Pirotta Stefano, Tran Ngoc-Linh, Jollivet Arnaud, Biasiol Giorgio, Crozat Paul, Manceau Jean-Michel, Bousseksou Adel, Colombelli Raffaele
Centre de Nanosciences et de Nanotechnologies (C2N), CNRS UMR 9001, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, 91120, Palaiseau, France.
Laboratorio TASC, CNR-IOM, Area Science Park, 34149, Basovizza, Trieste, Italy.
Nat Commun. 2021 Feb 5;12(1):799. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-20710-2.
Applications relying on mid-infrared radiation (λ ~ 3-30 μm) have progressed at a very rapid pace in recent years, stimulated by scientific and technological breakthroughs like mid-infrared cameras and quantum cascade lasers. On the other side, standalone and broadband devices allowing control of the beam amplitude and/or phase at ultra-fast rates (GHz or more) are still missing. Here we show a free-space amplitude modulator for mid-infrared radiation (λ ~ 10 μm) that can operate at room temperature up to at least 1.5 GHz (-3dB cutoff at ~750 MHz). The device relies on a semiconductor heterostructure enclosed in a judiciously designed metal-metal optical resonator. At zero bias, it operates in the strong light-matter coupling regime up to 300 K. By applying an appropriate bias, the device transitions towards the weak-coupling regime. The large change in reflectance is exploited to modulate the intensity of a mid-infrared continuous-wave laser up to 1.5 GHz.
近年来，受中红外相机和量子级联激光器等科技突破的推动，依赖中红外辐射（波长λ约为3 - 30μm）的应用取得了飞速发展。另一方面，能够以超高速率（GHz及以上）控制光束幅度和/或相位的独立式宽带设备仍然缺失。在此，我们展示了一种用于中红外辐射（波长λ约为10μm）的自由空间幅度调制器，它在室温下至少能在1.5 GHz的频率下工作（在约750 MHz处 - 3dB截止）。该器件基于封装在精心设计的金属 - 金属光学谐振器中的半导体异质结构。在零偏压下，它在高达300 K的温度下工作于强光 - 物质耦合 regime。通过施加适当的偏压，器件转变为弱耦合 regime。利用反射率的大幅变化来调制高达1.5 GHz的中红外连续波激光器的强度。 （注：原文中“regime”未给出准确中文释义，可根据具体语境灵活翻译，比如“状态”“ regime”等，这里保留英文以便准确传达原文信息）
