High-Index Dielectric Metasurfaces for Enhanced Magneto-Optics

Abstract

The magneto-optical effect lies at the heart of many non-reciprocal devices such as isolators and circulators. Since it is a very weak effect that linearly scales with the size of the magneto-optic material, the resulting devices tend to be bulky. This makes free-space applications cumbersome, but moreover precludes the realization of highly integrated, field-deployable devices. The goal of this work is to design, fabricate and test resonant metasurfaces to enhance the magneto-optic effect in low-loss dielectrics. Furthermore, we endeavor to employ the insight from this proof-of-concept research to experimentally realize waveguide-based non-reciprocal devices such as on-chip optical isolators. Various approaches were utilized. First the exploration of promising but little studied magneto-optical materials such as Europium Sulfide (EuS)with a large Verdet constant. In parallel resonant effects that have the potential advantage of enhancing the Faraday rotation with greatly reduced bulk were studied. This includes on-chip magneto-optic devices based on metasurfaces that enhance polarization rotation. Here the new working principle is based on guided wave resonance to enhance the Faraday rotation. This resonance occurs in suitably designed EuS metasurface 2D photonic crystals. The third approach focused on exploring new nonreciprocal design concepts.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 18, 2024
Accession Number
AD1230879

Entities

People

  • Federico Capasso

Organizations

  • President and Fellows of Harvard College

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Materials Science and Engineering.
  • Microwave Engineering.
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Space