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US 11,635,553 B2Granted
Cutoff modes for metasurface tuning
AssigneeSeagate Technology LLC
InventorsAditya Jain, Zoran Jandric, Dan Mohr, Kevin A. Gomez, Krishnan Subramanian
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An active metasurface includes a number of periodically-repeated unit cells arranged on a substrate that each include a plasmonic waveguide shaped and sized to provide a cutoff mode that captures light of a target wavelength. The active metasurface includes an index modulation controller that controllably varies a voltage differential across each one of the periodically-repeated cells to change a phase of light incident on the metasurface.
Claims19
A metasurface comprising:
- a number of periodically-repeated unit cells arranged on a substrate, each of the unit cells including a plasmonic waveguide defined by a metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitor structure comprising a metal gate electrode, a semiconductor block, and an oxide insulating layer separating the metal gate electrode and the semiconductor block, with the semiconductor block and the oxide insulating layer in contact with the substrate, the plasmonic waveguide shaped and sized to provide a cutoff mode that captures light of a target wavelength;
- and
- an index modulation controller that controllably varies a voltage differential across each one of the periodically-repeated cells to change a phase of light incident on the metasurface, wherein each cell of the periodically-repeated unit cells facilitates transmission of light through a thinnest dimension of the metasurface.
A method comprising:
- receiving light at each of a number of cells arranged on a substrate, each of the cells including a plasmonic waveguide that is part of a metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitor structure defined by a metal gate electrode, a semiconductor block, and an oxide insulating layer separating the metal gate electrode and the semiconductor block, with the semiconductor block and the oxide insulating layer in contact with the substrate, the plasmonic waveguide shaped and sized to provide a cutoff mode that captures light of a target wavelength;
- and
- dynamically altering a voltage differential applied across each one of the cells to alter a refractive index within each of the cells and to controllably steer light exiting the cells, each cell of the number of cells facilitating transmission of light through a thinnest dimension of the substrate.
A metasurface comprising:
- a number of repeating unit cells on a substrate, each unit cell facilitating transmission of light through a thinnest dimension of the metasurface, the unit cell including a metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitor structure with a semiconductor block and an oxide layer tuned to provide a cutoff mode and capture light at a target wavelength, each of the semiconductor block and the oxide layer in contact with the substrate;
- and
- an index modulator that controllably varies a voltage differential across the unit cell to change a phase of light incident on a first surface of the unit cell and controllably steer light exiting the unit cell.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.