繁体中文

The Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences has made significant progress in the research of lithium niobate nanooptics

617
2025-04-15 14:32:31
查看翻譯

In recent years, breakthroughs in the preparation technology of lithium niobate single crystal thin films have greatly promoted the important application of lithium niobate crystals in micro nano optical devices such as optical metasurfaces. However, the high hardness and inactive chemical properties of lithium niobate crystals pose significant challenges to micro nano processing; In addition, conventional optical metasurface preparation materials are mostly limited to isotropic materials, and the birefringence characteristics of anisotropic lithium niobate crystals have not been systematically explored in the field of optical metasurfaces.

Li Junjie's team from the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences/Micromachining Laboratory of the National Research Center for Condensed Matter Physics in Beijing has long focused on the research of micro/nano photonics device processing, design and function integration; In recent years, the team has conducted systematic research on lithium niobate nanooptics and made a series of important progress. Firstly, the team developed a multi-component gas co etching technology, achieving controllable processing of lithium niobate nanostructures (Figure a, Advanced Materials Technology 2024), 9, 2400318). Based on this etching technology, the team designed and processed a nonlinear hyper lens based on lithium niobate nanopore structure, achieving the function of up converting near-infrared beam frequency to ultraviolet band while focusing (Figure b, ACS Photonics 2025, doi. org/10.1021/acphotonics. 4c02259). Recently, the team discovered a new phenomenon caused by lithium niobate birefringence, which is the chiral optical response generated by non chiral structures.

The team established a dual-mode resonant coupled wave model that includes material birefringence response, and thus constructed lithium niobate nanostructures that exhibit non chiral characteristics in spatial structure (Figure c). Theoretical analysis shows that when the optical axis of lithium niobate crystal rotates to a specific angle, birefringence causes the mirror symmetry of the structure to break, and two nearly degenerate resonant states produce strong coupling effects. The hybrid resonance mode exhibits enormous chirality, producing a circular dichroism signal close to 1. In the experiment, the team used self-developed multi-component gas co etching technology to successfully process the designed lithium niobate nanostructure (Figure d), which has excellent surface smoothness and sidewall steepness. The spectral test structure confirmed the core result of the theoretical prediction, and the measured circular dichroism signal reached 0.53. The crystal structure of lithium niobate and the designed nanostructure are both non chiral, and the combination of the two can produce chiral optical response. This new phenomenon will inspire the design of new lithium niobate optical devices and has important scientific significance in the field of micro nano optics.

 



Figure a. Processing technology of lithium niobate nanostructures; b. Nonlinear superlenses; c. D. Theoretical design and experimental results of lithium niobate chiral metasurface

The research results were published in the recent Physical Review Letters 2025, 134, 113, 802 under the title "Chiral Resonant Modes Induced by Intrinsic Birefringence in Lithium Niobate Metasurfaces", and were included in this issue's Feature in Physics; The highlight column of the American Physical Society's Physics magazine wrote a special report titled "Birefringent Nanocubes Give Light a Circular Boost". The first author of this paper is Associate Researcher Wang Bo from the Microfabrication Laboratory, and the corresponding authors are Researcher Li Junjie and Associate Researcher Pan Ruhao. Zhu Tingyue, Master's student Liu Yunan, and Researcher Yang Haifang participated in the work. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Key R&D Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Huairou Comprehensive Extreme Conditions Experimental Device.

Source: opticsky

相關推薦
  • Successful First Satellite Earth Laser High Speed Image Transmission Experiment

    Recently, the reporter learned from Changguang Satellite Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Changguang Satellite") that the company used a self-developed vehicle mounted laser communication ground station to conduct satellite ground laser high-speed image transmission experiments with the onboard laser communication terminal of the "Jilin No.1" constellation MF02A04 satellite and ac...

    2023-10-14
    查看翻譯
  • The research team at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China has developed three innovative photonic devices

    Recently, Professor Nie Mingming from the Key Laboratory of Fiber Optic Sensing and Communication at the School of Information and Communication Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, in collaboration with the University of Colorado Boulder, published a research paper titled "Cross polarized stimulated Brillouin scattering empowered photonics" in the top internation...

    05-30
    查看翻譯
  • NASA will demonstrate laser communications on the space station to improve space communications capabilities

    Recently, in order to improve the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) space communications capabilities, NASA plans to send a technology demonstration called "Integrated LCRD Low Earth Orbit User Modem and Amplifier Terminal (ILLUMA-T)" to the space station in 2023.ILLUMA-T and the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD), launched in December 2021, will together comp...

    2023-09-04
    查看翻譯
  • First time! Significant progress has been made in low repetition rate fully polarization maintaining nine cavity fiber lasers

    Recently, the research team of the Aerospace Laser Technology and System Department of the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, reported for the first time a low repetition frequency full polarization maintaining 9-shaped cavity fiber laser at 915 nm. The relevant research results were published in Optics Express under the title "Low repetition rate 915 nm ...

    2024-05-07
    查看翻譯
  • An innovative technology that can make light "bend"

    A research team from the University of Glasgow in the UK drew inspiration from the phenomenon of clouds scattering sunlight and developed an innovative technology that can effectively guide or even "bend" light. This technology is expected to achieve significant breakthroughs in fields such as medical imaging, cooling systems, and even nuclear reactors. The relevant research results were published...

    2024-11-11
    查看翻譯