Light-actuated motors, vehicles, and even space sails have drawn tremendous attention for basic science and applications in space, biomedical, and sensing domains. Optical bound states in the continuum (BIC) are topological singularities of the scattering matrix, known for their unique light trapping capability and enhanced light-matter interaction. We show that BIC modes enable the generation of enhanced and tunable optical forces and torques. A sharp and controllable lineshape is observed in forces and torques spectra when approaching high-Q resonance BIC modes. Wavelength and polarization tunability are presented as an effective method to control the forces on BIC enclosed structures. Finally Finite-size simulations are performed to evaluate the practical application for a BIC assisted metavehicle.
The article reports on light enhancement by structural resonances in linear periodic arrays of identical dielectric elements. As the basic elements both spheres and rods with circular cross section have been considered. In either case, it has been demonstrated that high-$Q$ structural resonant modes originated from bound states in the continuum enable near-field amplitude enhancement by factor of $10$--$25$ in the red-to-near infrared range in lossy silicon. The asymptotic behavior of the $Q$-factor with the number of elements in the array is explained theoretically by analyzing quasi-bound st…
Over the last few years, optical nanoantennas are continuously attracting interest owing to their ability to efficiently confine, localize resonance, and significantly enhanced electromagnetic fields at subwavelength scale. However, such strong confinement can be further enhanced by using an appropriate combination of optical nanoantenna and Slanted Bound states in the continuum cavities. Here, we propose to synergistically bridge the plasmonic nanoantenna and high optical quality-factor cavities to numerically demonstrate three orders of magnitude local intensity enhancement. The proposed hyb…
Resonant modes in a lossy periodic structure sandwiched between two lossless homogeneous media form bands that depend on the Bloch wavevector continuously and have a complex frequency due to radiation and absorption losses. A complex bound state in the continuum (cBIC) is a special state with a zero radiation loss in such a band. Plane waves incident upon the periodic structure induce local fields that are resonantly enhanced. In this paper, we derive a rigorous formula for field enhancement, and analyze its dependence on the frequency, wavevector and amplitude of the incident wave. For resona…
The emerging all-dielectric platform exhibits high-quality ($Q$) resonances governed by the physics of bound states in the continuum (BIC) that drives highly efficient nonlinear optical processes. Here we demonstrate the robust enhancement of third-(THG) and fifth-harmonic generation (FHG) from all-dielectric metasurfaces composed of four silicon nanodisks. Through the symmetry breaking, the genuine BIC transforms into the high-$Q$ quasi-BIC resonance with tight field confinement for record high THG efficiency of $3.9\times10^{-4}$ W$^{-2}$ and FHG efficiency of $4.8\times10^{-10}$ W$^{-4}$ us…
We experimentally studied whispering-gallery modes(WGMs) and demonstrated resonance enhancement of optical forces evanescently exerted on dielectric microspheres. We showed that the resonant light pressure can be used for optical sorting of microparticles with extraordinary uniform resonant properties that is unachievable by conventional sorting techniques.
The recoil optical force that acts on emitters near a surface or waveguide relies on near-field directionality and conservation of momentum. It features desirable properties uncommon in optical forces, such as the ability to produce it via wide-area illumination of vast numbers of particles without the need for focusing, or being dynamically switchable via the polarization of light. Unfortunately, these recoil forces are usually very weak and have not been experimentally observed in small dipolar particles. Some works theoretically demonstrate orders-of-magnitude enhancement of these forces vi…
On periodic structures sandwiched between two homogeneous media, a bound state in the continuum (BIC) is a guided Bloch mode with a frequency within the radiation continuum. BICs are useful, since they give rise to high quality-factor ($Q$-factor) resonances that enhance local fields for diffraction problems with given incident waves. For any BIC on a periodic structure, there is always a surrounding family of resonant modes with $Q$-factors approaching infinity. We analyze field enhancement around BICs using analytic and numerical methods. Based on a perturbation method, we show that field en…
In this paper, we proposed and numerically demonstrated a giant enhancement up to 108 in both forward and backward propagation of the Second Harmonic Generation by combining the high-quality factor cavities of the Bound States in the Continuum and the excellent nonlinear optical crystal of lithium niobate. The enhancement factor is defined as the ratio of the second harmonic signal generated by the structure (lithium niobate membrane with Si grating) divided by the signal generated by lithium niobate membrane alone. Furthermore, a minimum interaction time of 350 ps is achieved despite the etch…
Giant enhancement of the transverse magneto-optical Kerr effect in etchless bismuth-substituted yttrium iron garnet empowered by quasi-bound states in the continuum
Quasi-Bound States in the Continuum-Induced Second Harmonic Generation Enhancement in High-$Q$ Triple Dielectric Nanoresonators
Institute for Advanced Study, Nanchang University（南昌大学高等研究院）；School of Education, Nanchang Institute of Science and Technology（南昌理工学院教育学院）；School of Optoelectronic Engineering, Guangdong Polytechnic Normal University（广东技术师范大学光电工程学院）；School of Information Engineering, Nanchang University（南昌大学信息工程学院）；School of Physics and Electronic Science, East China Normal University（华东师范大学物理与电子科学学院）
We show how the recently found quasi-bound state in the continuum optical states in dielectric antennae can be utilized to engineer pillar microcavities design with the substantially optimized quality factor to mode volume ratio.
Optical coupling of two identical dielectric particles gives rise to bonding and anti-bonding resonances. The latter is featured by significant narrowing of the resonant width and strong enhancement of the $Q$ factor for the high index micron size particles in subwavelength range. We consider particles shaped as spheres and disks under coaxial illumination of dual incoherent counter propagating Bessel beams. In the case of spheres we derive analytical expressions for the optical binding (OB) force which decreases as $1/L^2$ for large distance $L$ between the spheres and displays two periods of…
Bound states in the continuum (BICs), a concept from quantum mechanics, are ubiquitous physical phenomena where waves will be completely locked inside physical systems without energy leaky. Such a physical phenomenon in optics will provide a platform for optical mode confinement to strengthen local field enhancement in nonlinear optics. Here we utilize an optical system consisting of asymmetric nanogratings and waveguide of thin film lithium niobate (LiNbO3) material to enhance second harmonic response near BICs. By breaking the symmetry of grating periodicity, we realize strong local field co…
Germanium self-assembled nanoislands and quantum dots are very prospective for CMOS-compatible optoelectronic integrated circuits but their luminescence intensity is still insufficient for many practical applications. Here, we demonstrate experimentally that photoluminescence of Ge nanoislands in silicon photonic crystal slab with hexagonal lattice can be dramatically enhanced due to the involvement in the emission process of the bounds states in the continuum. We experimentally demonstrate more than two orders of magnitude peak photoluminescence enhancement and more than one order of magnitud…
We consider light scattering by dielectric gratings supporting optical bound states in the continuum. Due to the presence of instantaneous Kerr nonlinearity the critical field enhancement in the spectral vicinity of the bound state triggers the effect of optical bistability. The onset of bistability is explained theoretically in the framework of the temporal coupled mode theory. As the central result we cast the problem into the form of a singly field-driven nonlinear oscillator. The theoretical results are verified in comparison against full-wave numerical simulations.
This paper aims to maximize optical force and torque on arbitrary micro- and nano-scale objects using numerically optimized structured illumination. By developing a numerical framework for computer-automated design of 3d vector-field illumination, we demonstrate a 20-fold enhancement in optical torque per intensity over circularly polarized plane wave on a model plasmonic particle. The nonconvex optimization is efficiently performed by combining a compact cylindrical Bessel basis representation with a fast boundary element method and a standard derivative-free, local optimization algorithm. We…
A double-edged sword in two-dimensional material science and technology is an optically forbidden dark exciton. On the one hand, it is fascinating for condensed matter physics, quantum information processing, and optoelectronics due to its long lifetime. On the other hand, it is notorious for being optically inaccessible from both excitation and detection standpoints. Here, we provide an efficient and low-loss solution to the dilemma by reintroducing photonics bound states in the continuum (BICs) to manipulate dark excitons in the momentum space. In a monolayer tungsten diselenide under normal…
