A review of tunable photonics: Optically active materials and applications from visible to terahertz

Joo Hwan Ko; Young Jin Yoo; Yubin Lee; Hyeon-Ho Jeong; Young Min Song

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.104727

A review of tunable photonics: Optically active materials and applications from visible to terahertz

iScience. 2022 Jul 5;25(8):104727. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104727. eCollection 2022 Aug 19.

Authors

Joo Hwan Ko¹, Young Jin Yoo¹, Yubin Lee², Hyeon-Ho Jeong¹, Young Min Song^{1

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju 61005, Republic of Korea.
² School of Materials Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju 61005, Republic of Korea.
³ Anti-Viral Research Center, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju 61005, Republic of Korea.
⁴ AI Graduate School, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju 61005, Republic of Korea.

Abstract

The next frontier of photonics is evolving into reconfigurable platforms with tunable functions to realize the ubiquitous application. The dynamic control of optical properties of photonics is highly desirable for a plethora of applications, including optical communication, dynamic display, self-adaptive photonics, and multi-spectral camouflage. Recently, to meet the dynamic response over broad optical bands, optically active materials have been integrated with the diverse photonic platforms, typically in the dimension of micro/nanometer scales. Here, we review recent advances in tunable photonics with controlling optical properties from visible to terahertz (THz) spectral range. We propose guidelines for designing tunable photonics in conjunction with optically active materials, inherent in wavelength characteristics. In particular, we devote our review to their potential uses for five different applications: structural coloration, metasurface for flat optics, photonic memory, thermal radiation, and terahertz plasmonics. Finally, we conclude with an outlook on the challenges and prospects of tunable photonics.

Keywords: Applied physics; Materials science; Photonics.

Publication types

Review