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US 9,274,352 B2Granted
Actively tunable polar-dielectric optical devices
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
InventorsJames Peter Long, Joshua D. Caldwell, Jeffrey C. Owrutsky, Orest J. Glembocki
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Abstract
Optical devices that include one or more structures fabricated from polar-dielectric materials that exhibit surface phonon polaritons (SPhPs), where the SPhPs alter the optical properties of the structure. The optical properties lent to these structures by the SPhPs are altered by introducing charge carriers directly into the structures. The carriers can be introduced into these structures, and the carrier concentration thereby controlled, through optical pumping or the application of an appropriate electrical bias.
Claims30
An actively tunable polar-dielectric optical device, comprising:
- a plurality of polar-dielectric SPhP nanoantennas fabricated from a plurality of polar-dielectric materials, a first portion of each nanoantenna being fabricated from a first polar-dielectric material and a second portion of each nanoantenna being fabricated from a second polar-dielectric material, each of the first and second polar-dielectric materials being configured to exhibit surface phonon polaritons (SPhPs) when it is exposed to a corresponding incident infrared optical beam having at least one wavelength within a Reststrahlen band of that polar-dielectric material, a presence of SPhPs in each of the polar-dielectric materials affecting at least one optical property of the device, a value of the at least one optical property of the structure being dependent on a concentration of charge carriers in the polar-dielectric materials;
- and
- a controllable source of charge carriers configured to inject additional charge carriers into at least one of the polar-dielectric materials;
- wherein the at least one optical property is a resonant wavelength λres in the first polar-dielectric material;
- wherein a first injection of charge carriers into the first polar-dielectric material is configured to produce a desired permittivity ∈1 in the first polar-dielectric material;
- and
- wherein a second injection of charge carriers into the second polar-dielectric material is configured to produce a desired index of refraction n2 in the second polar-dielectric material;
- and
- wherein the first and second injections of charge carriers are further configured to produce a desired resonant wavelength λres(∈1, n2) in the first polar-dielectric material.
6 more elements
An actively tunable polar-dielectric optical device, comprising:
- a plurality of polar-dielectric SPhP nanoantennas fabricated from a plurality of polar-dielectric materials, a first portion of each nanoantenna being fabricated from a first polar-dielectric material and a second portion of each nanoantenna being fabricated from a second polar-dielectric material, each of the first and second polar-dielectric materials being configured to exhibit surface phonon polaritons (SPhPs) when it is exposed to a corresponding incident infrared optical beam having at least one wavelength within a Reststrahlen band of that polar-dielectric material, a presence of SPhPs in each of the polar-dielectric materials affecting at least one optical property of the device, a value of the at least one optical property of the structure being dependent on a concentration of charge carriers in the polar-dielectric materials;
- and
- a controllable source of charge carriers configured to inject additional charge carriers into at least one of the polar-dielectric materials;
- wherein a first injection of charge carriers into the first polar-dielectric material is configured to produce a desired permittivity ∈1 and a desired index of refraction n1 in the first polar-dielectric material;
- and
- wherein a second injection of charge carriers into the second polar-dielectric material is configured to produce a desired permittivity ∈2 and desired index of refraction n2 in the second polar-dielectric material;
- and
- wherein the first and second injections of charge carriers are further configured to produce a desired first resonant wavelength λres(∈1, n2) in the first polar-dielectric material and a desired second resonant wavelength λrTes(∈1, n1) in the second polar-dielectric material.
5 more elements
An actively tunable polar-dielectric optical device, comprising:
- an SPhP waveguide fabricated from a plurality of polar-dielectric materials, a first portion of the waveguide being fabricated from a first polar-dielectric material and a second portion of the waveguide being fabricated from a second polar-dielectric material, each of the first and second polar-dielectric materials being configured to exhibit surface phonon polaritons (SPhPs) when it is exposed to a corresponding incident infrared optical beam having at least one wavelength within a Reststrahlen band of that polar-dielectric material, a presence of SPhPs in each of the polar-dielectric materials affecting at least one optical property of the device, a value of the at least one optical property of the structure being dependent on a concentration of charge carriers in the polar-dielectric materials;
- and
- a controllable source of charge carriers configured to inject additional charge carriers into at least one of the polar-dielectric materials;
- wherein the at least one optical property is an index of refraction nr of the waveguide;
- wherein the index of refraction nr is actively tuned by controllably injecting a first plurality of charge carriers into the first polar-dielectric material and controllably injecting a second plurality of charge carriers into the second polar-dielectric material.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.