Highly nonlinear optical materials with fast third-order nonlinear optical response are crucial for the operation of all-optical photonic devices, such as switches for signal processing and computation, power limiters, and saturable absorbers. The nonlinear response of traditional optical materials is weak, thus requiring large light intensities to induce significant changes in their properties. Here we show that optical control of the coupling rate in subwavelength patch antennas coupled to intersubband transitions in multi-quantum-well semiconductor heterostructures can provide a giant third-order nonlinear response, on the order of ${{3.4 \times 10}}^{- 13}{{{m}}^2}/{{\rm{V}}^2}$, with a response time ${\lt}{{2}}\;{\rm{ps}}$. We utilize this effect to realize intersubband polaritonic metasurfaces and demonstrate their operation as highly nonlinear saturable and reverse saturable absorbers, enabling optical power limiters and other elements for all-optical modulation and control. Our approach enables a plethora of compact, low-power, highly nonlinear devices with spectral, temporal, and structured wavefront responses tailored by design.

中文翻译：

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子带间极化超颖表面中的超快光学切换和功率限制

具有快速三阶非线性光学响应的​​高度非线性光学材料对于全光学光子器件的运行至关重要，例如用于信号处理和计算的开关，功率限制器和饱和吸收器。传统光学材料的非线性响应很弱，因此需要较大的光强度才能引起其性能的显着变化。在这里，我们表明，对与多量子阱半导体异质结构中的子带间跃迁耦合的亚波长贴片天线中的耦合速率进行光学控制，可以提供巨大的三阶非线性响应，约为$ {{3.4 \ times 10}} ^ {-13} {{{m}} ^ 2} / {{\ rm {V}} ^ 2} $，响应时间为$ {\ lt} {{2}} \; {\ rm {ps}} $。我们利用这种效应来实现子带间极化子超表面，并展示了它们作为高度非线性的可饱和和反可饱和吸收体的工作原理，从而实现了光功率限制器和其他用于全光调制和控制的元件。我们的方法可实现大量紧凑，低功耗，高度非线性的设备，并具有根据设计量身定制的频谱，时间和结构化波前响应。