Open AccessMechanochromic Reconfigurable Metasurfaces
Author(s) -
Karvounis Artemios,
Aspiotis Nikolaos,
Zeimpekis Ioannis,
Ou JunYu,
Huang ChungChe,
Hewak Daniel,
Zheludev Nikolay I.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
advanced science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.388
H-Index - 100
ISSN - 2198-3844
DOI - 10.1002/advs.201900974
Subject(s) - materials science , bistability , photonics , optoelectronics , molybdenum disulfide , transmission (telecommunications) , stress (linguistics) , nanotechnology , nitride , nanowire , layer (electronics) , computer science , composite material , telecommunications , linguistics , philosophy
The change of optical properties that some usually natural compounds or polymeric materials show upon the application of external stress is named mechanochromism. Herein, an artificial nanomechanical metasurface formed by a subwavelength nanowire array made of molybdenum disulfide, molybdenum oxide, and silicon nitride changes color upon mechanical deformation. The aforementioned deformation induces reversible changes in the optical transmission (relative transmission change of 197% at 654 nm), thus demonstrating a giant mechanochromic effect. Moreover, these types of metasurfaces can exist in two nonvolatile states presenting a difference in optical transmission of 45% at 678 nm, when they are forced to bend rapidly. The wide optical tunability that photonic nanomechanical metasurfaces, such as the one presented here, possess by design, can provide a valuable platform for mechanochromic and bistable responses across the visible and near infrared regime and form a new family of smart materials with applications in reconfigurable, multifunctional photonic filters, switches, and stress sensors.