Electro-Optic Modulation in Polycrystalline Barium Titanate Metasurfaces Enhanced by Poling

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Prountzou, Eleni, Weigand, Helena C., Falcone, Virginia, Talts, Ülle-Linda, Grange, Rachel
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Prountzou, Eleni
Weigand, Helena C.
Falcone, Virginia
Talts, Ülle-Linda
Grange, Rachel
author_facet Prountzou, Eleni
Weigand, Helena C.
Falcone, Virginia
Talts, Ülle-Linda
Grange, Rachel
contents Electrically tunable metasurfaces leveraging the strong Pockel's effect in barium titanate (BaTiO$_3$ or BTO) are a promising platform for reconfigurable free-space optical devices. However, the high cost, limited scalability, and restricted substrate compatibility of epitaxial BTO films hinder its exploitation. Here, we demonstrate free-space optical modulators based on imprinted BTO metasurfaces with targeted designs for optical and electric field confinement within the active material. With resonances exhibiting high quality factors of up to 200, we demonstrate improved transmission modulation at sub-volt driving amplitudes and frequencies up to 5 MHz. Additional enhancement is achieved via ferroelectric domain alignment, resulting in up to 25 % higher modulation strength compared to the unbiased case and up to 75 % compared to previous demonstrations. This enhanced EO response, arising from the effective permittivity engineering and domain orientation in these polycrystalline metasurfaces, holds significant potential for scalable and efficient EO modulators and active metasurfaces.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_20434
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Electro-Optic Modulation in Polycrystalline Barium Titanate Metasurfaces Enhanced by Poling
Prountzou, Eleni
Weigand, Helena C.
Falcone, Virginia
Talts, Ülle-Linda
Grange, Rachel
Optics
Applied Physics
Electrically tunable metasurfaces leveraging the strong Pockel's effect in barium titanate (BaTiO$_3$ or BTO) are a promising platform for reconfigurable free-space optical devices. However, the high cost, limited scalability, and restricted substrate compatibility of epitaxial BTO films hinder its exploitation. Here, we demonstrate free-space optical modulators based on imprinted BTO metasurfaces with targeted designs for optical and electric field confinement within the active material. With resonances exhibiting high quality factors of up to 200, we demonstrate improved transmission modulation at sub-volt driving amplitudes and frequencies up to 5 MHz. Additional enhancement is achieved via ferroelectric domain alignment, resulting in up to 25 % higher modulation strength compared to the unbiased case and up to 75 % compared to previous demonstrations. This enhanced EO response, arising from the effective permittivity engineering and domain orientation in these polycrystalline metasurfaces, holds significant potential for scalable and efficient EO modulators and active metasurfaces.
title Electro-Optic Modulation in Polycrystalline Barium Titanate Metasurfaces Enhanced by Poling
topic Optics
Applied Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.20434