Publication

Thermally Reconfigurable Metasurfaces: From Linear Wavefront Control to Nonlinear and Chemical Functionality

2026

Abstract

Resonant metasurfaces concentrate light into subwavelength volumes where even modest temperature changes can shift, reshape, or extinguish spectral features─turning heat into a powerful control knob. This Review presents a unified perspective on thermo-optical metasurfaces, showing how photothermal transduction and temperature-dependent refractive indices connect a single physical mechanism to diverse functionalities. We trace this connection from wavefront and spectral control in the linear regime to bistability, nonreciprocity, and modulation of nonlinear and quantum optical processes. We further highlight emerging applications at the interface of nanophotonics and chemistry, where thermally generated temperature fields and tunable resonances can control reaction environments, enhance infrared molecular signatures, and switch polaritonic coupling. By comparing material platforms and resonance architectures, we identify key opportunities and challenges that will guide the development of thermo-optical metasurfaces for reconfigurable photonics, spectroscopy, and chemistry.

Official source

https://infoscience.epfl.ch/entities/publication/cd95ca92-a084-4347-9355-f582ffadfb82

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2026

Abstract

Official source

https://infoscience.epfl.ch/entities/publication/cd95ca92-a084-4347-9355-f582ffadfb82

About this result

Related concepts (32)

Nonlinear optics

Nonlinear optics (NLO) is the branch of optics that describes the behaviour of light in nonlinear media, that is, media in which the polarization density P responds non-linearly to the electric field E of the light. The non-linearity is typically observed only at very high light intensities (when the electric field of the light is >108 V/m and thus comparable to the atomic electric field of ~1011 V/m) such as those provided by lasers. Above the Schwinger limit, the vacuum itself is expected to become nonlinear.

Atomic, molecular, and optical physics

Atomic, molecular, and optical physics (AMO) is the study of matter–matter and light–matter interactions, at the scale of one or a few atoms and energy scales around several electron volts. The three areas are closely interrelated. AMO theory includes classical, semi-classical and quantum treatments. Typically, the theory and applications of emission, absorption, scattering of electromagnetic radiation (light) from excited atoms and molecules, analysis of spectroscopy, generation of lasers and masers, and the optical properties of matter in general, fall into these categories.

Quantum optics

Quantum optics is a branch of atomic, molecular, and optical physics dealing with how individual quanta of light, known as photons, interact with atoms and molecules. It includes the study of the particle-like properties of photons. Photons have been used to test many of the counter-intuitive predictions of quantum mechanics, such as entanglement and teleportation, and are a useful resource for quantum information processing. Light propagating in a restricted volume of space has its energy and momentum quantized according to an integer number of particles known as photons.