Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Article number | 2100130 |
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<mark>Journal publication date</mark> | 4/06/2021 |
<mark>Journal</mark> | Advanced Optical Materials |
Issue number | 11 |
Volume | 9 |
Publication Status | Published |
Early online date | 24/04/21 |
<mark>Original language</mark> | English |
Nature has long inspired scientists and engineers to develop transparent surfaces via constructing anti-reflective surfaces. In absence of anti-reflection (AR) coating, silicon reflects about 35% of light for a single interface air−silicon. Here, inspired by jellyfish anti-reflective eyes, a man-made anti-reflective surface on the facet of the waveguide is proposed and demonstrated for waveguides transparency in near-infrared. The optimized metamaterial with unit cells of 560 × 560 nm shows transparency of 2.6 times better as compared to the waveguide with blank facet. Metasurfaces are milled on the waveguides facets with a focused ion beam. Silicon-on-insulator waveguides are tested with an inline set-up. Far-field scattering diagrams reveal that it is the special geometry of the unit cells of the engraved metamaterial, which can be associated with the directional scattering resulting in combined effect: on one hand the ultra-high transparency of the device and on the other hand the efficient coupling to the low-order modes due to the focusing dielectric nano-antennas effect. Reported here waveguide facets as AR metamaterials on a chip, opens up opportunities to engineer transparent on-chip devices with high coupling efficiency for diverse applications from sensing to quantum technologies.