Rewritable and Tunable Laser-Induced Optical Gratings in Phase-Change Material Films.

Laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) can be fabricated in virtually all types of solid materials and show great promise for efficient and scalable production of surface patterns with applications in various fields from photonics to engineering. While the majority of LIPSS manifest as modifications of the surface relief, in special cases, laser impact can also lead to periodic modulation of the material phase state. Here, we report on the fabrication of high-quality periodic structures in the films of phase-change material Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST). Due to considerable contrast of the refractive index of GST in its crystalline and amorphous states, the fabricated structures provide strong spatial modulation of the optical properties, which facilitates their applications. By changing the excitation laser wavelength, we observe the scaling of the grating period as well as transition between formation of different types of LIPSS. We optimize the laser exposure routine to achieve large-scale high-quality phase-change gratings with controllable period and demonstrate their reversible tunability through intermediate amorphization steps. Our results reveal the prospects of fast and rewritable fabrication of high-quality periodic structures for photonics and can serve as a guideline for further development of phase-change material-based optical elements.

Perovskite-Gallium Phosphide Platform for Reconfigurable Visible-Light Nanophotonic Chip.

Reduction of the wavelength in on-chip light circuitry is critically important not only for the sake of keeping up with Moore's law for photonics but also for reaching toward the spectral ranges of operation of emerging materials, such as atomically thin semiconductors, vacancy-based single-photon emitters, and quantum dots. This requires efficient and tunable light sources as well as compatible waveguide networks. For the first challenge, halide perovskites are prospective materials that enable cost-efficient fabrication of micro- and nanolasers. On the other hand, III-V semiconductor nanowires are optimal for guiding of visible light as they exhibit a high refractive index as well as excellent shape and crystalline quality beneficial for strong light confinement and long-range waveguiding. Here, we develop an integrated platform for visible light that comprises gallium phosphide (GaP) nanowires directly embedded into compact CsPbBr3-based light sources. In our devices, perovskite microcrystals support stable room-temperature lasing and broadband chemical tuning of the emission wavelength in the range of 530-680 nm, whereas GaP nanowaveguides support efficient outcoupling of light, its subwavelength (<200 nm) confinement, and long-range guiding over distances more than 20 µm. As a highlight of our approach, we demonstrate sequential transfer and conversion of light using an intermediate perovskite nanoparticle in a chain of GaP nanowaveguides.

Correction: Laser printing of optically resonant hollow crystalline carbon nanostructures from 1D and 2D metal-organic frameworks.

Correction for 'Laser printing of optically resonant hollow crystalline carbon nanostructures from 1D and 2D metal-organic frameworks' by Leila R. Mingabudinova et al., Nanoscale, 2019, 11, 10155-10159.

Laser printing of optically resonant hollow crystalline carbon nanostructures from 1D and 2D metal-organic frameworks.

Using a hybrid approach involving a slow diffusion method to synthesize 1D and 2D MOFs followed by their treatment with femtosecond infrared laser radiation, we generated 100-600 nm well-defined hollow spheres and hemispheres of graphite. This ultra-fast technique extends the library of shapes of crystalline MOF derivatives appropriate for all-dielectric nanophotonics.