A Lithography-Free and Field-Programmable Photonic Metacanvas

Kaichen Dong; Sukjoon Hong; Yang Deng; He Ma; Jiachen Li; Xi Wang; Junyeob Yeo; Letian Wang; Shuai Lou; Kyle B Tom; Kai Liu; Zheng You; Yang Wei; Costas P Grigoropoulos; Jie Yao; Junqiao Wu

doi:10.1002/adma.201703878

A Lithography-Free and Field-Programmable Photonic Metacanvas

Adv Mater. 2018 Feb;30(5). doi: 10.1002/adma.201703878. Epub 2017 Dec 11.

Authors

Kaichen Dong^{1

2

3}, Sukjoon Hong^{4

5}, Yang Deng¹, He Ma⁶, Jiachen Li⁶, Xi Wang¹, Junyeob Yeo^{4

7}, Letian Wang⁴, Shuai Lou¹, Kyle B Tom^{1

2}, Kai Liu⁸, Zheng You³, Yang Wei⁶, Costas P Grigoropoulos⁴, Jie Yao^{1

2}, Junqiao Wu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
² Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
³ State Key Laboratory of Precision Measurement Technology and Instruments, Department of Precision Instrument, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, P. R. China.
⁴ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
⁵ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hanyang University, 55 Hanyangdaehak-ro, Sangnok-gu, Ansan, Gyeonggi-do, 15588, Republic of Korea.
⁶ Department of Physics and Tsinghua-Foxconn Nanotechnology Research Center, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, P. R. China.
⁷ Department of Physics, Kyungpook National University, 80 Daehak-ro, Bukgu, Daegu, 41566, Republic of Korea.
⁸ State Key Laboratory of New Ceramics and Fine Processing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, P. R. China.

PMID: 29226459
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201703878

Abstract

The unique correspondence between mathematical operators and photonic elements in wave optics enables quantitative analysis of light manipulation with individual optical devices. Phase-transition materials are able to provide real-time reconfigurability of these devices, which would create new optical functionalities via (re)compilation of photonic operators, as those achieved in other fields such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA). Here, by exploiting the hysteretic phase transition of vanadium dioxide, an all-solid, rewritable metacanvas on which nearly arbitrary photonic devices can be rapidly and repeatedly written and erased is presented. The writing is performed with a low-power laser and the entire process stays below 90 °C. Using the metacanvas, dynamic manipulation of optical waves is demonstrated for light propagation, polarization, and reconstruction. The metacanvas supports physical (re)compilation of photonic operators akin to that of FPGA, opening up possibilities where photonic elements can be field programmed to deliver complex, system-level functionalities.

Keywords: hysteretic phase transitions; lithography-free writing; metacanvas; real-time reconfigurability; vanadium dioxide.