Electrically driven programmable phase-change meta-switch reaching 80% efficiency
Abstract
Despite recent advances in active metaoptics, wide dynamic range combined with high-speed reconfigurable solutions is still elusive. Phase-change materials (PCMs) offer a compelling platform for metasurface optical elements, owing to the large index contrast and fast yet stable phase transition properties. Here, we experimentally demonstrate an in situ electrically-driven reprogrammable metasurface by harnessing the unique properties of a phase-change chalcogenide alloy, GeSbTe (GST), in order to realize fast, non-volatile, reversible, multilevel, and pronounced optical modulation in the near-infrared spectral range. Co-optimized through a multiphysics analysis, we integrate an efficient heterostructure resistive microheater that indirectly heats and transforms the embedded GST film without compromising the optical performance of the metasurface even after several reversible phase transitions. A hybrid plasmonic-PCM meta-switch with a record electrical modulation of the reflectance over eleven-fold (an absolute reflectance contrast reaching 80%), unprecedented quasi-continuous spectral tuning over 250 nm, and switching speed that can potentially reach a few kHz is presented. Our work represents a significant step towards the development of fully integrable dynamic metasurfaces and their potential for beamforming applications.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2104.10381,
title = {Electrically driven programmable phase-change meta-switch reaching 80% efficiency},
author = {Sajjad Abdollahramezani and Omid Hemmatyar and Mohammad Taghinejad and Hossein Taghinejad and Alex Krasnok and Ali A. Eftekhar and Christian Teichrib and Sanchit Deshmukh and Mostafa El-Sayed and Eric Pop and Matthias Wuttig and Andrea Alu and Wenshan Cai and Ali Adibi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2104.10381},
year = {2022}
}