Electrically tunable silicon-organic metasurface as demultiplexer for wavelength-division multiplexing systems

Abstract

Through numerical simulations, we have demonstrated the electrical tunability of a silicon–organic metasurface that may be useful for optical-communication systems with wavelength-division multiplexing. We began with a nonintuitive geometry and performed topological optimization of a meta-atom comprising a 20 × 20 -variable silicon-on-insulator grid, with electrical tunability arising from a stable electro-optic polymer named JRD1. The controlling electric potential was taken to be applied via two electrodes made of indium-doped tin oxide. A tunability rate of 0.55 nm V − 1 in the optical-communication E and S bands was predicted, with the inter-channel crosstalk between adjacent channels ranging from 6 to 14 dB for 45 deg angle of incidence. The proposed metasurface should perform robustly with respect to the variation of the angle of incidence.