Dynamic Nonlinear Image Tuning through Magnetic Dipole Quasi-BIC Ultrathin Resonators

Transfer Learning Empowered Multiple-Indicator Optimization Design for Terahertz Quasi-Bound State in the Continuum Biosensors

Terahertz metasurface biosensors based on the quasi-bound state in the continuum (QBIC) offer label-free, rapid, and ultrasensitive biomedical detection. Recent advances in deep learning facilitate efficient, fast, and customized design of such metasurfaces. However, prior approaches primarily establish one-to-one mappings between structure and optical response, neglecting the trade-offs among key performance indicators. This study proposes a pioneering method leveraging transfer learning to optimize multiple indicators in metasurface biosensor design. For the first time, multiple-indicator comprehensive optimization of the quality (Q) factor, figure of merit (FoM), and effective sensing area (ESA) is achieved. The two-stage transfer learning method pre-trains on low-dimensional datasets to extract shared features, followed by fine-tuning on complex, high-dimensional tasks. By adopting frequency shift as a unified criterion, the contribution ratios of these indicators are quantified as 26.09% for the Q factor, 48.42% for FoM, and 25.49% for ESA. Compared to conventional deep-learning approaches, the proposed method reduces data requirements by 50%. The biosensor designed using this method detects the biomarker homocysteine, achieving detection at the ng µL-1 level, with experimental results closely matching theoretical predictions. This work establishes a novel paradigm for metasurface biosensor design, paving the way for transformative advances in trace biological detection.

Polarization-Independent Enhancement of Third-Harmonic Generation Empowered by Doubly Degenerate Quasi-Bound States in the Continuum

Recent advancements in nonlinear nanophotonics are driven by the exploration of sharp resonances within high-index dielectric metasurfaces. In this work, we leverage doubly degenerate quasi-bound states in the continuum (quasi-BICs) to demonstrate the robust enhancement of third-harmonic generation (THG) in silicon metasurfaces. These quasi-BICs are governed by C4v symmetry and therefore can be equally excited with the pump light regardless of polarization. By tailoring the geometric parameters, we effectively control Q-factors and field confinement of quasi-BICs and thus regulate their resonantly enhanced THG process. A maximum THG conversion efficiency up to 1.03 × 10-5 is recorded under a pump intensity of 5.85 GW/cm2. Polarization-independent THG profiles are further confirmed by mapping their signals across the polarization directions. This work establishes foundational strategies for the ultracompact design of robust and high-efficiency photon upconversion systems.

Optical chirality of all dielectric q-BIC metasurface with symmetry breaking

As a two-dimensional material at the nanoscale, optical metasurfaces have excellent and flexible optical field control methods. In particular, the application of the concept of bound states in the continuum (BIC) enables optical metasurfaces to achieve resonance effects with high quality factors (Q factor). In comparison to plasmonic metasurfaces, all dielectric metasurfaces can effectively reduce the Ohmic losses in the structure. In this study, we propose a q-BIC metasurface with a high quality factor (maximum Q factor of 247), which is all dielectric and symmetry-breaking, and investigate the enhancement effect of this structure on optical chirality in the near-infrared band. In the simulation and experiment, the transmission spectra of the structure in the near-infrared band exhibited differences at different light source incidence angles when illuminated with circularly polarised light of varying rotation directions (external chirality). The maximum far-field circular dichroism (CD) achieved was 0.17 in the simulation and 0.038 in the experiment. Subsequently, the near-field chirality enhancement of the structure was investigated, which has the potential to increase the optical chirality of the incident light by up to 22 times. Furthermore, the introduction of a chiral medium to a non-chiral metasurface results in a chiral transfer effect, enabling the achievement of circular dichroism beyond the intrinsic capabilities of the individual substances involved (maximum CD = 0.0055). The high-Q factor of the all-dielectric metasurface paves the way for a plenty of potential applications in optical chiral fields, including chiral sensing, ultra-sensitive analysis of biomaterials and soft matter.

The theory, technology, and application of terahertz metamaterial biosensors: A review

Terahertz metamaterial biosensors combine terahertz time-domain spectroscopy with metamaterial sensing to provide a sensitive detection platform for a variety of targets, including biological molecules, proteins, cells, and viruses. These biosensors are characterized by their rapid response, sensitivity, non-destructive, label-free operation, minimal sample requirement, and user-friendly design, which also allows for integration with various technical approaches. Advancing beyond traditional biosensors, terahertz metamaterial biosensors facilitate rapid and non-destructive trace detection in biomedical applications, contributing to timely diagnosis and early screening of diseases. In this paper, the theoretical basis and advanced progress of these biosensors are discussed in depth, focusing on three key areas: improving the sensitivity and specificity, and reducing the influence of water absorption in biological samples. This paper also analyzes the potential and future development of these biosensors for expanded applications. It highlights their potential for multi-band tuning, intelligent operations, and flexible, wearable biosensor applications. This review provides a valuable reference for the follow-up research and application of terahertz metamaterial biosensors in the field of biomedical detection.

Second harmonic generation from bound-state in the continuum-hosted few-layers van der Waals metasurface

Monolayer transition metals dichalcogenides (TMDs) have been coupled to bound-state in the continuum (BIC) hosted dielectric structures to attain high second harmonic generation (SHG). However, the transvers electric modes are strongly localized in the waveguides result in fairly weak exciton-photon coupling in monolayer TMD placed on the surface. To achieve SHG in few-layers TMDs based BIC-inspired structure is a challenge. Here, we report BIC in few-layers TMDs metasurface with high quality factor (Q-factor), tunability, and modes-upholding in different environments. The metasurface sustains BIC at different thickness of the meta-atoms, which is highly desired for maintaining the accuracy in fabrications. Next, we calculate the SHG efficiency from few-layers TMD metasurface around BIC wavelengths. The high conversion efficiency in this work is 1.47 × 10-4 for 6 mW incident power. Moreover, our design is highly thin and can be used for various linear and non-linear applications in optics. This study will provide a new route to next generation post-silicon metasurfaces.

Collision of high-resolution wide FOV metalens cameras and vision tasks

Metalenses, with their compact form factor and unique optical capabilities, hold tremendous potential for advancing computer vision applications. In this work, we propose a high-resolution, large field-of-view (FOV) metalens intelligent recognition system, combining the latest YOLO framework, aimed at supporting a range of vision tasks. Specifically, we demonstrate its effectiveness in scanning, pose recognition, and object classification. The metalens we designed to achieve a 100° FOV while operating near the diffraction limit, as confirmed by experimental results. Moreover, the metalenses weigh only 0.1 g and occupy a compact volume of 0.04 cm3, effectively addressing the bulkiness of conventional lenses and overcoming the limitations of traditional metalens in spatial frequency transmission. This work highlights the transformative potential of metalenses in the field of computer vision, The integration of metalenses with computer vision opens exciting possibilities for next-generation imaging systems, offering both enhanced functionality and unprecedented miniaturization.

Dual polarization-independent quasi-bound states in the continuum in a hetero-out-of-plane dielectric metasurface

Symmetry-protected quasi-bound states in the continuum (qBICs) in metasurfaces with broken in-plane symmetry are extensively investigated to achieve high quality-factor (Q-factor) resonances. Herein, we propose the hetero-out-of-plane (H-OP) dielectric metasurface, which is composed of Si cuboids tetramer broken out-of-plane symmetry by adding a layer of silica. Dual polarization-independent qBICs are realized. The multipolar decomposition of scattering powers and near-field distributions reveal the physical mechanism of dual qBICs modes, which are dominated by the magnetic quadrupole and the toroidal dipole. The two symmetry-protected qBICs in the H-OP metasurface have robust Q-factors and stable resonance wavelengths compared with these in the out-of-plane metasurface. Our results provide a route to achieve the high Q-factor resonator with better performance applied in many optical and optoelectronic devices.

Observation of edge bound states in the continuum at truncated silicon pillar photonic crystal

Bound states in the continuum are optical modes with extremely high-quality factors and narrow resonances, which exist in the dispersion spectrum of the radiative region above the light line. A unique bound state in the continuum is supported at the edge of truncated photonic crystals, which is a type of a Fabry-Pérot type bound state in the continuum, but has never been observed in experiments. Here, we demonstrate the bound states in the continuum supported at the edge array of silicon (Si) pillars whose diameter is bigger than that of the rest of a Si-pillar two-dimensional photonic crystal. We also show the tunability of the resonance and surface sensitivity of the mode when Si pillars are conformally coated with nanometer-thick aluminium oxide films. The presence of an oxide nanofilm improves the quality factor by over 60 % and shifts the resonance wavelength. Such behavior signifies the substantial potential of the bound states in the continuum on two-dimensional photonic crystals for post-fabrication tuning of the quality factor and surface sensing applications.

Degenerate merging BICs in resonant metasurfaces

Resonant metasurfaces driven by bound states in the continuum (BIC) offer an intriguing approach to engineering high-Q resonances. Merging multiple BICs in the momentum space could further enhance the Q-factor as well as its robustness to fabrication imperfections. Here, we report the doubly degenerate guided mode resonances (GMR) in a resonant metasurface, whose radiation losses could be totally suppressed due to merging BICs. We show that the GMRs and their associated accidental BICs can evolve into degenerate merging BICs by parametric tuning of the metasurface. Significantly, these two GMRs share the same critical parameter (i.e., lattice constants or thickness) that the merging BICs occur. Interestingly, thanks to the degenerate property of two GMRs, a larger (smaller) period will split one of the merging BICs into eight accidental BICs at an off-Γ point but annihilate the other. Such an exotic phenomenon can be explained by the interaction of GMRs and background Fabry-Perot resonances. Our result provides new, to the best of our knowledge, strategies for engineering high-Q resonances in resonant metasurfaces for light-matter interaction.

Edge Detection Imaging by Quasi-Bound States in the Continuum

Optical metasurfaces have revolutionized analog computing and image processing at subwavelength scales with faster speed and lower power consumption. They typically involve spatial differentiation with an engineered angular dispersion. Quasi-bound states in the continuum (quasi-BICs) have emerged as powerful tools for customizing optical resonances. While quasi-BICs have been widely used with high Q-factors and enhanced field confinement, their potential in image processing remains unexplored. Here, we demonstrate edge detection imaging by leveraging quasi-BIC in an all-dielectric metasurface. This metasurface, composed of four nanodisks per unit cell, supports a polarization-independent quasi-BIC through structural perturbations, allowing simultaneously engineering Q-factor and angular dispersion. It can perform isotropic two-dimensional spatial differentiation, which is crucial for edge detection. We fabricate the metasurfaces and validate their efficient, high-quality edge detection under different polarizations. Our findings illuminate the mechanisms of edge detection with quasi-BIC metasurfaces, opening new avenues for ultracompact, low-power optical computing devices.

All-dielectric structural coloration empowered by bound states in the continuum

The technological requirements of low-power and high-fidelity color displays have been instrumental in driving research into advanced coloration technologies. At the forefront of these developments is the implementation of dye-free approaches, which overcome previous constraints related to color resolution and fading. Resonant dielectric nanostructures have emerged as a promising paradigm, showing great potential for high efficiency, high color saturation, wide gamut palette, and image reproduction. However, they still face limitations related to color accuracy, purity, and simultaneous brightness tunability. Here, we demonstrate an all-dielectric metasurface empowered by photonic bound states in the continuum (BICs), which supports sharp resonances throughout the visible spectral range, ideally suited for producing a wide range of structural colors. The metasurface design consists of TiO2 ellipses with carefully controlled sizes and geometrical asymmetry, allowing versatile and on-demand variation of the brightness and hue of the output colors, respectively.

Experimental Demonstration of High-Efficiency Harmonic Generation in Photonic Moiré Superlattice Microcavities

Integrated photonic microcavities have demonstrated powerful enhancement of nonlinear effects, but they face a challenge in achieving critical coupling for sufficient use of incident pump power. In this work, we first experimentally demonstrate that highly efficient third-harmonic generation (THG) and detectable second-harmonic generation (SHG) can be produced from high-Q photonic moiré superlattice microcavities, where a critical coupling condition can be achieved via selecting a magic angle. Furthermore, at the magic angle of 13.17°, critical coupling is satisfied, resulting in a normalized THG conversion efficiency of 136%/W2 at a relatively low peak pump power of 6.8 MW/cm2, which is 3 orders of magnitude higher than the best results reported previously. Our work shows the power of photonic moiré superlattices in enhancing nonlinear optical performances through flexible and feasible engineering resonant modes, which can be applied in integrated frequency conversion and generation of quantum light sources.

Broadband infrared imaging governed by guided-mode resonance in dielectric metasurfaces

Nonlinear metasurfaces have experienced rapid growth recently due to their potential in various applications, including infrared imaging and spectroscopy. However, due to the low conversion efficiencies of metasurfaces, several strategies have been adopted to enhance their performances, including employing resonances at signal or nonlinear emission wavelengths. This strategy results in a narrow operational band of the nonlinear metasurfaces, which has bottlenecked many applications, including nonlinear holography, image encoding, and nonlinear metalenses. Here, we overcome this issue by introducing a new nonlinear imaging platform utilizing a pump beam to enhance signal conversion through four-wave mixing (FWM), whereby the metasurface is resonant at the pump wavelength rather than the signal or nonlinear emissions. As a result, we demonstrate broadband nonlinear imaging for arbitrary objects using metasurfaces. A silicon disk-on-slab metasurface is introduced with an excitable guided-mode resonance at the pump wavelength. This enabled direct conversion of a broad IR image ranging from >1000 to 4000 nm into visible. Importantly, adopting FWM substantially reduces the dependence on high-power signal inputs or resonant features at the signal beam of nonlinear imaging by utilizing the quadratic relationship between the pump beam intensity and the signal conversion efficiency. Our results, therefore, unlock the potential for broadband infrared imaging capabilities with metasurfaces, making a promising advancement for next-generation all-optical infrared imaging techniques with chip-scale photonic devices.

Highly Efficient Ultraviolet Third-Harmonic Generation in an Isolated Thin Si Meta-Structure

Nonlinear nanophotonic devices have shown great potential for on-chip information processing, quantum source, 3D microfabrication, greatly promoting the developments of integrated optics, quantum science, nanoscience and technologies, etc. To promote the applications of nonlinear nanodevices, improving the nonlinear efficiency, expanding the spectra region of nonlinear response and reducing device thickness are three key issues. Herein, this study focuses on the nonlinear effect of third-harmonic generation (THG), and present a thin Si meta-sructure to improve the THG efficiency in the ultraviolet (UV) region. The measured THG efficiency is up to 10-5 at an emission wavelength of 309 nm. Also, the THG nanosystem is only 100 nm in thickness, which is two-five times thinner than previous all-dielectric nanosystems applied in THG studies. These findings not only present a powerful thin meta-structure with highly efficient THG emission in UV region, but also provide a constructive avenue for further understanding the light-matter interactions at subwavelength scales, guiding the design and fabricating of advanced photonic devices in future.

Radiationless optical modes in metasurfaces: recent progress and applications

Non-radiative optical modes attracted enormous attention in optics due to strong light confinement and giant Q-factor at its spectral position. The destructive interference of multipoles leads to zero net-radiation and strong field trapping. Such radiationless states disappear in the far-field, localize enhanced near-field and can be excited in nano-structures. On the other hand, the optical modes turn out to be completely confined due to no losses at discrete point in the radiation continuum, such states result in infinite Q-factor and lifetime. The radiationless states provide a suitable platform for enhanced light matter interaction, lasing, and boost nonlinear processes at the state regime. These modes are widely investigated in different material configurations for various applications in both linear and nonlinear metasurfaces which are briefly discussed in this review.

Environmental permittivity-asymmetric BIC metasurfaces with electrical reconfigurability

Achieving precise spectral and temporal light manipulation at the nanoscale remains a critical challenge in nanophotonics. While photonic bound states in the continuum (BICs) have emerged as a powerful means of controlling light, their reliance on geometrical symmetry breaking for obtaining tailored resonances makes them highly susceptible to fabrication imperfections, and their generally fixed asymmetry factor fundamentally limits applications in reconfigurable metasurfaces. Here, we introduce the concept of environmental symmetry breaking by embedding identical resonators into a surrounding medium with carefully placed regions of contrasting refractive indexes, activating permittivity-driven quasi-BIC resonances (ε-qBICs) without altering the underlying resonator geometry and unlocking an additional degree of freedom for light manipulation through active tuning of the surrounding dielectric environment. We demonstrate this concept by integrating polyaniline (PANI), an electro-optically active polymer, to achieve electrically reconfigurable ε-qBICs. This integration not only demonstrates rapid switching speeds and exceptional durability but also boosts the system's optical response to environmental perturbations. Our strategy significantly expands the capabilities of resonant light manipulation through permittivity modulation, opening avenues for on-chip optical devices, advanced sensing, and beyond.

Si metasurface supporting multiple quasi-BICs for degenerate four-wave mixing

Dielectric metasurfaces supporting quasi-bound states in the continuum (qBICs) enable high field enhancement with narrow-linewidth resonances in the visible and near-infrared ranges. The resonance emerges when distorting the meta-atom's geometry away from a symmetry-protected BIC condition and, usually, a given design can sustain one or two of these states. In this work, we introduce a silicon-on-silica metasurface that simultaneously supports up to four qBIC resonances in the near-infrared region. This is achieved by combining multiple symmetry-breaking distortions on an elliptical cylinder array. By pumping two of these resonances, the nonlinear process of degenerate four-wave mixing is experimentally realized. By comparing the nonlinear response with that of an unpatterned silicon film, the near-field enhancement inside the nanostructured dielectric is revealed. The presented results demonstrate independent geometric control of multiple qBICs and their interaction through wave mixing processes, opening new research pathways in nanophotonics, with potential applications in information multiplexing, multi-wavelength sensing and nonlinear imaging.

Enhancement of third-harmonic generation in all-dielectric kite-shaped metasurfaces driven by quasi-bound states in the continuum

We develop a new all-dielectric metasurface for designing high quality-factor (Q-factor) quasi-bound states in the continuum (quasi-BICs) using asymmetry kite-shaped nanopillar arrays. The Q-factors of quasi-BICs follow the quadratic dependence on the geometry asymmetry, and meanwhile their resonant spectral profiles can be readily tuned between Fano and Lorentzian lineshapes through the interplay with the broadband magnetic dipole mode. The third-harmonic signals of quasi-BIC modes exhibit a gain from 43.4- to 634-fold enhancement between samples with an axial-length difference of 15 nm and 75 nm when reducing the numerical aperture of the illuminating objective lenses in nonlinear measurement, which is attributed to the increasing illumination spot size and the less contribution from the large oblique incident light for establishing quasi-BIC modes with high-Q spectral profile and strong near-field intensity. The silicon-based metasurfaces with their simple geometry are facile for large-area fabrication and open new possibilities for the optimization of upconversion processes to achieve efficient nonlinear devices.

High-Performance Refractive Index and Temperature Sensing Based on Toroidal Dipole in All-Dielectric Metasurface

This article shows an all-dielectric metasurface consisting of "H"-shaped silicon disks with tilted splitting gaps, which can detect the temperature and refractive index (RI). By introducing asymmetry parameters that excite the quasi-BIC, there are three distinct Fano resonances with nearly 100% modulation depth, and the maximal quality factor (Q-factor) is over 104. The predominant roles of different electromagnetic excitations in three distinct modes are demonstrated through near-field analysis and multipole decomposition. A numerical analysis of resonance response based on different refractive indices reveals a RI sensitivity of 262 nm/RIU and figure of merit (FOM) of 2183 RIU-1. This sensor can detect temperature fluctuations with a temperature sensitivity of 59.5 pm/k. The proposed metasurface provides a novel method to induce powerful TD resonances and offers possibilities for the design of high-performance sensors.

High-quality quasi-bound state in the continuum enabled single-nanoparticle virus detection

Bound states in the continuum (BICs) have emerged as a powerful platform for boosting light-matter interactions because they provide an alternative way of realizing optical resonances with ultrahigh quality(Q-) factors, accompanied by extreme field confinement. In this work, we realized an optical biosensor by introducing a quasi-BIC (qBIC) supported by an elaborated all-dielectric dimer grating. Thanks to the excellent field confinement within the air gap of grating enabled by such a high-Q qBIC, the figure of merit (FOM) of a biosensor is up to 18,908.7 RIU-1. Furthermore, we demonstrated that such a high-Q grating can help push the limit of optical biosensing to the single-particle level. Our results may find exciting applications in extreme biochemical sensing like COVID-19 with ultralow concentration.

A Terahertz Metasurface Sensor Based on Quasi-BIC for Detection of Additives in Infant Formula

Prohibited additives in infant formula severely affect the health of infants. Terahertz (THz) spectroscopy has enormous application potential in analyte detection due to its rich fingerprint information content. However, there is limited research on the mixtures of multiple analytes. In this study, we propose a split ring metasurface that supports magnetic dipole bound states in the continuum (BIC). By breaking the symmetry, quasi-BIC with a high quality (Q) factor can be generated. Utilizing an angle-scanning strategy, the frequency of the resonance dip can be shifted, resulting in the plotting of an envelope curve which can reflect the molecular fingerprint of the analytes. Two prohibited additives found in infant formula, melamine and vanillin, can be identified in different proportions. Furthermore, a metric similar to the resolution in chromatographic analysis is introduced and calculated to be 0.61, indicating that these two additives can be detected simultaneously. Our research provides a new solution for detecting additives in infant formula.

Multi-function sensing applications based on high Q-factor multi-Fano resonances in an all-dielectric metastructure

A multi-function sensor based on an all-dielectric metastructure for temperature and refractive index sensing simultaneously is designed and analyzed in this paper. The structure is composed of a periodic array of silicon dimers placed on the silicon dioxide substrate. By breaking the symmetry of the structure, the ideal bound states in the continuum can be converted to the quasi-bound states in the continuum, and three Fano resonances are excited in the near-infrared wavelength. Combining with the electromagnetic field distributions, the resonant modes of three Fano resonances are analyzed as magnetic dipole, magnetic toroidal dipole, and electric toroidal dipole, respectively. The proposed sensor exhibits an impressive maximal Q-factor of 9352, with a modulation depth approaching 100%. Our investigation into temperature and refractive index sensing properties reveals a maximum temperature sensitivity of 60 pm/K. Regarding refractive index sensing, the sensitivity and figure of merit are determined to be 279.5 nm/RIU and 2055.1 RIU-1, respectively. These findings underscore the potential of the all-dielectric metastructure for simultaneous multi-parameter measurements. The sensor's versatility suggests promising applications in biological and chemical sensing.

Achieving asymmetry parameter-insensitive resonant modes through relative shift-induced quasi-bound states in the continuum

High-Q resonances in metasurfaces, stemming from symmetry-protected bound states in the continuum (BICs), have proven to be effective for achieving high-performance optical devices. However, the properties associated with symmetry-protected BICs are inherently limited, as even a slight variation in the asymmetry parameter leads to a noticeable shift in the resonance location. Herein, we introduce the concept of relative shift-induced quasi-BICs (QBICs) within dimerized silicon (Si) meta-lattices (DSMs), which can be excited when a nonzero relative shift occurs, a result of in-plane inversion symmetry breaking and Brillouin zone folding within the structure. These QBICs have resonance locations that remain insensitive to variations in asymmetrical parameters. Additionally, their Q-factors can be flexibly tuned, benefiting from the inverse square dependence on asymmetrical parameters. In experiment, six DSMs with different relative shifts are fabricated and the asymmetry parameter-insensitive resonant modes under two orthogonal polarization states are experimentally observed in the optical communication waveband. Our results offer unique opportunities for constructing high-Q resonators with enhanced performances, which can be applied in various optical fields.

Nonreciprocal toroidal dipole resonance and one-way quasi-bound state in the continuum

Bound states in the continuum (BICs) provide an alternative way of trapping light at nanoscale. Although the last 10 years have witnessed tremendous progress on BICs from fundamentals to applications, nonreciprocal BICs and their potential applications have not been fully exploited yet. In this study, we demonstrated a one-way quasi-BIC by leveraging an all-dielectric magneto-optical (MO) metasurface. We show that the key point for achieving a one-way quasi-BIC is to excite a magnetization-induced leaky resonance. Here we adopt the longitudinal toroidal dipole (TD) resonance characterized by a vortex distribution of head-to-tail magnetic dipoles parallel to the plane of the MO metasurface. We show that, by breaking the time-reversal symmetry, at critical conditions, the TD resonance can be enhanced in the forward channel and perfectly canceled in the time-reversed channel, resulting in a one-way quasi-BIC. The demonstrated phenomena hold significant promise for practical applications such as magnetic field optical sensing, nonreciprocal optical switching, isolation, and modulation.

Electromagnetically induced transparency enabled by quasi-bound states in the continuum modulated by epsilon-near-zero materials

Highly tunable electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) with high-quality-factor (Q-factor) excited by combining with the quasi-bound states in the continuum (quasi-BIC) resonances is crucial for many applications. This paper describes all-dielectric metasurface composed of silicon cuboid etched with two rectangular holes into a unit cell and periodically arranged on a SiO2 substrate. By breaking the C2 rotational symmetry of the unit cell, a high-Q factor EIT and double quasi-BIC resonant modes are excited at 1224.3, 1251.9 and 1299.6 nm with quality factors of 7604, 10064 and 15503, respectively. We show that the EIT resonance is caused by destructive interference between magnetic dipole resonances and quasi-BIC dominated by electric quadrupole. Toroidal dipole (TD) and electric quadrupole (EQ) dominate the other two quasi-BICs. The EIT window can be successfully modulated with transmission intensity from 90% to 5% and modulation depths ranging from -17 to 24 dB at 1200-1250 nm by integrating the metasurface with an epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) material indium tin oxide (ITO) film. Our findings pave the way for the development of applications such as optical switches and modulators with many potential applications in nonlinear optics, filters, and multichannel biosensors.

Modal Phase-Matched Bound States in the Continuum for Enhancing Third Harmonic Generation of Deep Ultraviolet Emission

Coherent deep ultraviolet (DUV) light sources are crucial for various applications such as nanolithography, biomedical imaging, and spectroscopy. DUV light sources can be generated by using conventional nonlinear optical crystals (NLOs). However, NLOs are limited by their bulky size, inadequate transparency at the DUV regime, and stringent phase-matching requirements for harmonic generation. Recently, dielectric metasurfaces support high Q-factor resonances and offer a promising approach for efficient harmonic generation at short wavelengths. In this study, we demonstrated a crystalline silicon (c-Si) metasurface simultaneously exciting modal phase-matched bound states in the continuum (BIC) resonance at the fundamental wavelength of 840 nm with a higher degree of freedom for precise control of the BIC resonance and a plasmonic resonance at the wavelength of 280 nm in the DUV to enhance third harmonic generation (THG). We experimentally achieved a Q-factor of ∼180 owing to the relatively large refractive index of the c-Si and the geometric symmetry breaking of the structure. We realized THG at a wavelength of 280 nm with a power of 14.5 nW by using a peak power density of 15 GW/cm2 excitation. The measured THG power is 14 times higher than the state-of-the-art THG dielectric metasurfaces using the same peak power density in the DUV regime, and the maximum obtained THG power enhancement factor is up to 48. This approach relies on the significant third-order nonlinear susceptibility of c-Si, the interband plasmonic nature of the c-Si in the DUV, and the strong field confinement of BIC resonance to boost overall nonlinear conversion efficiency to 5.2 × 10-6% in the DUV regime. Our work shows the potential of c-Si BIC metasurfaces for developing efficient and ultracompact DUV light sources using high-efficacy nonlinear optical devices.

Color Routing of the Emission from Magnetic and Electric Dipole Transitions of Eu3+ by Broken-Symmetry TiO2 Metasurfaces

Manipulation of magnetic dipole emission with resonant photonic nanostructures is of great interest for both fundamental research and applications. However, obtaining selective control over the emission properties of magnetic dipole transitions is challenging, as they usually occur within a manifold of spectrally close emission lines associated with different spin states of the involved electronic levels. Here we demonstrate spectrally selective directional tailoring of magnetic dipole emission using designed photonic nanostructures featuring a high quality factor. Specifically, we employ a hybrid nanoscale optical system consisting of a Eu3+ compound coupled to a designed broken-symmetry TiO2 metasurface to demonstrate directional color routing of the compound's emission through its distinct electric and magnetic-dominated electronic transition channels. Using low numerical aperture collection optics, we achieve a fluorescence signal enhancement of up to 33.13 for the magnetic-dominated dipole transition at 590 nm when it spectrally overlaps with a spectrally narrow resonance of the metasurface. This makes the, usually weak, magnetic dipole transition the most intense spectral line in our recorded fluorescence spectra. By studying the directional emission properties for the coupled system using Fourier imaging and time-resolved fluorescence measurements, we demonstrate that the high-quality-factor modes in the metasurface enable free-space light routing, where forward-directed emission is established for the magnetic-dominated dipole transition, whereas the light emitted via the electric dipole transition is mainly directed sideways. Our results underpin the importance of magnetic light-matter interactions as an additional degree of freedom in photonic and optoelectronic systems. Moreover, they facilitate the development of spectrometer-free and highly integrated nanophotonic imaging, sensing, and probing devices.

Anisotropic medium sensing controlled by bound states in the continuum in polarization-independent metasurfaces

Bound states in the continuum (BICs) with infinite quality factor (Q-factor) and significant field enhancement pave the way for realizing highly sensitive optical sensors with enhanced light-matter interactions on the nanoscale. However, current optical sensing methods are difficult to discriminate between isotropic and anisotropic media from resonance spectral lines, resulting in optical sensing methods still being limited to isotropic media. In this work, we demonstrate that BICs can be realized by modulating the period of structural units to convert BICs to QBICs without changing their space group symmetry, and propose a polarization-independent metasurfaces-based realization of highly sensitive refractive index sensors for isotropic and anisotropic media as well as discrimination. We propose a metasurface of tetrameric silicon nanoboxes with C4 symmetry as structural units to achieve the conversion of BICs to QBICs by modulating the period of structural units without changing the geometry of the structure. Two QBICs modes dominated by electric toroidal dipole and magnetic toroidal dipole are identified by multipolar decomposition and electromagnetic distribution calculations. Meanwhile, we realize the refractive index detection and resolution of isotropic and anisotropic media based on polarization-independent metasurfaces combined with isotropic and anisotropic media layers. Our work provides what we believe to be a new method for realizing the fast resolution and refractive index optical sensing of isotropic and anisotropic media, and offers new ideas for the design and application of polarization-independent metasurfaces.

Pushing Optical Virus Detection to a Single Particle through a High-Q Quasi-bound State in the Continuum in an All-dielectric Metasurface

Bound states in the continuum (BICs) have emerged as a powerful platform for boosting light-matter interactions because they provide an alternative way of realizing optical resonances with ultrahigh quality factors, accompanied by extreme field confinement. In this work, we realized an optical biosensor by harnessing a quasi-BIC (qBIC) supported by an all-dielectric metasurface with broken symmetry, whose unit cell is composed of a silicon cuboid with two asymmetric air holes. Thanks to the excellent field confinement within the air gap of a metasurface enabled by such a high-Q qBIC, the figure of merit (FOM) of the biosensor is up to 2136.35 RIU-1. Futhermore, we demonstrated that such a high-Q metasurface can push the detection limit to a few virus particles. Our results may find exciting applications in extreme biochemical sensing like COVID-19 with ultralow concentrations.

Electromagnetic heating-assisted metasurface for stably tunable, fast-responding chiroptics

Herein, a graphene-dielectric metasurface with the function of stably tunable and fast responding on the chiroptics is theoretically investigated and numerically demonstrated. Via utilizing the intrinsic thermo-optical effect of the silicon, the circular dichroism (CD) peak position can be linearly scaled with a spectral sensitivity of up to 0.06 nm/K by artificially adjusting the temperature. Moreover, a perfectly adjusting manipulation with a wavelength shift of full width at half maximum for the resonant spectrum and the simultaneously maintained CD values can be realized by a slight temperature variation of ∼0.8 K. Additionally, we take a graphene layer as the heating source to actually demonstrate the ultra-fast thermal generation. Applying an input voltage of 2 V to the graphene with only 10 µs can rapidly increase the metasurface temperature of up to 550 K. Such performances hold the platform with wide applications in functional chiroptics and optoelectronics.

Photonic Bound States in the Continuum in Nanostructures

Bound states in the continuum (BIC) have garnered considerable attention recently for their unique capacity to confine electromagnetic waves within an open or non-Hermitian system. Utilizing a variety of light confinement mechanisms, nanostructures can achieve ultra-high quality factors and intense field localization with BIC, offering advantages such as long-living resonance modes, adaptable light control, and enhanced light-matter interactions, paving the way for innovative developments in photonics. This review outlines novel functionality and performance enhancements by synergizing optical BIC with diverse nanostructures, delivering an in-depth analysis of BIC designs in gratings, photonic crystals, waveguides, and metasurfaces. Additionally, we showcase the latest advancements of BIC in 2D material platforms and suggest potential trajectories for future research.

Advances in nonlinear metasurfaces for imaging, quantum, and sensing applications

Metasurfaces, composed of artificial meta-atoms of subwavelength size, can support strong light-matter interaction based on multipolar resonances and plasmonics, hence offering the great capability of empowering nonlinear generation. Recently, owing to their ability to manipulate the amplitude and phase of the nonlinear emission in the subwavelength scale, metasurfaces have been recognized as ultra-compact, flat optical components for a vast range of applications, including nonlinear imaging, quantum light sources, and ultrasensitive sensing. This review focuses on the recent progress on nonlinear metasurfaces for those applications. The principles and advances of metasurfaces-based techniques for image generation, including image encoding, holography, and metalens, are investigated and presented. Additionally, the overview and development of spontaneous photon pair generation from metasurfaces are demonstrated and discussed, focusing on the aspects of photon pair generation rate and entanglement of photon pairs. The recent blossoming of the nonlinear metasurfaces field has triggered growing interest to explore its ability to efficiently up-convert infrared images of arbitrary objects to visible images and achieve spontaneous parametric down-conversion. This recently emerged direction holds promising potential for the next-generation technology in night-vision, quantum computing, and biosensing fields.

Toroidal Dipole BIC-Driven Highly Robust Perfect Absorption with a Graphene-Loaded Metasurface

Achieving perfect absorption in few-layer two-dimensional (2D) materials plays a crucial role in applications such as optoelectronics and sensing. However, the underlying mechanisms of all reported works imply a strongly inherent dependence of the central wavelength on the structural parameters. Here, we propose a structure-parameter-deviation immune method for achieving perfect absorption at any desired wavelength by harnessing the toroidal dipole-bound state in the continuum (TD BIC). We experimentally demonstrate the versatile design with a monolayer-graphene-loaded compound grating structure. Such a TD BIC built upon the TE31 mode allows for the transition from BIC to quasi-BIC without breaking the structural symmetry, enabling the stable resonance wavelength while tailoring the quality factors via variation of the gap distance. Comparison with traditional literature further reveals the superiority of our method in realizing highly robust perfect absorption, with a wavelength stability ratio of >15. Remarkably, this approach can be straightforwardly applied to other 2D materials.

Ultrasensitive Terahertz Biodetection Enabled by Quasi-BIC-Based Metasensors

Advanced sensing devices, highly sensitive, and reliable in detecting ultralow concentrations of circulating biomarkers, are extremely desirable and hold great promise for early diagnostics and real-time progression monitoring of diseases. Nowadays, the most commonly used clinical methods for diagnosing biomarkers suffer from complicated procedures and being time consumption. Here, a chip-based portable ultra-sensitive THz metasensor is reported by exploring quasi-bound states in the continuum (quasi-BICs) and demonstrate its capability for sensing low-concentration analytes. The designed metasensor is made of the designed split-ring resonator metasurface which supports magnetic dipole quasi-BIC combining functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) conjugated with the specific antibody. Attributed to the strong near-field enhancement near the surface of the microstructure enabled by the quasi-BICs, light-analyte interactions are greatly enhanced, and thus the device's sensitivity is boosted significantly. The system sensitivity slope is up to 674 GHz/RIU, allowing for repeatable resolving detecting ultralow concentration of C-reactive protein (CRP) and Serum Amyloid A (SAA), respectively, down to 1 pM. The results touch a range that cannot be achieved by ordinary immunological assays alone, offering a novel non-destructive and rapid trace measured approach for next-generation biomedical quantitative detection systems.

Multi-mode strong coupling in Fabry-Pérot cavity-WS2 photonic crystal hybrid structures

Optical microcavities embedded with transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) membranes have been demonstrated as excellent platforms to explore strong light-matter interactions. Most of the previous studies focus on strong coupling between excitons of unpatterned TMDC membranes and optical resonances of various microcavities. It is recently found that TMDC membranes patterned into photonic crystal (PhC) slabs can sustain guided-mode resonances that can be excited and probed by far-fields. Here, we present a comprehensive theoretical and numerical study on optical responses of Fabry-Pérot (F-P) cavity-WS₂ PhC hybrid structures to investigate the multi-mode coupling effects between excitons, guided-mode resonances and F-P modes. We show that both the exciton resonance and the guide-mode resonance of the WS₂ PhC can strongly interact with F-P modes of the cavity to reach strong coupling regime. Moreover, a Rabi splitting as large as 63 meV is observed for the strong coupling between the guided-mode resonance and the F-P mode, which is much larger than their average dissipation rate. We further demonstrate that it is even possible to realize a triple mode strong coupling by tuning the guide-mode resonances spectrally overlapped with the exciton resonance and the F-P modes. The hybrid polariton states generated from the triple mode coupling exhibit a Rabi splitting of 120 meV that greatly exceeds the criterion of a triple mode strong coupling (∼29.3 meV). Our results provide that optical microcavities embedded with TMDC PhCs can serve as promising candidates for polariton devices based on multi-mode strong coupling.

Ultrahigh-Q guided mode resonances in an All-dielectric metasurface

High quality(Q) factor optical resonators are indispensable for many photonic devices. While very large Q-factors can be obtained theoretically in guided-mode settings, free-space implementations suffer from various limitations on the narrowest linewidth in real experiments. Here, we propose a simple strategy to enable ultrahigh-Q guided-mode resonances by introducing a patterned perturbation layer on top of a multilayer-waveguide system. We demonstrate that the associated Q-factors are inversely proportional to the perturbation squared while the resonant wavelength can be tuned through material or structural parameters. We experimentally demonstrate such high-Q resonances at telecom wavelengths by patterning a low-index layer on top of a 220 nm silicon on insulator substrate. The measurements show Q-factors up to 2.39 × 10⁵, comparable to the largest Q-factor obtained by topological engineering, while the resonant wavelength is tuned by varying the lattice constant of the top perturbation layer. Our results hold great promise for exciting applications like sensors and filters.

Toroidal dipole bound states in the continuum based on hybridization of surface lattice resonances

Obtaining a high quality factor (Q factor) in applications based on metasurfaces is crucial for improving device performance. Therefore, bound states in the continuum (BICs) with ultra-high Q factors are expected to have many exciting applications in photonics. Breaking the structure symmetry has been viewed as an effective way of exciting quasi-bound states in the continuum (QBICs) and generating high-Q resonances. Among these, one exciting strategy is based on the hybridization of surface lattice resonances (SLRs). In this study, we investigated for the first time the Toroidal dipole bound states in the continuum (TD-BICs) based on the hybridization of Mie surface lattice resonances (SLRs) in an array. The unit cell of metasurface is made of a silicon nanorods dimer. The Q factor of QBICs can be precisely adjusted by changing the position of two nanorods, while the resonance wavelength remains quite stable against the change of position. Simultaneously, the far-field radiation and near-field distribution of the resonance are discussed. The results indicate that the toroidal dipole dominates this type of QBIC. Our results indicate that this quasi-BIC can be tuned by adjusting the size of the nanorods or the lattice period. Meanwhile, through the study of the shape variation, we found that this quasi-BIC exhibits excellent robustness, whether in the case of two symmetric or asymmetric nanoscale structures. This will also provide large fabrication tolerance for the fabrication of devices. Our research results will improve the mode analysis of surface lattice resonance hybridization, and may find promising applications in enhancing light-matter interaction, such as lasing, sensing, strong-coupling, and nonlinear harmonic generation.

Quasi-bound states in the continuum with a stable resonance wavelength in dimer dielectric metasurfaces

Symmetry-protected bound states in the continuum (SP-BICs) are one of the most intensively studied BICs. Typically, SP-BICs must be converted into quasi-BICs (QBICs) by breaking the unit cell's symmetry so that they can be accessed by the external excitation. The symmetry-broken usually results in a varied resonance wavelength of QBICs which are also highly sensitive to the asymmetry parameters. In this work, we demonstrate that QBICs with a stable resonance wavelength can be realized by breaking translational symmetry in an all-dielectric metasurface. The unit cell of metasurface is made of a silicon nanodisk dimer. The Q-factor of QBICs is precisely tuned by changing the interspacing of two nanodisks while their resonance wavelength is quite stable against the interspacing. We also find that such BICs show weak dependence on the shape of the nanodisk. Multiple decompositions indicate that the toroidal dipole dominates this type of QBIC. The resonance wavelengths of QBICs can be tuned only by changing either the lattice constants or the radius of nanodisk. Finally, we present experimental demonstrations on such a QBIC with a stable resonance wavelength. The highest measured Q-factor of QBICs is >3000. Our results may find promising applications in enhancing light-matter interaction.

Quasi-symmetry-protected BICs in a double-notched silicon nanodisk metasurface

Bound states in the continuum (BICs) hold great promise in enhancing light-matter interaction as they have an infinite Q-factor. To date, the symmetry-protected BIC (SP-BIC) is one of the most intensively studied BICs because it is easily found in a dielectric metasurface satisfying certain group symmetry. To convert SP-BICs into quasi-BICs (QBICs), structural symmetry shall be broken so that external excitation can access them. Usually, the unit cell's asymmetry is created by removing or adding parts of dielectric nanostructures. The QBICs are usually excited only by s-polarized or p-polarized light because of the symmetry-breaking of the structure. In this work, we investigate the excited QBIC properties by introducing double notches on the edges of highly symmetrical silicon nanodisks. The QBIC shares the same optical response under the s-polarized and p-polarized light. The effect of polarization on coupling efficiency between the QBIC mode and incident light is studied, and the highest coupling efficiency occurs at a polarization angle of 135 ^∘, which corresponds to the radiative channel. Moreover, the near-field distribution and multipole decomposition confirm that the QBIC is dominated by the magnetic dipole along the z direction. It is noted that the QBIC covers a wide spectrum region. Finally, we present an experimental confirmation; the measured spectrum shows a sharp Fano resonance with a Q-factor of 260. Our results suggest promising applications in enhancing light-matter interaction, such as lasing, sensing, and nonlinear harmonic generation.

Active quasi-BIC metasurfaces assisted by epsilon-near-zero materials

Active devices play a critical role in modern electromagnetic and photonics systems. To date, the epsilon (ε)-near-zero (ENZ) is usually integrated with the low Q-factor resonant metasurface to achieve active devices, and enhance the light-matter interaction significantly at the nanoscale. However, the low Q-factor resonance may limit the optical modulation. Less work has been focused on the optical modulation in the low-loss and high Q-factor metasurfaces. Recently, the emerging optical bound states in the continuum (BICs) provides an effective way for achieving high Q-factor resonators. In this work, we numerically demonstrate a tunable quasi-BICs (QBICs) by integrating a silicon metasurface with ENZ ITO thin film. Such a metasurface is composed of five square holes in a unit cell, and hosts multiple BICs by engineering the position of centre hole. We also reveal the nature of these QBICs by performing multipole decomposition and calculating near field distribution. Thanks to the large tunability of ITO's permittivity by external bias and high-Q factor enabled by QBICs, we demonstrate an active control on the resonant peak position and intensity of transmission spectrum by integrating ENZ ITO thin films with QBICs supported by silicon metasurfaces. We find that all QBICs show excellent performance on modulating the optical response of such a hybrid structure. The modulation depth can be up to 14.8 dB. We also investigate how the carrier density of ITO film influence the near-field trapping and far-field scattering, which in turn influence the performance of optical modulation based on this structure. Our results may find promising applications in developing active high-performance optical devices.

Automatic optimization of miniaturized bound states in the continuum cavity

Bound states in the continuum (BICs) provide, what we believe to be, a novel and efficient way for light trapping. However, using BICs to confine the light into a three-dimensional compact volume remains a challenging task, since the energy leakage at the lateral boundaries dominates the cavity loss when its footprint shrinks to considerably small, and hence, sophisticated boundary designs turn out to be inevitable. Conventional design methods fail in solving the lateral boundary problem because a large number of degree-of-freedoms (DOFs) are involved. Here, we propose a fully automatic optimization method to promote the performance of lateral confinement for a miniaturized BIC cavity. Briefly, we combine a random parameter adjustment process with a convolutional neural network (CNN), to automatically predict the optimal boundary design in the parameter space that contains a number of DOFs. As a result, the quality factor that is accounted for lateral leakage increases from 4.32 × 10⁴ in the baseline design to 6.32 × 10⁵ in the optimized design. This work confirms the effectiveness of using CNNs for photonic optimization and will motivate the development of compact optical cavities for on-chip lasers, OLEDs, and sensor arrays.

Asymmetric tetramer metasurface sensor governed by quasi-bound states in the continuum

Asymmetric metasurfaces supporting quasi-bound states in the continuum (BICs) with high Q-factors and strong light-matter interaction properties are attractive platforms for label-free biosensing applications. Recently, various meta-atom geometries have been exploited to support sharp high-Q quasi-BIC resonance. However, which meta-atom design may be a better practical choice remains unclear. Here, we compared several established meta-atom designs to address this issue by conducting an extensive theoretical discussion on sensing capability and fabrication difficulty. We theoretically revealed that the tetramer meta-atom geometry produces a higher surface sensitivity and exhibits a larger size-to-wavelength ratio than other meta-atom schemes. Furthermore, we found that metasurfaces with a higher depth considerably enhance surface sensitivity. The performance of two asymmetric tetramer metasurfaces (ATMs) with different heights was demonstrated experimentally. Both shallow and thick ATM structures exhibit sharp high Q-factor resonances with polarization-insensitive features. Notably, the surface sensitivity is 1.62 times for thick ATM compared to that for shallow ones. The combination of properties opens new opportunities for developing biosensing or chemical-sensing applications with high performance.

Excitation of multiple Fano resonances on all-dielectric nanoparticle arrays

In this paper, an all-dielectric metasurface consisting of a unit cell containing a nanocube array and organized periodically on a silicon dioxide substrate is designed and analyzed. By introducing asymmetric parameters that can excite the quasi-bound states in the continuum, three Fano resonances with high Q-factor and high modulation depth may be produced in the near-infrared range. Three Fano resonance peaks are excited by magnetic dipole and toroidal dipole, respectively, in conjunction with the distributive features of electromagnetism. The simulation results indicate that the discussed structure can be utilized as a refractive index sensor with a sensitivity of around 434 nm/RIU, a maximum Q factor of 3327, and a modulation depth equal to 100%. The proposed structure has been designed and experimentally investigated, and its maximum sensitivity is 227 nm/RIU. At the same time, the modulation depth of the resonance peak at λ = 1185.81 nm is nearly 100% when the polarization angle of the incident light is 0 °. Therefore, the suggested metasurface has applications in optical switches, nonlinear optics, and biological sensors.

Bound modes in the continuum in integrated photonic LiNbO3 waveguides: are they always beneficial?

We discuss several types of integrated photonic LiNbO₃ waveguides supporting propagation of modes which can be classified as bound states in the continuum (BICs). The key properties leading to the existence of BICs (or quasi-BICs) considered here are the material anisotropy, the waveguide birefringence, or the combination of both. Typical examples are titanium diffused and proton exchanged waveguides in bulk LiNbO₃ crystals and recently proposed dielectric-loaded waveguides on LiNbO₃ thin films. Proton exchanged waveguides in thin film LiNbO₃ are considered, too. These waveguide structures are discussed from the point of view of their benefit for applications, especially in electro-optic devices.

Observation of multiple bulk bound states in the continuum modes in a photonic crystal cavity

Obtaining bound states in the continuum (BICs) in photonic crystals gives rise to the realization of resonances with high quality factors for lasing and nonlinear applications. For BIC cavities in finite-size photonic crystals, the bulk resonance band turns into discrete modes with different mode profiles and radiation patterns. Here, photonic-crystal BIC cavities encircled by the photonic bandgap of lateral heterostructures are designed. The mirror-like photonic bandgap exhibits strong side leakage suppression to confine the mode profile in the designed cavity. Multiple bulk quantized modes are observed both in simulation and experiment. After exciting the BIC cavity at different positions, different resonance peaks are observed. The physical origin of the dependence between the resonance peak and the illuminating position is explained by analyzing the mode profile distribution and further verified by numerical simulations. Our findings have potential applications regarding the mode selectivity in BIC devices to manipulate the lasing mode in photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers or the radiation pattern in nonlinear optics.

Polarization-sensitive switchable display through critical coupling between graphene and a quasi-BIC

Enhanced light-matter interaction of a local field is of prime importance in optics as it can improve the performance of nanophotonic devices. Such enhancement can be achieved by utilizing the optical bound states in the continuum (BICs). In this study, a dielectric metasurface is proposed that could enhance the light-matter interactions in graphene. A symmetry-protected BIC was observed in such a metasurface, which could transform into a quasi-BIC with a high quality (Q-) factor when the in-plane symmetry is broken. As the graphene monolayer was introduced into the system, its absorption was enhanced by the quasi-BIC resonance. By optimizing the graphene Fermi energy and the asymmetry parameter of the metasurface to satisfy the critical-coupling condition, a tunable absorber could be achieved. The absorbing intensity could be efficiently modulated by varying the polarization direction of the incident light, the maximum difference of which was up to 95.4%. Also, further investigation showed that such a feature indicates potential application in digital switches and image displays, which could be switched by incident polarization only, and therefore without dependence on an additional structural change.

Enhanced light-matter interactions in ultrathin transition-metal-dichalcogenide metasurfaces by magnetic and toroidal dipole bound states in the continuum

Nonradiating states of light have recently received a lot of attention in nanophotonics owing to their ability to confine and enhance the electromagnetic fields at the nanoscale. Such optical states not only offer a promising way to overcome the problem of losses associated with plasmonic materials, but also constitute an efficient platform for interaction of light and matter. Here, we report the radiationless states in compact, ultrathin transition-metal-dichalcogenide metasurfaces, namely bound states in the continuum (BICs). Through applying the multipole analysis to the BIC-based metasurfaces, we demonstrate that the BICs can be classified as magnetic dipole (MD) and electric toroidal dipole (TD) modes, both of which correspond to the Γ-point symmetry-protected BIC. Due to the large field confinement inside the nanoresonators originating from the BICs, the strong coupling is realized between quasi-BICs and the exciton resonance, showing that the Rabi splitting energy can be up to 134 meV and 162 meV for the MD and TD quasi-BIC, respectively. We reveal that reduction of the effective mode volume is highly responsible for the enhancement of coupling strength. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that a large mode volume can lead to increase of the field leakage, which enables our metasurfaces to find applications in, for instance, label-free sensing based on refractometric detection.

Active optical modulation of quasi-BICs in Si-VO2 hybrid metasurfaces

Active optical modulation breaks the limitation of a passive device, providing a new, to the best of our knowledge, alternative to achieve high-performance optical devices. The phase-change material vanadium dioxide (VO₂) plays an important role in the active device due to its unique reversible phase transition. In this work, we numerically investigate the optical modulation in resonant Si-VO₂ hybrid metasurfaces. The optical bound states in the continuum (BICs) in an Si dimer nanobar metasurface are studied. The quasi-BICs resonator with high quality factor (Q-factor) can be excited by rotating one of the dimer nanobars. The multipole response and near-field distribution confirm that magnetic dipoles dominate this resonance. Moreover, a dynamically tunable optical resonance is achieved by integrating a VO₂ thin film to this quasi-BICs Si nanostructure. With the increase of temperature, VO₂ gradually changes from the dielectric state to metal state, and the optical response exhibits a significant change. Then, the modulation of the transmission spectrum is calculated. Situations where VO₂ is located in different positions are also discussed. A relative transmission modulation of 180% is achieved. These results fully confirm that the VO₂ film shows an excellent ability to modulate the quasi-BICs resonator. Our work provides a route for the active modulation of resonant optical devices.

Recent Advances in Tunable Metasurfaces: Materials, Design, and Applications

Metasurfaces, a two-dimensional (2D) form of metamaterials constituted by planar meta-atoms, exhibit exotic abilities to tailor electromagnetic (EM) waves freely. Over the past decade, tremendous efforts have been made to develop various active materials and incorporate them into functional devices for practical applications, pushing the research of tunable metasurfaces to the forefront of nanophotonics. Those active materials include phase change materials (PCMs), semiconductors, transparent conducting oxides (TCOs), ferroelectrics, liquid crystals (LCs), atomically thin material, etc., and enable intriguing performances such as fast switching speed, large modulation depth, ultracompactness, and significant contrast of optical properties under external stimuli. Integration of such materials offers substantial tunability to the conventional passive nanophotonic platforms. Tunable metasurfaces with multifunctionalities triggered by various external stimuli bring in rich degrees of freedom in terms of material choices and device designs to dynamically manipulate and control EM waves on demand. This field has recently flourished with the burgeoning development of physics and design methodologies, particularly those assisted by the emerging machine learning (ML) algorithms. This review outlines recent advances in tunable metasurfaces in terms of the active materials and tuning mechanisms, design methodologies, and practical applications. We conclude this review paper by providing future perspectives in this vibrant and fast-growing research field.