The optical resonances of nanostructures have shown great potential to enhance and control nonlinear optical processes, which are intrinsically weak in ultrathin volumes. There is presently a strong drive towards reconfiguring the resonant response, enabling versatile or broadband functionalities. Among several proposed physical mechanisms (mechanical, thermal,…) all-optical approaches stand out for their fast switching and contactless operation. Pump–probe experiments have demonstrated various forms of intensity-based tuning, exploiting a transient alteration of the material properties. Phase, conversely, has received little attention as a potential control tool. We recently developed a two-pump scheme mixing a pulse at ω with its frequency-doubled replica. The resulting sum-frequency (ω+2ω) and third-harmonic emissions (ω+ω+ω) are coherent and degenerate at 3ω. Because of their opposite parity, their interference is enabled by a symmetry breaking—through directional filtering or by the nanostructure geometry. We reported recently (ArXiv:2307.01794) a 90% intensity modulation and directional routing by an AlGaAs metasurface controlled via the relative phase between the two pumps.
We propose a dual-beam pumping scheme whereby a pulse of telecom frequency ω (1550 nm wavelength) is mixed with its frequency-doubled replica at 2ω. This brings about sum-frequency generation at ω+2ω = 3ω on top of third harmonic at ω+ω+ω = 3ω. We exploited the diffraction by an AlGaAs metasurface for realizing the symmetry breaking which is key to avoid averaging out the interference between the two coherent frequency-tripling pathways. The upconverted light can thereby be routed into different diffraction orders with high selectivity, based on the pumps’ relative phase, providing a platform for GHz-rate amplitude modulation and information encoding.
The ongoing drive towards the miniaturization of nonlinear optics is motivated by the number of functionalities it could bring about in integrated devices, such as frequency conversion, information processing, and holography. The main hindrance to the technological deployment of nonlinear optics is the perturbative character of nonlinear interactions, whose intrinsic weakness is compounded at the nanoscale by the small volume of matter involved. The exploitation of the resonant electromagnetic modes supported by nanostructures in order to increase the strength of light–matter coupling is therefore a thriving area of research.
In this work, we investigate gold dimers, where a V-antenna tuned to resonate at a telecom frequency ω (corresponding to a 1550 nm wavelength) is electromagnetically coupled to a rod resonating at 2ω. The structures were patterned lithographically out of a 40 nm-thick monocrystalline gold flake with a focused-ion (Ga) beam. In our experiment, a pump pulse at ω is mixed with its frequency-doubled replica, resulting in SFG at frequency ω+2ω = 3ω. A thorough experimental characterization discloses a rich phenomenology as the SFG is ruled by the resonant response. Such sensitive dependence on the geometry of the system and the excitation is unraveled through a systematic comparison to full-vectorial numerical simulations.
In our dimers, on the one hand the doubly resonant design boosts both pumps of the SFG; on the other hand, the non-centrosymmetric shape allows interference of SFG with third-harmonic generation (THG), which also occurs at ω+ω+ω = 3ω. Delay traces of the signal at 3ω exhibit strong interference fringes (power modulation above 400%) with a 2ω periodicity. The small dephasing between pumps required to achieve such sizable modulation can be imparted by either mechanical or electro-optic means; along with the instantaneous (electronic) character of the materials response, this suggests enticing perspectives for ultrafast modulation and coherent control.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.