arXiv subjects

Yungui Ma

Publications and source records attributed to Yungui Ma.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Topological space-time waves in complex channels

Structured light in space and time has become a powerful playground in which to explore the fundamental physics of wave systems, while simultaneously introducing new exotic forms of light, from spatio-temporal vortices to toroidal pulses of light. Yet their creation remains restricted by complex optical systems while directly observing their evolution in arbitrary channels remains elusive, complicated by the interplay of dispersion and diffraction and exacerbated by the lack of suitable detection tools. Here we create topological space-time beams in a single step by a resonant response of a symmetry-broken metasurface, mixing spatial, temporal and polarisation degrees of freedom in a single microwave field. Our realisation in the microwave regime allows us to directly observe their dynamics in arbitrary channels, from free-space to complex random media, showing the preservation of topology while the foundational degrees of freedom are scrambled. We use our control to show how to unscramble the space-time properties for the first crosstalk-free transmission of space-time waves. Our work advances the physics of space-time waves, introduces a new toolkit for their creation and control, and offers an exciting roadmap to their exploitation in real-world scenarios, e.g., for robust communications through noisy channels.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2026

Imprinting topology on thermal light

Topological structuring of light inevitably leverages on optical coherence to ensure that the imparted spatial phases are preserved, requiring highly coherent sources or coherence engineering embedded in the design. Now we show that thermal light can be spatially engineered to carry optical topologies in the form of Skyrmions. Such topologies are immune to time averaged decoherence, a fact we leverage on in reverse to create metasurface mediated incoherent topologies from a thermal source. The pristine nature of our measured Skyrmions validates the approach, while simulations reveal how coherence management in the metasurface design would further enhance the functionality. Remarkably, the generation stage inherits robustness from the topology, remaining immune to material and fabrication defects. Our work reports the first topologies from purely thermal light, opening a path to exploiting topology in ubiquitous everyday light sources.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2025

Manipulate intrinsic light-matter interaction with bound state in the continuum in van der Waals metasurfaces by artificial etching

The recent demonstrations of van der Waals (vdW) nanophotonics have opened new pathways for manipulating the light-matter interaction in an intrinsic manner, leading to fascinating achievements in tunable magneto-optics by self-hybrid polaritons, indirect bandgap lasering, and exceptionally enhanced optical nonlinearity. However, the anisotropic atomic lattice, chemically active side walls, and distinct enthalpies of formation across vdW materials, pose significant challenges in nanofabrication and material choices, hindering the realization of high-Q resonant mode on arbitrary materials. In this work, we propose an etch-free vdW structure that mimics the shallow etching, termed "artificial etching". This approach utilizes a low refractive index (LRI) perturbation layer made of photoresist, drastically reducing radiation loss and experimentally achieving a remarkable Q factor of up to 348, which is comparable to the highest values reported in vdW nanophotonics. We demonstrate room-temperature polaritons in etch-free structures using four representative materials (WS$_2$, MoS$_2$, WSe$_2$, and MoSe$_2$) through self-hybridization of high-Q (quasi-)bound states in the continuum (BIC) modes and excitons, achieving a Rabi-splitting of approximately 80 meV, which significantly surpasses the intrinsic excitonic loss. Furthermore, we showcase optical modulation of indirect bandgap emission in bulk WS$_2$ and direct exciton emission in heterostructures, achieving substantial polarization-dependent enhancement of their emission efficiencies. The proposed etch-free vdW structure provides a versatile platform for high-Q nanophononics while preserving material integrity, advancing applications in photoelectronic and quantum devices.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2024

All-On-chip Reconfigurable Structured Light Generator

Structured light carrying angular momentum, such as spin angular momentum (SAM) and orbital angular momentum (OAM), has been at the core of new science and applications, driving the need for compact on-chip sources. While many static on-chip solutions have been demonstrated, as well as on-chip sources of free-space modes, no architecture that is fully reconfigurable in all angular momentum states and all on-chip has so far been possible. Here we report the first all-on-chip structured light generator for the creation of both scalar and vectorial angular momentum beams, facilitated through a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) chip with a silica mode multiplexer (silica chip). We selectively stimulate six linearly-polarized (LP) modes of the silica multimode bus waveguide, precisely controlling the modal powers and phases with the SOI chip. This allows us to tailor arbitrary superpositions of the mode set thus synthesizing common cylindrical vector vortex beams as well as OAM beams of controlled spin and topological charge. Our compact structured light generator exhibits high switching speed and operates across the telecom band, paving the way for applications such as optical communication and integrated quantum technologies.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2024

Pixelated Bayer Spectral Router Based on Sparse Meta-atom Array

It has long been a challenging task to improve the light collection efficiency of conventional image sensors built with color filters that inevitably cause the energy loss of out-of-band photons. Although various schemes have been proposed to address the issue, it is still very hard to make a reasonable tradeoff between device performance and practicability. In this work, we demonstrate a pixelated spectral router based on sparse meta-atom array, which can efficiently separate the incident R (600-700 nm), G (500-600 nm), and B (400-500 nm) band light to the corresponding pixels of a Bayer image sensor, providing over 56% signal enhancement above the traditional color filter scheme. The CMOS-compatible spectral router has superior characteristics of polarization insensitivity and high incident angle tolerance (over 30{\deg}), enabled by simple compound Si3N4 nanostructures which are very suitable for massive production. Imaging experiments are conducted to verify its potential for real applications. Our pixelated spectral router scheme is also found to be robust and could be freely adapted to image sensors of various pixel sizes, having great potential in building the new generation of high-performance image sensing components.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2024

Observation of Heat Pumping Effect by Radiative Shuttling

Heat shuttling phenomenon is characterized by the presence of a non-zero heat flow between two bodies without net thermal bias on average. It was initially predicted in the context of nonlinear heat conduction within atomic lattices coupled to two time-oscillating thermostats. Recent theoretical works revealed an analog of this effect for heat exchanges mediated by thermal photons between two solids having a temperature dependent emissivity. In this paper, we present the experimental proof of this effect using systems made with composite materials based on phase change materials. By periodically modulating the temperature of one of two solids we report that the system akin to heat pumping with a controllable heat flow direction. Additionally, we demonstrate the effectiveness of a simultaneous modulation of two temperatures to control both the strength and direction of heat shuttling by exploiting the phase delay between these temperatures. These results show that this effect is promising for an active thermal management of solid-state technology, to cool down solids, to insulate them from their background or to amplify heat exchanges.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2024

Pixel-scale NIR-VIS Spectral Routers Based on 2D Mie-type Metagratings

The out-of-band energy loss caused by in-built color filters significantly degrades the signal-to-noise ratio and the dynamic range of conventional image sensors, which has restricted the attempt to develop ultrahigh-density imaging devices by merely shrinking the pixel size. This issue will be more serious for security cameras which need to collect visible (VIS) light and near-infrared (NIR) photons as well. The existing solutions mostly explore complex photonic nanostructures, which are often too complicated for production. In this work, we demonstrate a pixel-scale spectral router utilizing two-dimensional (2D) Si3N4 Mie scattering metagratings that can spatially divide NIR (850 nm) and VIS (400-700 nm) light to different pixels at high efficiencies. It has a minimum feature size larger than 360 nm, highly promising for massive production. Compared with the traditional filter design, our router can gain about 42% and 30% signal enhancement for NIR and VIS band, respectively. We show that it also has good polarization insensitivity and incident angle tolerance. The NIR-VIS simultaneous imaging is inspected without any complex reconstruction algorithm. Mode analysis indicates that the multipolar scattering of our Mie-type metagratings provides the necessary degrees of freedom to spatially optimize the routing functions for broadband photons.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2024

Transient Measurement of Near-field Thermal Radiation between Macroscopic Objects

The involvement of evanescent waves in the near-field regime could greatly enhance the spontaneous thermal radiation, offering a unique opportunity to study nanoscale photon-phonon interaction. However, accurately characterizing this subtle phenomenon is very challenging. This paper proposes a transient all-optical method for rapidly characterizing near-field radiative heat transfer (NFRHT) between macroscopic objects, using the first law of thermodynamics. Significantly, a full measurement at a fixed gap distance is completed within tens of seconds. By simplifying the configuration, the transient all-optical method achieves high measurement accuracy and reliable reproducibility. The proposed method can effectively analyze the NFRHT in various material systems, including SiO2, SiC, and Si, which involve different phonon or plasmon polaritons. Experimental observations demonstrate significant super-Planckian radiation, which arises from the near-field coupling of bounded surface modes. Furthermore, the method achieves excellent agreement with theory, with a minimal discrepancy of less than 2.7% across a wide temperature range. This wireless method could accurately characterize the NFRHT for objects with different sizes or optical properties, enabling the exploration of both fundamental interests and practical applications.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2024

Radiative Thermal Transistor

Developing thermal analogues of field-effect transistor could open the door to a low-power and even zero-power communication technology working with heat rather than electricity. These solid-sate devices could also find many applications in the field of active thermal management in numerous technologies (microelectronic, building science, energy harvesting,conversion,...). Recent theoretical works has suggested that a photonic transistor made with three terminals can in principle be used to switch, modulate, and even amplify heat flux through exchange of thermal photons. Here, we report an experimental demonstration of thermal transistor effect using a non-contact system composed by a temperature-controlled metal-insulator-based material interacting in far-field regime with two blackbodies held at two different temperatures. We demonstrate that, with a tiny change in the temperature of the active layer, the heat flux received by the cold blackbody can be drastically modified. An amplification parameter of heat flux over 20 is reported.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2023

Measurement of Near-field Thermal Radiation between Multilayered Metamaterials

The near-field radiative heat transfer (NFRHT) between one-dimensional metamaterials comprising phonon dielectric multilayers was experimented. Large sized (1cm x 1cm) near-field samples were fabricated using SiC, SiO2 and Ge layers at a certain gap distance, and the effect of layer stacking order and phonon resonance quality on the NFRHT was examined. The measured results show good agreement with those obtained theoretically employing the transmission matrix method. Super-Planckian blackbody radiation was observed between the emitters and receivers with identical structures. Measurements demonstrate failure of the effective medium theory (EMT) in predicting the near-field heat flux especially in the presence of bounded surface modes, such as the epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) mode. Analyses also indicate that, in certain cases, the EMT can provide reasonable physical insight into the underlying coupling process from the perspective of homogenized media. The conditions to apply the EMT in the near-field regime was also touched upon.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2023

Electromagnetic Spatiotemporal Differentiators

Spatiotemporal optical computing devices which could perform mathematical operations in both spatial and temporal domains can provide unprecedented measures to build efficient and real-time information processing systems. It is particularly important to realize the comprehensive functions in a compact design for better integration with electronic components. In this work, we experimentally demonstrated an analogue spatiotemporal differentiator in microwaves based on an asymmetrical metasurface which has a phase singularity in the spatiotemporal domain. We showed that this structure could give rise to a spatiotemporal transfer function required by an ideal first-order differentiator in both spatial and temporal domains by tailoring the unidirectional excitation of spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SSPPs). The spatial edge detection was performed utilizing a metallic slit and the temporal differentiation capability of the device was examined by Gaussian-like temporal pulses of different width. We further confirmed the differentiator demonstrated here could detect sharp changes of spatiotemporal pulses even with intricate profiles and theoretically estimated the resolution limits of the spatial and temporal edge detection. We also show that the pulse input after passing the spatiotemporal differentiator implemented here could carry a transverse orbital angular momentum (OAM) with a fractal topology charge which further increases the information quantity.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2022

Electrical manipulation of plasmon-phonon polaritons in heterostructures of graphene on biaxial crystals

Phonon polaritons in natural anisotropic crystals hold great promise for infrared nano-optics. However, the direct electrical control of these polaritons is difficult, preventing the development of active polaritonic devices. Here we propose the heterostructures of graphene on a biaxial crystal (α-phase molybdenum trioxide) slab and theoretically study the hybridized plasmon-phonon polaritons with dependence on the Fermi level of graphene from three aspects: dispersion relationships, iso-frequency contours, and the quantum spin Hall effects. We demonstrate the distinct wavelength tunability of the plasmon-phonon polaritons modes and the optical topologic transitions from open (hyperbolic) to closed (bow-tie-like) iso-frequency contours as the increase of the Fermi level of graphene. Furthermore, we observe the tunable quantum spin Hall effects of the plasmon-phonon polaritons, manifesting propagation direction switching by the Fermi level tuning of the graphene. Our findings open opportunities for novel electrically tunable polaritonic devices and programmable quantum optical networks.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Near-field radiative heat transfer between hybrid polaritonic structures

Near-field radiative heat transfer between close objects may exceed the far-field blackbody radiation in orders of magnitude when exploiting polaritonic materials. Great efforts have been made to experimentally measure this fundamental stochastic effect but mostly based on simple materials. In this work, we foster an all-optical method to characterize the heat transfer between less explored plasmon-phonon hybrid polaritonic systems made of graphene-SiC heterostructures. A large heat flux about 26 times of the blackbody radiation limit is obtained over a 150-nm vacuum gap, attributed to the couplings of three different surface modes (plasmon, phonon polaritons and frustrated mode). The interaction of polaritonic modes in the hybrid system is also explored to build a switchable thermophotonic device with nearly unity heat flux tunability. This work paves the way for understanding mode-mediated near-field heat transfer and provides a platform for building thermophotonic or thermo-optoelectronic blocks for various applications.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2021

Passive temperature management based on near-field heat transfer

Thermal or temperature management in modern machines has drawn great attentions in the last decades. The waste heat caused during the machine operation is particularly pernicious for the temperature-dependent electronics and may reduce the apparatus performance and lifetime. To control the operation temperature while maintaining high input powers is often a dilemma. Enormous works have been done for the purpose. Here, a passive temperature management method based on near-field heat transfer is introduced, utilizing graphene-plasmon enhanced evanescence wave tunneling. Within a pump power tolerance range of 0.5-7 KW m-2, the device can automatically regulate its thermal emissivity to quickly acquire thermal homeostasis around a designed temperature. It is compact, fully passive and could be incorporated into chip design. The results pave a promising way for passive thermal management that could be used in modern instruments in particular for vacuum environmental applications.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2019

High-performance silicon-graphene hybrid plasmonic waveguide photodetectors beyond 1.55 μm

A fast silicon-graphene hybrid plasmonic waveguide photodetectors beyond 1.55 μm is proposed and realized by introducing an ultra-thin wide silicon-on-insulator ridge core region with a narrow metal cap. With this novel design, the light absorption in graphene is enhanced while the metal absorption loss is reduced simultaneously, which helps greatly improve the responsivity as well as shorten the absorption region for achieving fast responses. Furthermore, metal-graphene-metal sandwiched electrodes are introduced to reduce the metal-graphene contact resistance, which is also helpful for improving the response speed. When the photodetector operates at 2 μm, the measured 3dB-bandwidth is >20 GHz (which is limited by the experimental setup) while the 3dB-bandwith calculated from the equivalent circuit with the parameters extracted from the measured S11 is as high as ~100 GHz. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time to report the waveguide photodetector at 2 μm with a 3dB-bandwidth over 20 GHz. Besides, the present photodetectors also work very well at 1.55 μm. The measured responsivity is about 0.4 A/W under a bias voltage of -0.3 V for an optical power of 0.16 mW, while the measured 3dB-bandwidth is over 40 GHz (limited by the test setup) and the 3 dB-bandwidth estimated from the equivalent circuit is also as high as ~100 GHz, which is one of the best results reported for silicon-graphene photodetectors at 1.55 μm.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2018

High-speed and high-responsivity hybrid silicon/black-phosphorus waveguide photodetectors at 2 μm

Silicon photonics is being extended from the near-infrared (near-IR) window of 1.3-1.5 μm for optical fiber communications to the mid-infrared (mid-IR) wavelength-band of 2 μm or longer for satisfying the increasing demands in many applications. Mid-IR waveguide photodetectors on silicon have attracted intensive attention as one of the indispensable elements for various photonic systems. Previously high-performance waveguide photodetectors on silicon were realized for the near-IR window of 1.3-1.5 μm by introducing another semiconductor material (e.g., Ge, and III-V compounds) in the active region. Unfortunately, these traditional semiconductor materials do not work well for the wavelength of ~2 μm or longer because the light absorption becomes very weak. As an alternative, two-dimensional materials provide a new and promising option for enabling active photonic devices on silicon. Here black-phosphorus (BP) thin films with optimized medium thicknesses (~40 nm) are introduced as the active material for light absorption and silicon/BP hybrid ridge waveguide photodetectors are demonstrated with a high responsivity at a low bias voltage. And up to 4.0Gbps data transmission is achieved at 2μm.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2018

Observing of the super-Planckian near-field thermal radiation between graphene sheets

Thermal radiation can be substantially enhanced in the near-field scenario due to the tunneling of evanescent waves. The monolayer graphene could play a vital role in this process owning to its strong infrared plasmonic response, however, which still lacks an experimental verification due to the technical challenges. Here, we manage to make a direct measurement about plasmon-mediated thermal radiation between two macroscopic graphene sheets using a custom-made setup. Super-Planckian radiation with efficiency 4.5 times larger than the blackbody limit is observed at a 430-nm vacuum gap on insulating silicon hosting substrates. The positive role of graphene plasmons is further confirmed on conductive silicon substrates which have strong infrared loss and thermal emittance. Based on these, a thermophotovoltaic cell made of the graphene-silicon heterostructure is lastly discussed. The current work validates the classic thermodynamical theory in treating graphene and also paves a way to pursue the application of near-field thermal management.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2018

Daytime passive radiative cooler using porous alumina

We report a daytime passive radiative cooler using chemically fabricated porous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membranes. Effective medium theory (EMT) has been applied to analyzing the optical properties of the air-doped porous medium. The composite structure is specifically optimized so that it has a high absorbance (emittance) in the far-infrared atmospheric window and nearly no loss in the solar spectrum. The calculated emittance is well reproduced in the experiment by our AAO sample. The fabricated porous membrane shows a potential cooling power density of 64 W/m2 at ambient (humidity = 75%) under direct sunlight irradiance (AM1.5). Experimentally, the sample is cooled by a 2.6C temperature reduction below the ambient air temperature in the sunlight. This performance shows little variance at night. The AAO approach proposed here may provide a promising way to produce low-cost and efficient radiative cooler in large scales for feasible energy conservation.

physics.app-ph↗