Ultra-High Quality Factor Resonances in a Pinwheel-Shaped All-Dielectric Metasurface Based on Bound States in the Continuum

Abstract

Combining with the bound states in the continuum (BICs) theory in all-dielectric metasurfaces has become an extensively used method to excite multiple high quality(Q) factor Fano resonances, which remarkably enhance the performance of structures to be applied to refractive index sensors. In this article, a novel silicon pinwheel-shaped all-dielectric metasurface in the near-infrared region is designed and numerically investigated. Two Fano resonances are excited in the original structures. After breaking the symmetry of the original structures in combination with the BIC theory, four sharp Fano resonances are excited and the maximum Q-factor exceeds 3.9 × 105 when δ = 10 nm. With the asymmetric parameter δ = 80 nm, multiple Fano resonances could be turned on and off by turning the polarization of the incident light, which performs excellent characteristics in optical switches. Both in the original structures and in the asymmetric state it offers outstanding sensing characteristics. Furthermore, with δ = 80 nm and the polarization angle 90 degrees, the sensitivity and the figure of merit (FOM) could respectively reach up to 355 nm/RIU and 1375.97 RIU−1. The designed structures may provide a way to enhance the performance of bio-chemical sensors, optical switches, and nonlinear optics.

Keywords

• All-dielectric metasurface
• bound states in the continuum
• high Q-factors
• optical sensing
• optical switches