Voltage-gated optics and plasmonics enabled by solid-state proton pumping

Mantao Huang, Aik Jun Tan, Felix Büttner, Hailong Liu, Qifeng Ruan, Wen Hu, Claudio Mazzoli, Stuart Wilkins, Chuanhua Duan, Joel K. W. Yang and Geoffrey S. D. Beach ()
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Mantao Huang: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Aik Jun Tan: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Felix Büttner: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Hailong Liu: Singapore University of Technology and Design
Qifeng Ruan: Singapore University of Technology and Design
Wen Hu: Brookhaven National Laboratory
Claudio Mazzoli: Brookhaven National Laboratory
Stuart Wilkins: Brookhaven National Laboratory
Chuanhua Duan: Boston University
Joel K. W. Yang: Singapore University of Technology and Design
Geoffrey S. D. Beach: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Devices with locally-addressable and dynamically tunable optical properties underpin emerging technologies such as high-resolution reflective displays and dynamic holography. The optical properties of metals such as Y and Mg can be reversibly switched by hydrogen loading, and hydrogen-switched mirrors and plasmonic devices have been realized, but challenges remain to achieve electrical, localized and reversible control. Here we report a nanoscale solid-state proton switch that allows for electrical control of optical properties through electrochemical hydrogen gating. We demonstrate the generality and versatility of this approach by realizing tunability of a range of device characteristics including transmittance, interference color, and plasmonic resonance. We further discover and exploit a giant modulation of the effective refractive index of the gate dielectric. The simple gate structure permits device thickness down to ~20 nanometers, which can enable device scaling into the deep subwavelength regime, and has potential applications in addressable plasmonic devices and reconfigurable metamaterials.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-13131-3

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