Here, we introduce low-loss hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), whose bandgap is optimized to suppress their extinction coefficient at visible frequencies. The bandgap of a-Si:H has been manipulated by adjusting the deposition parameters of plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Low-loss a-Si:H have been applied for beam-steering metasurfaces at the entire visible spectrums. Beam steering metasurface has achieved measured efficiencies of 42%, 65%, and 75% at the wavelengths of 450, 532, and 635 nm, respectively.
Dielectric metasurfaces working at visible frequencies have been steadily investigated to realize practical flat optical components. However, recently investigated dielectrics, TiO2 and GaN suffer high fabrication costs since a precursor of TiO2 is expensive, and GaN requires two-step etching process. Here, this work suggests optical-loss-suppressed hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) for functional metasurfaces. Optical losses in the visible frequencies are manipulated by adjusting deposition conditions of plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Optical properties of a-Si:H are optimized for geometric metasurfaces, and it exhibits a high refractive index over 3.0 with low extinction coefficient (<0.1). Using them, highly efficient beam-steering metasurfaces, encapsulated metalenses, and bright structural coloration has been demonstrated. Considering that our manipulation efficiency approaches 42%, 65%, and 75% at the wavelength of 450, 532, 635 nm, it will be dominant materials for a functional photonic platform with low-fabrication costs.
This research reveals that the optical properties of hydrogenated a-Si can be modulated by varying chamber atmosphere of PE-CVD. When substrates temperature and chamber pressure were adjusted, the refractive index and the extinction coefficient was modulated. The highest refractive index at 450 nm is 4.3, and the lowest one is 2.6, which achieve 1.7 modulable indexes in the visible region. Also, this research provides lower than 0.1 extinction coefficient at the same wavelength. The lowest extinction coefficient can be applied to metasurfaces designs, and we propose 50%, and 85% conversion efficiency at 450 nm and 635 nm respectively. An experimental demonstration of these metasurfaces will be conducted.
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