Dynamic Beam Switching by Liquid Crystal Tunable Dielectric Metasurfaces

• Published in: ACS photonics Vol. 5; no. 5; pp. 1742 - 1748
• Main Authors: Komar, Andrei, Paniagua-Domínguez, Ramón, Miroshnichenko, Andrey, Yu, Ye Feng, Kivshar, Yuri S., Kuznetsov, Arseniy I., Neshev, Dragomir
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 16-05-2018
• Subjects: beam steering; liquid crystals; optical metasurface; dielectric resonators; tunable metasurface
• ISSN: 2330-4022; 2330-4022
• DOI: 10.1021/acsphotonics.7b01343

Dynamic steering of laser beams by ultrathin optical metasurfaces is a significant research advance for possible applications in remote ranging and sensing. A unique platform for such important functionalities is offered by dielectric metasurfaces that have the highest transmission efficiency. However, the realization of dynamically tunable metasurfaces still remains a challenge. Here we experimentally demonstrate the dynamic switching of beam deflection by a silicon-nanodisk dielectric metasurface infiltrated with liquid crystals. In particular, we show the switching of a laser beam from 0° to a 12° angle with an efficiency of 50% by heating the metasurface to modify the liquid crystal state from nematic to isotropic. Our results open important opportunities for tunable ultrathin beam steering metadevices.