Taming Friedrich-Wintgen Interference in a Resonant Metasurface: Vortex Laser Emitting at an On-Demand Tilted Angle

Nano Lett. 2023 May 24;23(10):4152-4159. doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.2c04936. Epub 2023 May 2.

Abstract

Friedrich-Wintgen (FW) interference is an atypical coupling mechanism that grants loss exchange between leaky resonances in non-Hermitian classical and quantum systems. Intriguingly, such a mechanism makes destructive interference possible for scenarios in which a radiating wave becomes a bound state in the continuum (BIC) by giving away all of its losses. Here we propose and demonstrate experimentally an original concept to tailor FW-BICs with polarization singularity at on-demand wavevectors in an optical metasurface. As a proof-of-concept, using hybrid organic-inorganic halide perovskite as an active material, we empower this novel polarization singularity to obtain lasing emission, exhibiting both highly directional emission at oblique angles and a polarization vortex in momentum space. Our results pave the way to steerable coherent emission with a tailored polarization pattern for applications in optical communication/manipulation in free space, high-resolution imaging/focusing, and data storage.

Keywords: Friedrich−Wintgen inteference; bound states in a continuum; halide perovskites; metasurfaces; microlaser; nanophotonics; vector vortex beam.