Fano resonance based optical modulator reaching 85% modulation depth

摘要

In this paper, we demonstrate the combination of nematic liquid crystal with a binary silicon nanohole array to realize a high performance Fano resonance based optical modulator. The simulations using a finite difference time domain method reveal that the sharp Fano profile in the binary array originates from the interaction of the in-phased and anti-phased lattice collective resonance hybridized through lattice coupling effects. Experimental results agree very well with the simulations and demonstrate the strong dependence of the Q factor and spectral contrast of the resonance on the radius difference of the two nanohole arrays. Infiltrated with nematic liquid crystal, E7, the Fano profile can be dynamically and continuously tuned by an applied voltage, and an unprecedented modulation depth up to 85% is achieved.