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The light-induced structural phase transition in confining gallium and its photonic applications

The light-induced structural phase transition in confining gallium and its photonic applications
The light-induced structural phase transition in confining gallium and its photonic applications
We report on a study of the dynamics of a recently discovered light-induced, surface-assisted, structural phase transition from a common orthorhombic phase of α-gallium to a highly reflective phase that occurs at temperatures just below the metal's bulk melting point (30 °C). It is fully reversible with dynamics occurring on a nanosecond/microsecond time scale and can be stimulated by very low-intensity radiation, typically 10-5 W/µm². The two gallium phases involved have significantly different optical properties and this difference gives rise to a gigantic optical nonlinearity, χ(3) ~ 1 esu, that offers tremendous new opportunities for controlling light with light. The microscopic model of the effect is discussed.
Optical nonlinearity, Phase transition, Gallium
0022-2313
646-648
Albanis, V.
c5691c2e-71bc-4ca2-8d65-c0396fa228c2
Dhanjal, S.
a3f4fa8d-654f-4162-bd38-67c9b2d2f136
MacDonald, K.
76c84116-aad1-4973-b917-7ca63935dba5
Petropoulos, P.
522b02cc-9f3f-468e-bca5-e9f58cc9cad7
Offerhaus, H.L.
75130d34-dbad-4f37-bbd4-08fa7c0f9d4b
Richardson, D.J.
ebfe1ff9-d0c2-4e52-b7ae-c1b13bccdef3
Rode, A.V.
30b9f186-abb4-4054-a70d-9377cee7e099
Zheludev, N.I.
32fb6af7-97e4-4d11-bca6-805745e40cc6
Albanis, V.
c5691c2e-71bc-4ca2-8d65-c0396fa228c2
Dhanjal, S.
a3f4fa8d-654f-4162-bd38-67c9b2d2f136
MacDonald, K.
76c84116-aad1-4973-b917-7ca63935dba5
Petropoulos, P.
522b02cc-9f3f-468e-bca5-e9f58cc9cad7
Offerhaus, H.L.
75130d34-dbad-4f37-bbd4-08fa7c0f9d4b
Richardson, D.J.
ebfe1ff9-d0c2-4e52-b7ae-c1b13bccdef3
Rode, A.V.
30b9f186-abb4-4054-a70d-9377cee7e099
Zheludev, N.I.
32fb6af7-97e4-4d11-bca6-805745e40cc6

Albanis, V., Dhanjal, S., MacDonald, K., Petropoulos, P., Offerhaus, H.L., Richardson, D.J., Rode, A.V. and Zheludev, N.I. (2000) The light-induced structural phase transition in confining gallium and its photonic applications. Journal of Luminescence, 87-89, 646-648. (doi:10.1016/S0022-2313(99)00340-3).

Record type: Article

Abstract

We report on a study of the dynamics of a recently discovered light-induced, surface-assisted, structural phase transition from a common orthorhombic phase of α-gallium to a highly reflective phase that occurs at temperatures just below the metal's bulk melting point (30 °C). It is fully reversible with dynamics occurring on a nanosecond/microsecond time scale and can be stimulated by very low-intensity radiation, typically 10-5 W/µm². The two gallium phases involved have significantly different optical properties and this difference gives rise to a gigantic optical nonlinearity, χ(3) ~ 1 esu, that offers tremendous new opportunities for controlling light with light. The microscopic model of the effect is discussed.

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More information

Published date: May 2000
Additional Information: First presented at 1999 International Conference on Luminescence and Optical Spectroscopy of Condensed Matter, Osaka, Japan.
Keywords: Optical nonlinearity, Phase transition, Gallium

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 13627
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/13627
ISSN: 0022-2313
PURE UUID: dc5f26b7-8eca-480c-940d-708d50d1410b
ORCID for K. MacDonald: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3877-2976
ORCID for P. Petropoulos: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-1576-8034
ORCID for D.J. Richardson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-7751-1058
ORCID for N.I. Zheludev: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-1013-6636

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 07 Jan 2005
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:10

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Contributors

Author: V. Albanis
Author: S. Dhanjal
Author: K. MacDonald ORCID iD
Author: P. Petropoulos ORCID iD
Author: H.L. Offerhaus
Author: D.J. Richardson ORCID iD
Author: A.V. Rode
Author: N.I. Zheludev ORCID iD

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