Polarization-Enabled Tuning of Anapole Resonances in Vertically Stacked Elliptical Silicon Nanodisks

Abstract

This work presents the polarization-dependent behavior of the anapole state in stacked amorphous silicon (a-Si) nanodisks with elliptical geometries. Using SiO₂ as a spacer layer between the a-Si disks, the high index contrast between these materials can be used to significantly reduce the fabrication complexity of the system compared to traditional methods that require additional etching of the spacers. A novel way of continuous tuning of the electric dipole anapole excitation within elliptical stacked a-Si nanoresonators is demonstrated. By rotating the incident electric field's polarization angle, the anapole state can be selectively excited at two distinct wavelength positions separated by 80 nm. Experimental results show characteristic dips in the reflectance of the fabricated elliptical a-Si stacks with wavelength positions between 1135 and 1217 nm depending on the polarization angle of the incident field which is corroborated by FDTD simulations. Through simulating the internal electric field in the resonators and using multipole decomposition, it is shown that the reflectance dips are due to anapole excitation in the individual disks. The capability to excite anapoles at two distinct wavelengths in the same structure has promising implications for the development of tunable sensors, frequency converters, and quantum memory applications.