Ultrafast switching of a metasurface quasi-bound state in the continuum via transient optical symmetry breaking

Giulia Crotti; Andrea Schirato; Olesiya Pashina; Olga Sergaeva; Mihail Petrov; Costantino De Angelis; Giuseppe Della Valle

doi:10.1038/s41377-025-01885-z

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Ultrafast switching of a metasurface quasi-bound state in the continuum via transient optical symmetry breaking

Original Articles

- Ultrafast switching of a metasurface quasi-bound state in the continuum via transient optical symmetry breaking
- Light: Science & Applications Vol. 14, Issue 9, Pages: 2540-2551(2025)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.Dipartimento di Fisica—Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy
  2.Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
  3.School of Physics and Engineering, ITMO University, Saint Petersburg, Russia
  4.Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'informazione, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy
  5.Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Brescia, Italy
  6.Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare—Sezione di Milano, Milano, Italy
- Author bio：
  
  Giulia Crotti (giulia1.crotti@polimi.it)
  Giuseppe Della Valle (giuseppe.dellavalle@polimi.it)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/s41377-025-01885-z
  CLC：
- Received：14 November 2024，
  
  Revised：2025-05-03，
  
  Accepted：04 May 2025，
  
  Published Online：08 July 2025，
  
  Published：30 September 2025
- Accepted：
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Crotti, G. et al. Ultrafast switching of a metasurface quasi-bound state in the continuum via transient optical symmetry breaking. Light: Science & Applications, 14, 2540-2551 (2025).
DOI：

Crotti, G. et al. Ultrafast switching of a metasurface quasi-bound state in the continuum via transient optical symmetry breaking. Light: Science & Applications, 14, 2540-2551 (2025). DOI： 10.1038/s41377-025-01885-z.

摘要

Abstract

In photonic structures

bound states in the continuum (BICs) have recently attracted huge interest in both fundamental and applied research. Quasi-BIC leaky modes resulting from in-plane symmetry breaking in metasurfaces are particularly relevant to applications

due to their high quality factor

which scales as the squared inverse of the asymmetry parameter. Here

we theoretically propose an innovative approach to switch on quasi-BICs on sub-picosecond timescales via optically induced symmetry breaking in semiconductor metasurfaces. The desired effect is granted by exploiting the spatial inhomogeneities in the distribution of photo-excited hot carriers at the single meta-atom nanometric scale. In our simulations

the quasi-BIC state manifests itself as an ultra-sharp dip in transmission

emerging upon pump arrival

and disappearing completely within the carriers' diffusion timescale. Our strategy allows to envision reconfigurable platforms with switchable high-Q resonances

with ultrafast recovery beyond the limits of carrier relaxation

typical of previous approaches.

关键词

Keywords

references

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