Topological optimization of electrically tunable silicon-organic metasurfaces

Abstract

We present a non-intuitive but still practically implementable silicon meta-atom with strong electrical tunability. We used topological optimization on a 20×20-variable silicon-on-insulator grid and achieved tunability by using JRD1, a stable electrooptic polymer. The electric potential is applied on two ITO electrodes, and a peak shift of 0.6 nm V−1 is achieved in the optical communication E and S bands. The proposed device can be regarded as a demultiplexer or channel selector on a coarse wavelength-division-multiplexing system, with an extinction ratio between adjacent channels of ∼14 dB.