Controllable dual resonances of Fano and EIT in a graphene-loaded all-dielectric GaAs metasurface and its sensing and slow-light applications

Abstract

Active nanophotonic metasurfaces have attracted considerable attention for their promise to develop compact, tunable optical metadevices with advanced functions. In this work, we theoretically demonstrated the dynamically controllable dual resonances of Fano and electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) using a graphene-loaded all-dielectric metasurface with U-shaped gallium arsenide (GaAs) nanobars operating in the near-infrared region. The destructive interference between a subradiant mode (i.e. a dark mode) supported by two vertical GaAs bars and two radiative modes (i.e. two bright modes) supported by a horizontal GaAs nanobar gives rise to a Fano resonance and an EIT window with high transmission and a large quality factor (Q-factor) in the transmission spectrum. Importantly, the transmission amplitudes can be flexibly modulated by adjusting the graphene Fermi levels without rebuilding the nanostructures. This modulation results from the controllable light absorption by the loaded graphene monolayer due to its interband losses in the near-infrared spectrum. Furthermore, the peak wavelengths of the Fano resonance and EIT window with high Q-factors are highly sensitive to variations in the refractive index (RI) of the surrounding medium, giving the proposed metasurface a relatively good sensitivity of ∼700 nm RIU⁻¹ and a high figure of merit of 280, making it an effective RI sensor. Additionally, the metasurface features an adjustable slow light effect, indicated by the adjusted group delay time ranging from 0.12 ps to 0.38 ps. Therefore, the metasurface system proposed in this work offers a viable platform for advanced multi-band optical sensing, low-loss slow light devices, switches, and potential applications in nonlinear optical fields.