Phys.org December 30, 2022
Nanophotonic light emitters are key components in numerous application areas because of their compactness and versatility. An international team of researchers (South Korea, UK, USA – Pennsylvania State University, University of Pittsburg, Singapore) has proposed a topological beam emitter structure that takes advantage of submicrometer footprint size, small divergence angle, high efficiency, and adaptable beam shaping capability. The proposed structure consists of a topological junction of two guided-mode resonance gratings inducing a leaky Jackiw-Rebbi state resonance which leads to in-plane optical confinement with funnel-like energy flow and enhanced emission probability, resulting in highly efficient optical beam emission. The structure allows adaptable beam shaping for any desired positive definite profiles by means of Dirac mass distribution control, which can be directly encoded in lattice geometry parameters. According to the researchers the proposed approach provides highly desirable properties for efficient micro–light emitters and detectors in various applications including display, solid-state light detection and ranging, laser machining, label-free sensors, optical interconnects, and telecommunications…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE Open Access 1 , 2
Far-field properties of light from isotropic light sources near the topological junction metasurface. Credit: SCIENCE ADVANCES, 9 Dec 2022, Vol 8, Issue 49