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arXiv · 2211.00359

Meta-Optics with Lithium Niobate

Anna Fedotova·Luca Carletti·Attilio Zilli·Frank Setzpfandt·Isabelle Staude·Andrea Toma·Marco Finazzi·Costantino De Angelis·Thomas Pertsch·Dragomir N. Neshev·Michele Celebrano
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Abstract

The rapid development of metasurfaces - 2D ensembles of engineered nanostructures - is presently fostering a steady drive towards the miniaturization of many optical functionalities and devices to a subwavelength size. The material platforms for optical metasurfaces are rapidly expanding and for the past few years, we are seeing a surge in establishing meta-optical elements from high-index, highly transparent materials with strong nonlinear and electro-optic properties. Crystalline lithium niobate (LN), a prime material of choice in integrated photonics, has shown great promise for future meta-optical components, thanks to its large electro-optical coefficient, second-order nonlinear response and broad transparency window ranging from the visible to the mid-infrared. Recent advances in nanofabrication technology have indeed marked a new milestone in the miniaturization of LN platforms, hence enabling the first demonstrations of LN-based metasurfaces. These seminal works set the first steppingstone towards the realization of ultra-flat monolithic nonlinear light sources with emission ranging from the visible to the infrared, efficient sources of correlated photon pairs, as well as electro-optical devices. Here, we review these recent advances, discussing potential perspectives for applications in light conversion and modulation shaping as well as quantum optics, with a critical eye on the potential setbacks and limitations of this emerging field.

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Anna Fedotova, Luca Carletti, Attilio Zilli, Frank Setzpfandt, Isabelle Staude, Andrea Toma, Marco Finazzi, Costantino De Angelis, Thomas Pertsch, Dragomir N. Neshev, Michele Celebrano. 2022-11-01. Meta-Optics with Lithium Niobate. https://arxiv.org/abs/2211.00359

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