Thin films of phase change materials for light control of metamaterials in the optical and infrared spectral domain
Nanophotonic component can be tuned by means of a thin phase change material (PCM) film put in its vicinity; PCM changes phases upon heat stimuli and thus provides a phase or amplitude optical contrast at the nanoscale. Vanadium dioxide (VO2) is a promising material which undergoes semiconductor-to-metal phase transition at about 68 °C. In this work we combine its transition with a metamaterial made of golden nanodiscs, in the infrared spectral range.