Mode evolution and nanofocusing of grating-coupled surface plasmon polaritons on metallic tip

We present a detailed analysis on mode evolution of gratingcoupled surface plasmonic polaritons （SPPs） on a conical metal tip based on the guidedwave theory. The eigenvalue equations for SPPs modes are discussed, revealing that cylindrical metal waveguides only support TM01 and HEm1 surface modes. During propagation on the metal tip, the gratingcoupled SPPs are converted to HE31, HE21, HE11 and TM01 successively, and these modes are sequentially cut off except TM01. The TM01 mode further propagates with drastically increasing effective mode index and is converted to localized surface plasmons （LSPs） at the tip apex, which is responsible for plasmonic nanofocusing. The gapmode plasmons can be excited with the focusing TM01 mode by approaching a metal substrate to the tip apex, resulting in further enhanced electric field and reduced size of the plasmonic focus.

Optical anisotropy of black phosphorus by total internal reflection

Although abundant research on the anisotropy of van der Waals(vd W)materials has been published,we undertake an in-depth study of their optical properties as they have an important guiding role for light control in two-dimensional(2D)nanospace.As an example,we study the reflectance of few-layered black phosphorus(BP)in the total internal reflection(TIR)mode in detail.We demonstrate that its optical anisotropy can be changed on a large scale by varying the incident angles,polarization states,and the in-plane rotation angles of the BP samples.Theoretical analysis indicates that the phenomena observed are common to all the atom-thick biaxial crystals,so these conclusions can be widely applied to other anisotropic 2D materials.This research furthers the current understanding of the properties of BP more comprehensively,and provides guidance for developing new optoelectronic applications,especially when BP and other atom-thick biaxial crystals are integrated with TIR devices.

Anomalous refinement and uniformization of grains in metallic thin films

When a laser beam writes on a metallic film,it usually coarsens and deuniformizes grains because of Ostwald ripening,similar to the case of annealing.Here we show an anomalous refinement effect of metal grains:A metallic silver film with large grains melts and breaks into uniform,close-packed,and ultrafine(~10 nm)grains by laser direct writing with a nanoscale laser spot size and nanosecond pulse that causes localized heating and adaptive shock-cooling.This method exhibits high controllability in both grain size and uniformity,which lies in a linear relationship between the film thickness(h)and grain size(D),D∝h.The linear relationship is significantly different from the classical spinodal dewetting theory obeying a nonlinear relationship(D∝h5/3)in common laser heating.We also demonstrate the application of such a silver film with a grain size of~10.9 nm as a surface-enhanced Raman scattering chip,exhibiting superhigh spatial-uniformity and low detection limit down to 10-15 M.This anomalous refinement effect is general and can be extended to many other metallic films.

Guiding and routing of a weak signal via a reconfigurable gravity-like potential

We demonstrate both experimentally and theoretically the trapping and guiding of a weak signal pulse via a selfaccelerating Airy pulse. This is achieved by launching the Airy pulse in the anomalous dispersion regime of an optical fiber, thereby inducing a gravity-like potential that can compel the signal pulse in the normal dispersion regime to undergo co-acceleration. Such guiding pulse by pulse can be controlled at ease simply by altering the acceleration conditions of the Airy pulse. Furthermore, the guided signal can be featured with either single or double peaks, which is explained by using the theory of fundamental and second-order quasi-modes associated with the gravity-like potential. Our work represents, to our knowledge, the first demonstration of pulse guiding in the anomalous dispersion regime of any self-accelerating pulse.

Nontrivial coupling of light into a defect:the interplay of nonlinearity and topology

The flourishing of topological photonics in the last decade was achieved mainly due to developments in linear topological photonic structures.However,when nonlinearity is introduced,many intriguing questions arise.For example,are there universal fingerprints of the underlying topology when modes are coupled by nonlinearity,and what can happen to topological invariants during nonlinear propagation?To explore these questions,we experimentally demonstrate nonlinearity-induced coupling of light into topologically protected edge states using a photonic platform and develop a general theoretical framework for interpreting the mode-coupling dynamics in nonlinear topological systems.Performed on laser-written photonic Su-Schrieffer-Heeger lattices,our experiments show the nonlinear coupling of light into a nontrivial edge or interface defect channel that is otherwise not permissible due to topological protection.Our theory explains all the observations well.Furthermore,we introduce the concepts of inherited and emergent nonlinear topological phenomena as well as a protocol capable of revealing the interplay of nonlinearity and topology.These concepts are applicable to other nonlinear topological systems,both in higher dimensions and beyond our photonic platform.

Generation of nanosecond cylindrical vector beams in two-mode fiber and its applications of stimulated Raman scattering

We present the generation of the nanosecond cylindrical vector beams(CVBs)in a two-mode fiber(TMF)and its applications of stimulated Raman scattering.The nanosecond(1064 nm,10 ns,10 Hz)CVBs have been directly produced with mode conversion efficiency of~18 d B(98.4%)via an acoustically induced fiber grating,and then the stimulated Raman scattering signal is generated based on the transmission of the nanosecond CVBs in a 100-m-long TMF.The transverse mode intensity and polarization distributions of the first-order Stokes shift component(1116.8 nm)are consistent with the nanosecond CVBs pump pulse.

Optical force-induced nonlinearity and self-guiding of light in human red blood cell suspensions

Osmotic conditions play an important role in the cell properties of human red blood cells(RBCs),which are crucial for the pathological analysis of some blood diseases such as malaria.Over the past decades,numerous efforts have mainly focused on the study of the RBC biomechanical properties that arise from the unique deformability of erythrocytes.Here,we demonstrate nonlinear optical effects from human RBCs suspended in different osmotic solutions.Specifically,we observe self-trapping and scattering-resistant nonlinear propagation of a laser beam through RBC suspensions under all three osmotic conditions,where the strength of the optical nonlinearity increases with osmotic pressure on the cells.This tunable nonlinearity is attributed to optical forces,particularly the forward-scattering and gradient forces.Interestingly,in aged blood samples(with lysed cells),a notably different nonlinear behavior is observed due to the presence of free hemoglobin.We use a theoretical model with an optical force-mediated nonlocal nonlinearity to explain the experimental observations.Our work on light self-guiding through scattering biosoft-matter may introduce new photonic tools for noninvasive biomedical imaging and medical diagnosis.

Generation and control of dynamically tunable circular Pearcey beams with annular spiral-zone phase

Light-field shaping technology plays an important role in optics and nanophotonics. For instance, the spatially structured light field, which exhibits characteristic features in complex phases, light intensity, and polarization, is crucial to understanding new physical phenomena and exploring practical applications. Herein, we propose and demonstrate a new class of tunable circular Pearcey beams(TCPBs) by imposing the annular spiral-zone phase(ASZP). Through experiments, we used a spatial light modulator to generate TCPBs based on their spiral phase distribution, and numerically analyzed the generation and control of the beams with unusual autofocusing and self-rotating dynamics. ASZP is a general term for complex phases composed of the spiral phase,equiphase, and radial phase. TCPB typically exhibits dynamical properties, including abrupt autofocusing, automatic generation of optical bottles, and self-rotation of the beam pattern, during propagation. Besides, the number of generated optical bottles can be modulated by the superposition mode of ASZP and the number of subphases. We found that an inappropriate superposition mode leads to distortion, and we analyzed the underlying mechanism. Potential applications of TCPBs in optical manipulation are also discussed, presenting an exemplary role desired for light-field manipulation.

Realization of photonic p-orbital higher-order topological insulators

The orbital degrees of freedom play a pivotal role in understanding fundamental phenomena in solid-state materials as well as exotic quantum states of matter including orbital superfluidity and topological semimetals.Despite tremendous efforts in engineering synthetic cold-atom,as well as electronic and photonic lattices to explore orbital physics,thus far high orbitals in an important class of materials,namely,higher-order topological insulators(HOTIs),have not been realized.Here,we demonstrate p-orbital corner states in a photonic HOTI,unveiling their underlying topological invariant,symmetry protection,and nonlinearity-induced dynamical rotation.In a Kagome-type HOTI,we find that the topological protection of p-orbital corner states demands an orbital-hopping symmetry in addition to generalized chiral symmetry.Due to orbital hybridization,nontrivial topology of the p-orbital HOTI is“hidden”if bulk polarization is used as the topological invariant,but well manifested by the generalized winding number.Our work opens a pathway for the exploration of intriguing orbital phenomena mediated by higher-band topology applicable to a broad spectrum of systems.

Nonlinear harmonic generation of terahertz waves in a topological valley polaritonic microcavity

Compact terahertz(THz)devices,especially for nonlinear THz components,have received more and more attention due to their potential applications in THz nonlinearity-based sensing,communications,and computing devices.However,effective means to enhance,control,and confine the nonlinear harmonics of THz waves remain a great challenge for micro-scale THz nonlinear devices.In this work,we have established a technique for nonlinear harmonic generation of THz waves based on phonon polariton-enhanced giant THz nonlinearity in a 2D-topologically protected valley photonic microcavity.Effective THz harmonic generation has been observed in both noncentrosymmetric and centrosymmetric nonlinear materials.These results can provide a valuable reference for the generation and control of THz high-harmonics,thus developing new nonlinear devices in the THz regime.

Effect of thermal annealing on sub-band-gap absorptance of microstructured silicon in air

The optical absorption properties of femtosecond-laser-made ＂black silicon＂ as a function of the annealing conditions were investigated. We found that the annealing process changes the surface morphology and absorption spectroscopy of the ＂black silicon＂ samples, and obtained a maximum sub-band-gap absorptance value of approximately 30% by annealing at 1000 ~C for 30 min. The thermal relaxation and atomic structural transformation mechanisms are used to describe the lat- tice recovery and the increase and decrease of the substitutional dopant atom concentration in the microstructured surface during the annealing. Our results confirm that： i） owing to the ther- mal relaxation, the lattice defects decrease with the increase of the annealing temperature; ii） the quasi-substitutional and interstitial configurations of the doped atoms transform into substitutional arrangements when the annealing temperature increases; iii） the quasi-substitutional and intersti- tial configurations with higher energies of the doped atoms transform into interstitial configurations with the lowest energy after high-temperature annealing for a long period of time, causing the de- activation or reactivation of the sub-band-gap absorptance by diffusion. The results demonstrate that the annealing can improve the properties of ＂black silicon＂, including defects repairing, carrier lifetime lengthening, and retention of a high absorptive performance.

Sign of differential reflection and transmission in pump-probe spectroscopy of graphene on dielectric substrate

Pump-probe differential reflection and transmission spectroscopy is a very effective tool to study the nonequilibrium carrier dynamics of graphene. The reported sign of differential reflection from graphene is not explicitly explained and not consistent. Here, we study the differential reflection and transmission signals of graphene on a dielectric substrate. The results reveal the sign of differential reflection changes with the incident direction of the probe beam with respect to the substrate. The obtained theory can be applied to predict the differential signals of other two-dimensional materials placed on various dielectric substrates.

Symmetry-protected third-order exceptional points in staggered flatband rhombic lattices

Higher-order exceptional points(EPs), which appear as multifold degeneracies in the spectra of non-Hermitian systems, are garnering extensive attention in various multidisciplinary fields. However, constructing higher-order EPs still remains a challenge due to the strict requirement of the system symmetries. Here we demonstrate that higher-order EPs can be judiciously fabricated in parity–time(PT)-symmetric staggered rhombic lattices by introducing not only on-site gain/loss but also non-Hermitian couplings. Zero-energy flatbands persist and symmetry-protected third-order EPs(EP3s) arise in these systems owing to the non-Hermitian chiral/sublattice symmetry, but distinct phase transitions and propagation dynamics occur. Specifically, the EP3 arises at the Brillouin zone(BZ) boundary in the presence of on-site gain/loss. The single-site excitations display an exponential power increase in the PT-broken phase. Meanwhile, a nearly flatband sustains when a small lattice perturbation is applied. For the lattices with non-Hermitian couplings, however, the EP3 appears at the BZ center. Quite remarkably, our analysis unveils a dynamical delocalization-localization transition for the excitation of the dispersive bands and a quartic power increase beyond the EP3. Our scheme provides a new platform toward the investigation of the higher-order EPs and can be further extended to the study of topological phase transitions or nonlinear processes associated with higher-order EPs.

Information‑entropy enabled identifying topological photonic phase in real space

The topological photonics plays an important role in the fields of fundamental physics and photonic devices.The traditional method of designing topological system is based on the momentum space,which is not a direct and convenient way to grasp the topological properties,especially for the perturbative structures or coupled systems.Here,we propose an interdisciplinary approach to study the topological systems in real space through combining the information entropy and topological photonics.As a proof of concept,the Kagome model has been analyzed with information entropy.We reveal that the bandgap closing does not correspond to the topological edge state disappearing.This method can be used to identify the topological phase conveniently and directly,even the systems with perturbations or couplings.As a promotional validation,Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model and the valley-Hall photonic crystal have also been studied based on the information entropy method.This work provides a method to study topological photonic phase based on information theory,and brings inspiration to analyze the physical properties by taking advantage of interdisciplinarity.

Nonlinear control of photonic higher-order topological bound states in the continuum

Higher-order topological insulators(HOTIs)are recently discovered topological phases,possessing symmetry-protected corner states with fractional charges.An unexpected connection between these states and the seemingly unrelated phenomenon of bound states in the continuum(BICs)was recently unveiled.When nonlinearity is added to the HOTI system,a number of fundamentally important questions arise.For example,how does nonlinearity couple higher-order topological BICs with the rest of the system,including continuum states?In fact,thus far BICs in nonlinear HOTIs have remained unexplored.Here we unveil the interplay of nonlinearity,higher-order topology,and BICs in a photonic platform.We observe topological corner states that are also BICs in a laser-written second-order topological lattice and further demonstrate their nonlinear coupling with edge(but not bulk)modes under the proper action of both self-focusing and defocusing nonlinearities.Theoretically,we calculate the eigenvalue spectrum and analog of the Zak phase in the nonlinear regime,illustrating that a topological BIC can be actively tuned by nonlinearity in such a photonic HOTI.Our studies are applicable to other nonlinear HOTI systems,with promising applications in emerging topology-driven devices.

Optical disassembly of cellular clusters by tunable ‘tug-of-war’ tweezers

Bacterial biofilms underlie many persistent infections,posing major hurdles in antibiotic treatment.Here we design and demonstrate‘tug-of-war’optical tweezers that can facilitate the assessment of cell–cell adhesion—a key contributing factor to biofilm development,thanks to the combined actions of optical scattering and gradient forces.With a customized optical landscape distinct from that of conventional tweezers,not only can such‘tug-of-war’tweezers stably trap and stretch a rod-shaped bacterium in the observing plane,but,more importantly,they can also impose a tunable lateral force that pulls apart cellular clusters without any tethering or mechanical movement.As a proof of principle,we examined a Sinorhizobium meliloti strain that forms robust biofilms and found that the strength of intercellular adhesion depends on the growth medium.This technique may herald new photonic tools for optical manipulation and biofilm study,as well as other biological applications.

Synthesis of atomically thin GaSe wrinkles for strain sensors

A wrinkle-based thin-film device can be used to develop optoelectronic devices, photovoltaics, and strain sensors. Here, we propose a stable and ultrasensitive strain sensor based on two-dimensional （2D） semiconducting gallium selenide （GaSe） for the first time. The response of the electrical re- sistance to strain was demonstrated to be very sensitive for the GaSe-based strain sensor, and it reached a gauge factor of -4.3, which is better than that of graphene-based strain sensors. The results show us that strain engineering on a nanoscale can be used not only in strain sensors but also for a wide range of applications, such as flexible field-effect transistors, stretchable electrodes, and flexible solar cells.

Mode characteristics of silver-coated inverted-wedge silica microdisks

The characteristics of whispering gallery modes(WGM) in silver-coated inverted-wedge silica microdisks are theoretically investigated by using finite element method. Dielectric TE mode always exists in silver-coated inverted-wedge resonators; dielectric TM mode tends to couple with SPP modes; only pure interior surface plasmonic polariton(SPP) mode but not pure exterior SPP mode is observed in contrast to the metal-coated cylindrical and toroidal resonators. The dependence of quality factor of different kinds of WGMs on the radius of the resonator and the thickness of the coated silver layer are systematically analyzed. We find that the quality factors of the hybrid WGMs associated with SPP mode can reach 104. The maximum light intensity enhancement in ambient for a hybrid mode consisting of a dielectric TM mode and an exterior SPP mode can be obtained when a silver film of thickness ~40 nm is deposited. The silver-coated inverted-wedge silica resonators may be widely applied in sensing and surface enhanced Raman scattering.

Special Issue on “Topological photonics and beyond:novel concepts and recent advances”

The discovery of topological phases and topological insulators has revolutionized several fields of natural science,including condensed matter physics,materials science,and photonics.Topological concepts have been implemented in a variety of materials and in a broad range of wave systems ranging from electronic,atomic,photonic,plasmonic,polaritonic,to microwave,acoustic,and mechanical waves.

Free-space realization of tunable pin-like optical vortex beams

We demonstrate,both analytically and experimentally,free-space pin-like optical vortex beams (POVBs). Such angular-momentum-carrying beams feature tunable peak intensity and undergo robust antidiffracting propagation,realized by judiciously modulating both the amplitude and the phase profile of a standard laser beam.Specifically,they are generated by superimposing a radially symmetric power-law phase on a helical phase structure,which allows the inclusion of an orbital angular momentum term to the POVBs. During propagation in free space,these POVBs initially exhibit autofocusing dynamics,and subsequently their amplitude patterns morph into a high-order Bessel-like profile characterized by a hollow core and an annular main lobe with a constant or tunable width during propagation. In contrast with numerous previous endeavors on Bessel beams,our work represents the first demonstration of long-distance free-space generation of optical vortex "pins" with their peak intensity evolution controlled by the impressed amplitude structure. Both the Poynting vectors and the optical radiation forces associated with these beams are also numerically analyzed,revealing novel properties that may be useful for a wide range of applications.