Harnessing Epsilon-Near-Zero (ENZ) effect in Nanophotonic Metamaterials for Modulation of Optical Intensity and Polarization

Abstract

The advancement of photonic technologies has led us to achieve active control of electromagnetic properties (viz. amplitude, phase, and polarization) of light. The active manipulation of reflected or transmitted light can be done under the influence of external stimuli such as electrical biasing (electro-optic modulation) or optical pumping (all-optical modulation). However, conventional free-space modulators are bulky due to the limitation of optical properties of naturally existing active materials used for modulation, and thus, not suitable for nanophotonic applications.