Nonlinear metal-dielectric nanoantennas for light switching and routing

TL;DR

This paper presents a hybrid metal-dielectric nanoantenna that uses nonlinear effects to switch light direction rapidly, enabling advanced light routing and switching at nanoscale with high efficiency.

Contribution

It introduces a novel hybrid nanoantenna design combining dielectric and metal nanoparticles for fast, nonlinear light switching and routing.

Findings

Switching between forward and backward radiation directions at 11 MW/cm².

Switching time of approximately 260 femtoseconds.

Effective light harvesting using high-permittivity dielectric nanoparticle.

Abstract

We introduce a novel hybrid metal-dielectric nanoantenna composed of dielectric (crystalline silicon) and metal (silver) nanoparticles. A high-permittivity dielectric nanoparticle allows to achieve effective light harvesting, and nonlinearity of a metal nanoparticle controls the radiation direction. We show that the radiation pattern of such a nanoantenna can be switched between the forward and backward directions by varying only the light intensity around the level of 11 MW/cm$^2$, with the characteristic switching time of 260 fs.