Chalcogenide phase-change photonic metamaterials

Chalcogenide semiconductor alloys offer a uniquely functional and compositionally-controllable material base for nanophotonic, plasmonic and optical-frequency metamaterial applications. They variously present high- and low-index dielectric, low-epsilon and plasmonic properties at near-UV to near-IR wavelengths, coupled to a capacity for fast, non-volatile, electrically-/optically-induced switching between phase states with markedly different properties. We present recent developments in their application to non-volatile reconfiguration in photonic metamaterials, including: switchable ‘structural colors’ underpinned by a transition between characteristically dielectric and plasmonic states; and the first optically-switchable UV/HEV dielectric metamaterials, wherein the functional chalcogenide is hybridized with a transparent, high-index dielectric supporting the resonant mode and phase-switching, unusually, changes resonance quality but not spectral position