Open AccessTunable optical antennas enabled by the phase transition in vanadium dioxide
Author(s) -
Stuart K. Earl,
Timothy D. James,
Timothy J. Davis,
Jeffrey C. McCallum,
Robert E. Marvel,
Richard F. Haglund,
Ann Roberts
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.21.027503
Subject(s) - vanadium dioxide , materials science , optoelectronics , plasmon , optics , wavelength , substrate (aquarium) , phase (matter) , antenna (radio) , modulation (music) , surface plasmon , phase modulation , phase change , vanadium , thin film , nanotechnology , telecommunications , physics , engineering physics , oceanography , quantum mechanics , geology , computer science , acoustics , phase noise , metallurgy
Optical antennas, subwavelength metallic structures resonating at visible frequencies, are a relatively new branch of antenna technology being applied in science, technology and medicine. Dynamically tuning the resonances of these antennas would increase their range of application and offer potential increases in plasmonic device efficiencies. Silver nanoantenna arrays were fabricated on a thin film of the phase change material vanadium dioxide (VO(2)) and the resonant wavelength of these arrays was modulated by increasing the temperature of the substrate above the critical temperature (approximately 68 °C). Depending on the array, wavelength modulation of up to 110 nm was observed.