Tunable Infrared Optical Switch Based on Vanadium Dioxide

Qi Wang; Shijie Zhang; Chen Wang; Rui Li; Tianhan Cai; Dawei Zhang

doi:10.3390/nano11112988

Nanomaterials (Nov 2021)

Tunable Infrared Optical Switch Based on Vanadium Dioxide

Qi Wang,
Shijie Zhang,
Chen Wang,
Rui Li,
Tianhan Cai,
Dawei Zhang

Affiliations

Qi Wang: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Modern Optics System, Engineering Research Center of Optical Instrument and System, Ministry of Education and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Modern Optical System, School of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, 516 Jungong Rd., Shanghai 200093, China
Shijie Zhang: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Modern Optics System, Engineering Research Center of Optical Instrument and System, Ministry of Education and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Modern Optical System, School of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, 516 Jungong Rd., Shanghai 200093, China
Chen Wang: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Modern Optics System, Engineering Research Center of Optical Instrument and System, Ministry of Education and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Modern Optical System, School of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, 516 Jungong Rd., Shanghai 200093, China
Rui Li: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Modern Optics System, Engineering Research Center of Optical Instrument and System, Ministry of Education and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Modern Optical System, School of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, 516 Jungong Rd., Shanghai 200093, China
Tianhan Cai: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Modern Optics System, Engineering Research Center of Optical Instrument and System, Ministry of Education and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Modern Optical System, School of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, 516 Jungong Rd., Shanghai 200093, China
Dawei Zhang: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Modern Optics System, Engineering Research Center of Optical Instrument and System, Ministry of Education and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Modern Optical System, School of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, 516 Jungong Rd., Shanghai 200093, China

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11112988
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 11, no. 11
p. 2988

Abstract

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A tunable infrared optical switch based on a plasmonic structure consisting of aluminum nanoarrays with a thin film of vanadium dioxide is proposed. This optical switch can realize arbitrary wavelength-selective optical switching in the mid-infrared region by altering the radii of the aluminum nanoarrays. Furthermore, since vanadium dioxide transforms from its low-temperature insulator phase to a high-temperature metallic phase when heated or applied voltage, the optical switch can achieve two-way switching of its “ON” and “OFF” modes. Finite-difference time-domain software is used to simulate the performance of the proposed infrared optical switch. Simulation results show that the switch offers excellent optical performances, that the modulation depth can reach up to 99.4%, and that the extinction ratio exceeds −22.16 dB. In addition, the phase transition time of vanadium dioxide is on the femtosecond scale, which means that this optical switch based on a vanadium dioxide thin film can be used for ultrafast switching.

Published in Nanomaterials

ISSN: 2079-4991 (Online)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Science: Chemistry
Website: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/nanomaterials

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