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. Here, the PI proposes resonant metasurfaces to enhance the magneto optic effect in low loss dielectrics by several orders of magnitude. Furthermore, we endeavor to employ the insight from this proof of concept research to experimentally realize waveguide based on chip optical isolators. We will use analytically derived theoretical performance upper bounds to guide our research effort in order to obtain the best possible practical implementation in each instance. In a more explorative part of the proposed work, we plan to investigate the coupling between the magneto optical effect and chirality in order to obtain polarization insensitive asymmetric transmission and demonstrate magnetochiral metasurfaces for the first time. Successful realization of magneto optic and magnetochiral metasurfaces will not only allow for the exploration of the underlying fundamental physics but will also result in miniaturized devices such as optical isolators, current sensors, and circulators. Impact on DoD of this work includes the protection of optical systems from jamming attempts-laser attacks, enhanced LIDAR systems, current sensors, and improved ring laser gyroscopes that are used for navigation.

Document Details

Document Type
DoD Grant Award
Publication Date
Jan 14, 2022
Source ID
FA95501910352

Entities

People

  • Federico Capasso

Organizations

  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College
  • United States Air Force

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Microwave Engineering.
  • Quantum Dot Semiconductor Device Photonics and Graphene Optoelectronic Materials and THz Physics.
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy
  • Space