arXiv subjects

Monica Allen

Publications and source records attributed to Monica Allen.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Freeform Spectrally Stable Topological Photonic Vortex Resonators

Topological concepts have been at the forefront of materials research in recent years, driving a revolution in our understanding of the response of quantum materials and enabling new ways to manipulate light and sound in topological metamaterials. Topological defects and topological boundaries of different dimensions have driven a paradigm shift in photonics, where topological photonic crystals and metamaterials can be engineered to create one-way flow of energy robust to defects or to control such flows with synthetic degrees of freedom along topological domain walls. More recently, topological point singularities encoded into photonic structures have been shown to enable confinement of optical modes with the topologically nontrivial nature of the cavity imprinted into the vorticity of optical far fields. Here we demonstrate that the two latter concepts - domain wall and point singularities - can be unified into an even more powerful tool to enable arbitrarily shaped resonant cavities of any dimension supporting spectrally stable zero-energy modes. We experimentally confirm that such modes, whose existence is guaranteed by topological principles, allow an unprecedented degree of control over the optical field, which appears to have no phase modulation across space, can have any desirable radiation pattern, and enables spectral stability regardless of shape or length.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2025

Electrically driven plasmon-polaritonic bistability in Dirac electron tunneling transistors

Bistability-two distinct stable states under identical parameter-is not only a fundamental physical concept but also of importance in practical applications. While plasmon-polaritonic bistability representing history-dependent stable states within plasmonic systems has been theoretically predicted, it has yet to be demonstrated experimentally due to challenges in realizing suitable nonlinearity at feasible electric-field strengths. Here, we report the experimental observation of electrically driven plasmon-polaritonic bistability in graphene/hexagonal-boron-nitride/graphene tunneling transistors, achieved through momentum-conserving resonant tunneling of Dirac electrons. Using a small twist angle between graphene layers, we engineered devices exhibiting both electronic and plasmon-polaritonic bistability. This bistable plasmonic behavior can be precisely tuned through load resistance and electrostatic gating. Our findings open new pathways for exploring nonlinear optical and electronic phenomena in van der Waals heterostructures and mark a significant advance in nanoplasmonics, with potential applications in optical memory, sensing, and optoelectronic switching.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Magnetoresistance and Anisotropic Spin Dynamics in Antiferromagnetic Semiconductor Eu$_5$Sn$_2$As$_6$

We report on the thermodynamic and transport properties of the rare-earth Zintl compound Eu$_5$Sn$_2$As$_6$, which orders as a canted antiferromagnetic magnetic semiconductor at 10.3~K. The system also displays a complex cascade of magnetic phases arising from geometric and magnetic exchange frustration, with high sensitivity to the application and direction of small magnetic fields. At low temperature, Eu$_5$Sn$_2$As$_6$ exhibits negative colossal magnetoresistance of up to a factor of $6\times10^3$. This may be a lower bound as the conductivity appears to be shunted by an unknown conduction channel, causing the resistivity to saturate. Mechanisms for the low temperature saturation of resistivity are discussed.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Photonic Dirac Waveguides

The Dirac equation is a paradigmatic model that describes a range of intriguing properties of relativistic spin-1/2 particles, from the existence of antiparticles to Klein tunneling. However, the Dirac-like equations have found application far beyond its original scope, and has been used to comprehend the properties of graphene and topological phases of matter. In the field of photonics, the opportunity to emulate Dirac physics has also enabled topological photonic insulators. In this paper, we demonstrate that judiciously engineered synthetic potentials in photonic Dirac systems can offer physical properties beyond both the elementary and quasi-particles, and topological realms. Specifically, we introduce a new class of optical Dirac waveguides, whose guided electromagnetic modes are endowed with pseudo-spin degree of freedom. Pseudo-spin coupled with the ability to engineer synthetic gauge potentials acting on it, enables control over the guided modes which is unattainable in conventional optical waveguides. In particular, we use a silicon nanophotonic metasurface that supports pseudo-spin degree of freedom as a testing platform to predict and experimentally confirm a spin-full nature of the Dirac waveguides. We also demonstrate that, for suitable trapping potentials, the guided modes exhibit spin-dependent field distributions, which gives rise to their distinct transport and radiative properties. Thereby, the Dirac waveguides manifest spin-dependent radiative lifetimes - the non-Hermitian spin-Hall effect - and open new avenues for spin-multiplexing, controlling characteristics of guided optical modes, and tuning light-matter interactions with photonic pseudo-spins.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2018

Perfect Diffraction with Bianisotropic Metagratings

One highly desirable function of a diffraction grating is its ability to deflect incident light into a specific diffraction order with near-perfect efficiency. While such asymmetry can be achieved in a variety of ways, e.g., by using a sawtooth (blazed) geometry, a recently emerged approach is to use a planar metagrating comprised of designer multi-resonant periodic units (metamolecules). Here we demonstrate that a bianisotropic unit cell supporting four resonances interfering in the far field can be used as a building block for achieving the prefect deflection. A coupled mode analysis shows that these modes provide a small number of orthogonal electromagnetic radiation patterns that are needed to suppress transmission/reflection into all but one diffraction order. Bianisotropy caused by a mirror symmetry breaking enables a normally incident wave to excite, through near-field couplings, two otherwise "dark" resonant modes. We design and experimentally realize bianisotropic metamolecules which are sub-wavelength in all three dimensions, and whose optical properties are desensitized to fabrication imperfections by their geometric simplicity. We show that optical beams tightly focused onto the metagratings with just a few unit cells can also be asymmetrically deflected with high efficiency, paving the way for compact broadband optical devices.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2014

Gyromagnetically Induced Transparency of Meta-Surfaces

We demonstrate that the violation of the time-reversal (TR) symmetry in the presence of a gyromagnetic substrate can produce an analog of electromagnetically induced transparency in metallic meta-molecules. The simplest implementation of such gyromagnetically induced transparency (GIT) in a meta-surface comprised of an array of resonant antenna pairs placed on a gyromagnetic substrate and illuminated by a normally incident electromagnetic wave is analyzed. TR symmetry breaking introduced by the magnetic field makes meta-molecules bi-anisotropic and causes spectrally-sharp Fano interference between the otherwise uncoupled electric and magnetic dipolar resonances of the meta-molecules. The applied magnetic field results in a sharp transmission peak through the otherwise reflective meta-surface. We show that, for oblique wave incidence, one-way GIT can be achieved by the combination of spatial dispersion and TR symmetry breaking. These theoretically predicted phenomena pave the way to non-reciprocal switches and isolators that can be dynamically controlled by electric currents.

physics.optics↗