New materials for metamaterials: plasmonic and ENZ chalcogenides

Piccinotti, Davide, Gholipour, Behrad, Yao, Jin, MacDonald, Kevin F., Hayden, Brian and Zheludev, Nikolai (2018) New materials for metamaterials: plasmonic and ENZ chalcogenides. SPIE Photonics Europe 2018, Strasbourg Convention & Exhibition Centre, Strasbourg, France. 22 - 26 Apr 2018.

Abstract

Metamaterial nano-structuring can provide an astonishing level of control over the optical properties of thin metal films, and concepts have been extended in recent years to dielectric (typically transparent, high-index) material platforms. Interesting opportunities are also offered by materials presenting an electromagnetic response that lies between those of metals and dielectrics: inter- and intra-band transitions in semiconductors can lead to strong dispersion of optical properties with spectral domains of low and high loss, negative and positive real parts of relative permittivity, plasmonic, ‘epsilon-near-zero’ (ENZ) and topological insulator behaviours. The chalcogenide alloys are a good example of such highly dispersive materials, variously offering optical properties of the above types at near-UV to near-IR wavelengths, which can moreover be ‘engineered’ by controlling alloy composition and phase. We report here on the synthesis, characterization and application of plasmonic chalcogenides, including compositions that can be switched between plasmonic and dielectric states, and on the counterintuitive properties of chalcogenide ENZ metasurfaces.

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Contributors

Author: Kevin F. MacDonald

Author: Brian Hayden

Author: Nikolai Zheludev

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