. We conclude with a discussion about our views on the future perspectives for VO2 platforms in active photonic devices.

Manipulating atomic defects in plasmonic vanadium dioxide for superior solar and thermal management

“…The transition exhibits reversible, fast, and multi-stimuliresponsive characteristics, leading to remarkable optical, electrical, and mechanical properties changes, as well as diverse applications. 12,13 VO2 has been attracting a long-standing research interest for its dynamic optics, [14][15][16][17] while the investigation of its active localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) in NIR has not been recognized until very recently. [18][19][20] Most of the previous studies of VO2 plasmonics focus on far-infrared or terahertz regions.…”

Metasurface-empowered spectral and spatial light modulation for disruptive holographic displays

“…Thermally tunable metasurfaces, obtained by integrating phase change materials (PCMs) that alter their state in response to thermal stimuli, have been proposed. PCMs such as germanium antimony tellurium alloy 168,169 (GeSbTe, GST) and vanadium dioxide [172][173][174][175] (VO 2 ) have been mainly studied for nanophotonic devices containing metasurfaces. Since GST and VO 2 have different phases, transition temperatures, and volatility, a suitable PCM can be selected depending on the device application.…”

Tunable Metasurfaces: The Path to Fully Active Nanophotonics

“…Similar to chalcogenide glass‐based PCMs, VO 2 is another PCM that has been used to great success in metasurfaces. [ 38,41,62–64 ] However, rather than an amorphous to crystalline transition, it undergoes an IMT with an accompanying crystalline structure change from a monoclinic phase to a rutile phase. [ 65,66 ] A schematic of this transition is shown in Figure 2a‐ii.…”