Giant nonlinearity of carbon nanotubes in a photonic metamaterial

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that integrating carbon nanotubes with photonic metamaterials creates a highly nonlinear medium with ultrafast response, enabled by strong coupling between plasmonic modes and nanotube excitons, opening new photonic application possibilities.

Contribution

It introduces a novel composite system combining carbon nanotubes and metamaterials, achieving unprecedented nonlinear optical responses through tailored design.

Findings

Strong coupling between plasmonic modes and nanotube excitons.

Tailorable optical response via metamaterial design.

Ultrafast nonlinear response suitable for photonic applications.

Abstract

Metamaterials, artificial media structured on the subwavelength scale offer a rich paradigm for developing unique photonic functionalities ranging from negative index of refraction and directionally asymmetric transmission to slowing light. Here we demonstrate that a combination of carbon nanotubes with a photonic metamaterial offers a new paradigm for the development of nonlinear media with exceptionally strong ultrafast nonlinear response invaluable in photonic applications. It is underpinned by strong coupling between weakly radiating Fano-type resonant plasmonic modes and the excitonic response of single-walled semiconductor carbon nanotubes. Using a "combinatorial" approach to material discovery we show that the optical response of such a composite system can be tailored and optimized by metamaterial design.