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1. Slot driven dielectric electromagnetically induced transparency metasurface

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.488704  

   Ndukaife, Theodore A.; Yang, Sui (January 2023, Optics Express)

   The control of resonant metasurface for electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) offers unprecedented opportunities to tailor lightwave coupling at the nanoscale leading to many important applications including slow light devices, optical filters, chemical and biosensors. However, the realization of EIT relies on the high degree of structural asymmetry by positional displacement of optically resonant structures, which usually lead to low quality factor (Q-factor) responses due to the light leakage from structural discontinuity from asymmetric displacements. In this work, we demonstrate a new pathway to create high quality EIT metasurface without any displacement of constituent resonator elements. The mechanism is based on the detuning of the resonator modes which generate dark-bright mode interference by simply introducing a slot in metasurface unit cells (meta-atoms). More importantly, the slot diameter and position on the meta-atom can be modulated to tune the transmittance and quality factor (Q-factor) of the metasurface, leading to a Q-factor of 1190 and near unity transmission at the same time. Our work provides a new degree of freedom in designing optically resonant elements for metamaterials and metasurfaces with tailored wave propagation and properties. 

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2. Trapping light in air with membrane metasurfaces for vibrational strong coupling

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54284-0  

   Adi, Wihan; Rosas, Samir; Beisenova, Aidana; Biswas, Shovasis Kumar; Mei, Hongyan; Czaplewski, David A; Yesilkoy, Filiz (December 2024, Nature Communications)

   Moscatelli, Alberto (Ed.)

   Optical metasurfaces can manipulate electromagnetic waves in unprecedented ways at ultra-thin engineered interfaces. Specifically, in the midinfrared (mid-IR) region, metasurfaces have enabled numerous biochemical sensing, spectroscopy, and vibrational strong coupling (VSC) applications via enhanced light-matter interactions in resonant cavities. However, mid-IR metasurfaces are usually fabricated on solid supporting substrates, which degrade resonance quality factors (Q) and hinder efficient sample access to the near-field electromagnetic hotspots. Besides, typical IR-transparent substrate materials with low refractive indices, such as CaF2, NaCl, KBr, and ZnSe, are usually either water-soluble, expensive, or not compatible with low-cost mass manufacturing processes. Here, we present novel free-standing Si-membrane mid-IR metasurfaces with strong light-trapping capabilities in accessible air voids. We employ the Brillouin zone folding technique to excite tunable, highQ quasi-bound states in the continuum (qBIC) resonances with our highest measured Q-factor of 722. Leveraging the strong field localizations in accessible air cavities, we demonstrate VSC with multiple quantities of PMMA molecules and the qBIC modes at various detuning frequencies. Our new approach of fabricating mid-IR metasurfaces into semiconductor membranes enables scalable manufacturing of mid-IR photonic devices and provides exciting opportunities for quantum-coherent light-matter interactions, biochemical sensing, and polaritonic chemistry. 

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3. Merging toroidal dipole bound states in the continuum without up-down symmetry in Lieb lattice metasurfaces

   https://doi.org/10.1515/nanoph-2023-0686  

   Zhu, Guodong; Yang, Sen; Ndukaife, Justus C. (March 2024, Nanophotonics)

   Abstract The significance of bound states in the continuum (BICs) lies in their potential for theoretically infinite quality factors. However, their actual quality factors are limited by imperfections in fabrication, which lead to coupling with the radiation continuum. In this study, we present a novel approach to address this issue by introducing a merging BIC regime based on a Lieb lattice. By utilizing this approach, we effectively suppress the out-of-plane scattering loss, thereby enhancing the robustness of the structure against fabrication artifacts. Notably, unlike previous merging systems, our design does not rely on the up-down symmetry of metasurfaces. This characteristic grants more flexibility in applications that involve substrates and superstrates with different optical properties, such as microfluidic devices. Furthermore, we incorporate a lateral band gap mirror into the design to encapsulate the BIC structure. This mirror serves to suppress the in-plane radiation resulting from finite-size effects, leading to a remarkable ten-fold improvement in the quality factor. Consequently, our merged BIC metasurface, enclosed by the Lieb lattice photonic crystal mirror, achieves an exceptionally high-quality factor of 10⁵while maintaining a small footprint of 26.6 × 26.6 μm. Our findings establish an appealing platform that capitalizes on the topological nature of BICs within compact structures. This platform holds great promise for various applications, including optical trapping, optofluidics, and high-sensitivity biodetection, opening up new possibilities in these fields. 

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4. Ellipticity‐Controlled Exceptional Points and Cross‐Polarized Phase Singularities in Multi‐Layer Silicon Guided Mode Resonant Metasurfaces

   https://doi.org/10.1002/adom.202500731  

   Goldberg, Ben; Zhang, Shuang; Lawrence, Mark (July 2025, Advanced Optical Materials)

   Abstract Precise control over light polarization is critical for advancing technologies in telecommunications, quantum computing, and image sensing. However, existing methods for manipulating polarization around exceptional points (EPs) in non‐Hermitian systems have exclusively focused on circular polarization and work with reflected light. To address this limitation, a novel metasurface platform with high‐Q resonators is developed that enables tunable control of polarization exceptional points across arbitrary ellipticity for transmitted light. This design employs orthogonally polarized guided mode resonators in a two‐layer silicon metasurface, where careful tuning of the dipolar guided mode resonances (DGMRs) and layer spacing allows us to control the ellipticity of EPs. By leveraging high‐quality factor resonances, strong orthogonal mode coupling over distances up to a quarter wavelength is achieved. This platform exhibits omnipolarizer behavior and the corresponding phase singularity can imprint phase shifts from 0 to 2π with small perturbations in the geometry. This approach opens new possibilities for polarization control and programmable wavefront shaping, offering significant potential for next‐generation optical devices. 

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5. Resonant Metasurfaces with Van Der Waals Hyperbolic Nanoantennas and Extreme Light Confinement

   https://doi.org/10.3390/nano14181539  

   Babicheva, Viktoriia E (September 2024, Nanomaterials)

   This work reports on a metasurface based on optical nanoantennas made of van der Waals material hexagonal boron nitride. The optical nanoantenna made of hyperbolic material was shown to support strong localized resonant modes stemming from the propagating high-k waves in the hyperbolic material. An analytical approach was used to determine the mode profile and type of cuboid nanoantenna resonances. An electric quadrupolar mode was demonstrated to be associated with a resonant magnetic response of the nanoantenna, which resembles the induction of resonant magnetic modes in high-refractive-index nanoantennas. The analytical model accurately predicts the modes of cuboid nanoantennas due to the strong boundary reflections of the high-k waves, a capability that does not extend to plasmonic or high-refractive-index nanoantennas, where the imperfect reflection and leakage of the mode from the cavity complicate the analysis. In the reported metasurface, excitations of the multipolar resonant modes are accompanied by directional scattering and a decrease in the metasurface reflectance to zero, which is manifested as the resonant Kerker effect. Van der Waals nanoantennas are envisioned to support localized resonances and can become an important functional element of metasurfaces and transdimensional photonic components. By designing efficient subwavelength scatterers with high-quality-factor resonances, this work demonstrates that this type of nanoantenna made of naturally occurring hyperbolic material is a viable substitute for plasmonic and all-dielectric nanoantennas in developing ultra-compact photonic components. 

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