Small Science (Jul 2021)

All‐Optical Modulation with Dielectric Nanoantennas: Multiresonant Control and Ultrafast Spatial Inhomogeneities

  • Andrea Mazzanti,
  • Eva Arianna Aurelia Pogna,
  • Lavinia Ghirardini,
  • Michele Celebrano,
  • Andrea Schirato,
  • Giuseppe Marino,
  • Aristide Lemaítre,
  • Marco Finazzi,
  • Costantino De Angelis,
  • Giuseppe Leo,
  • Giulio Cerullo,
  • Giuseppe Della Valle

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/smsc.202000079
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 1, no. 7
pp. n/a – n/a

Abstract

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The transient optical response of multiresonant all‐dielectric nanoantennas via a combination of broadband ultrafast reflectivity experiments and nonlinear optics nanoscale modeling is studied. Ultrafast all‐optical control of the reflectivity is demonstrated in variably sized Al.18Ga.82As nanoantennas over four distinct Mie resonances (including Fano‐like resonances), spanning a broad spectral range, from the red to the near‐infrared. A spatially inhomogeneous dynamical model, which accounts for diffusion of the photogenerated carriers inside the semiconductor, is introduced and exploited to isolate the physical phenomena leading to the overall transient response, namely, Drude plasma formation and Pauli blocking following band filling and thermo‐optical effect. The results pave the way to the development of multiwavelength all‐optically reconfigurable filters for next‐generation ultrafast add/drop multiplexing.

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