Disorder-Immune Photonics Based on Mie-Resonant Dielectric Metamaterials

Abstract

Modern nanotechnology provides tools for realizing unique photonic structures with the feature size comparable or even smaller than the wavelength of light. However, the fabrication imperfections at the nanoscale inevitably introduce disorder that affects or even destroys many functionalities of subwavelength photonic devices. Here we suggest a novel concept to achieve a robust bandgap which can endure disorder beyond 30% as a result of the transition from photonic crystals to Mie-resonant metamaterials. We demonstrate photonic waveguides and cavities with strong robustness to position disorder. Utilizing Mie-resonant metamaterials with high refractive index provides an alternative approach to the bandgap-based nanophotonic devices instead of harnessing the fabrication precision, and also brings new functionalities. Show more