Ultrafast all-optical modulation of wide-bandwidth pulses enabled by silicon-metasurfaces
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2026
Semiconductor metasurfaces have emerged as an effective platform for all-optical modulation thanks to their resonant light confinement and the enhancement of ultrafast optical effects like the Kerr effect and free-carrier generation. However, their narrow resonance features also restrict the available bandwidth for efficient modulation. Here, we demonstrate that a kink-like transmission spectral profile of a silicon metasurface could enable high-contrast modulation of wide-bandwidth pulses. We studied the all-optical ultrafast transmission modulation of the silicon metasurface induced by free-carrier excitation in a pump-probe configuration at different polarizations. We achieved ultrafast modulation of 28% (10%) with a speed of 25 ps and a bandwidth of up to 14 nm (49 nm) for y-and x-polarizations, respectively. Our results open up new opportunities for high-contrast, all-optical modulation of short pulses, with applications in optical communications and computing.
pump-probe spectroscopy
metasurfaces
nanophotonics
ultrafast tuning
Författare
Kaloyan Georgiev
Sofijski universitet
Khosro Zangeneh Kamali
Chalmers, Fysik, Nano- och biofysik
Anton A. Trifonov
Sofijski universitet
Giulia Crotti
Politecnico di Milano
Lyuben Petrov
Sofijski universitet
Stefan Georgiev
Sofijski universitet
Hristo Iliev
Sofijski universitet
Lei Xu
Nottingham Trent University
Unai Arregui Leon
Politecnico di Milano
Mohsen Rahmani
Nottingham Trent University
Giuseppe Della Valle
Politecnico di Milano
Ivan Buchvarov
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Sofijski universitet
Dragomir Neshev
Australian National University
Sofijski universitet
OPTO-ELECTRONIC ADVANCES
2096-4579 (ISSN) 2097-3993 (eISSN)
Vol. In PressÄmneskategorier (SSIF 2025)
Atom- och molekylfysik och optik
Telekommunikation
DOI
10.29026/oea.2026.260007