Solution processable and optically switchable 1D photonic structures

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a solution-processable, optically switchable 1D photonic crystal using phototunable doped metal oxide nanocrystals, enabling ultrafast and tunable optical responses across visible and near-infrared spectra.

Contribution

It introduces the first solution-processable, optically switchable 1D photonic crystal with tunable properties via photodoping of doped metal oxide nanocrystals, advancing ultrafast optical switching technology.

Findings

Achieved bi-photonic response covering visible and near-infrared ranges.

Demonstrated ultrafast switching with picosecond recovery times.

Showed tunability of optical properties through photodoping process.

Abstract

In this work, we report the first demonstration of a solution processable, optically switchable 1D photonic crystal by implementing phototunable doped metal oxide nanocrystals. The resulting device structure shows bi-photonic response with the photonic bandgap covering the visible spectral range and the plasmon resonance of the doped metal oxide the near infrared. By means of a facile photodoping process, we tuned the plasmonic response and switched effectively the optical properties of the photonic crystal, translating the effect from the near infrared to the visible. The ultrafast bandgap pumping induces a signal change in the region of the photonic stopband, with recovery times of several picoseconds, providing a step toward the ultrafast optical switching. Optical modeling uncovers the importance to understand largely the variations of the dielectric function of the photodoped material, and variations in the high frequency region of the Drude response are responsible for the strong switching in the visible after photodoping. Our device configuration offers unprecedented tunablility due to flexibility in device design, cover wavelength ranges from the visible to the near infrared. Our findings indicate a new protocol to modify the optical response of photonic devices by optical triggers only.