Giant midinfrared nonlinearity based on multiple quantum well polaritonic metasurfaces
Ahmed Mekawy, Andrea Alù
Abstract
Abstract Ultrathin engineered metasurfaces loaded with multiple quantum wells (MQWs) form a highly efficient platform for nonlinear optics. Here we discuss different approaches to realize mid infrared metasurfaces with localized second‐harmonic generation based on optimal metasurface designs integrating engineered MQWs. We first explore the combination of surface lattice resonances and localized electromagnetic resonances in nanoresonators to achieve very large field concentrations. However, when we consider finite size effects, the field enhancement drops significantly together with the conversion efficiency. To overcome this shortcoming, we explore nonetched L‐shaped dielectric nanocylinders and etched arrow‐shaped nanoresonators that locally support multiple overlapped resonances maximizing the conversion efficiency. In particular, we show the realistic possibility to achieve up to 4.5% efficiency for a normal incident pump intensity of 50 kW/cm 2 , stemming from inherently local phenomena, including saturation effects in the MQW. Finally, we present a comparison between pros and cons of each approach. We believe that our study provides new opportunities for designing highly efficient nonlinear responses from metasurfaces (MSs) coupled to MQW and to maximize their impact on technology.