Combining Switchable Phase‐Change Materials and Phase‐Transition Materials for Thermally Regulated Smart Mid‐Infrared Modulators
Advanced Optical Materials, vol. 9
Abstract
Abstract Phase‐change materials (PCMs) and phase‐transition materials (PTMs) both show a large contrast in their respective optical properties upon switching, enabling compact optical components with diverse functionalities like sensing, thermal imaging, and data recording. However, their switching properties differ significantly, that is, the switching is non‐volatile for PCMs while volatile for PTMs. Here, new‐generation smart mid‐infrared modulators with switchable transmission, reflection, and absorption are demonstrated conceptually and experimentally, which combine one PCM (Ge 3 Sb 2 Te 6 or In 3 SbTe 2 ) with one PTM (VO 2 ) as two active layers. The bottom VO 2 layer is employed as a thermally regulated (modulated) dynamic mirror, facilitating the switching of transmission between “on” state (using VO 2 in its semiconducting state at temperatures below its phase transition temperature T c ) and “off” state (metallic VO 2 at temperatures above T c ). The PCM layer on top of the metallic VO 2 layer is used either for continuously adjusting the absorption peak spectrally (by up to 1.8 µm using different phases of Ge 3 Sb 2 Te 6 ) or for switching between absorption mode ( A = 0.99 with amorphous In 3 SbTe 2 ) and reflection mode ( R = 0.85 with crystalline In 3 SbTe 2 ). The presented concept of merging static, non‐volatile thermal switching (via PCMs) with dynamic, volatile thermal modulation (via PTMs) empowers a new generation of optical devices for smart optical switching, for example in spectrally tunable safety optical switches.
Authors 7
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Affiliation as printed
Institute of Physics (IA) RWTH Aachen University 52056 Aachen Germany
Institute of Physics (IA) RWTH Aachen University 52056 Aachen Germany
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Affiliation as printed
Chair for Materials Discovery and Interfaces Institute for Materials Ruhr University Bochum 44801 Bochum Germany
Chair for Materials Discovery and Interfaces Institute for Materials Ruhr University Bochum 44801 Bochum Germany
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Yunzhen Cao corresponding
Chinese Academy of Sciences · Shanghai Institute of Ceramics · University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Affiliation as printed
Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 10049 China
Key Laboratory of Inorganic Coating Materials CAS Shanghai Institute of Ceramics Chinese Academy of Sciences Shanghai 200050 China
Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 10049 China
Key Laboratory of Inorganic Coating Materials CAS Shanghai Institute of Ceramics Chinese Academy of Sciences Shanghai 200050 China
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Chinese Academy of Sciences · Shanghai Institute of Ceramics · University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Affiliation as printed
Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 10049 China
Key Laboratory of Inorganic Coating Materials CAS Shanghai Institute of Ceramics Chinese Academy of Sciences Shanghai 200050 China
Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 10049 China
Key Laboratory of Inorganic Coating Materials CAS Shanghai Institute of Ceramics Chinese Academy of Sciences Shanghai 200050 China
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Affiliation as printed
Chair for Materials Discovery and Interfaces Institute for Materials Ruhr University Bochum 44801 Bochum Germany
Chair for Materials Discovery and Interfaces Institute for Materials Ruhr University Bochum 44801 Bochum Germany
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Affiliation as printed
Institute of Physics (IA) RWTH Aachen University 52056 Aachen Germany
Institute of Physics (IA) RWTH Aachen University 52056 Aachen Germany
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Affiliation as printed
Institute of Physics (IA) RWTH Aachen University 52056 Aachen Germany
Institute of Physics (IA) RWTH Aachen University 52056 Aachen Germany
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