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Title: Efficient nonlinear metasurface based on nonplanar plasmonic nanocavities

Journal Article · · ACS Photonics

Since their discovery in the 1960s, nonlinear optical effects have revolutionized optical technologies and laser industry. Development of efficient nanoscale nonlinear sources will pave the way for new applications in photonic circuitry, quantum optics and biosensing. However, nonlinear signal generation at dimensions smaller than the wavelength of light brings new challenges. The fundamental difficulty of designing an efficient nonlinear source is that some of the contributing factors involved in nonlinear wave-mixing at the nanoscale are often hard to satisfy simultaneously. Here, we overcome these limitations by developing a new type of nonplanar plasmonic metasurfaces, which can greatly enhance the second harmonic generation (SHG) at visible frequencies and achieve conversion efficiency of ~6 × 10-5 at a peak pump intensity of ~0.5 GW/cm2. This is 4-5 orders of magnitude larger than the efficiencies observed for nonlinear thin films and doubly resonant plasmonic antennas. The proposed metasurface consists of an array of metal-dielectric-metal (MDM) nanocavities formed by conformally cross-linked nanowires separated by an ultrathin nonlinear material layer. The nonplanar MDM geometry minimizes the destructive interference of nonlinear emission into the far-field, provides strongly enhanced independently tunable resonances both for fundamental and harmonic frequencies, a good mutual overlap of the modes and a strong interaction with the nonlinear spacer. Lastly, our findings enable the development of efficient nanoscale single photon sources, integrated frequency converters, and other nonlinear devices.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Argonne-Northwestern Solar Energy Research (ANSER)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); Materials Sciences and Engineering Division; Emory University
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1357783
Journal Information:
ACS Photonics, Vol. 4, Issue 5; ISSN 2330-4022
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 31 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (7)

A review of gap-surface plasmon metasurfaces: fundamentals and applications journal June 2018
Directional second-harmonic generation controlled by sub-wavelength facets of an organic mesowire journal January 2018
Frequency mixing at an electromagnetically induced transparency like metasurface loaded with gas as a nonlinear element journal August 2018
Empowered Layer Effects and Prominent Properties in Few‐Layer Metasurfaces journal March 2019
Directional Second Harmonic Generation Controlled by Sub-wavelength Facets of an Organic Mesowire text January 2018
Efficient Ultraviolet Nanosources Based on Third‐Harmonic Generation in Dielectric–Metal Composite Nanodisks journal December 2019
Strongly resonant metasurfaces supported by reflective substrates for highly efficient second- and high-harmonic generations with ultralow pump intensity journal January 2019