Tailored Light Scattering through Hyperuniform Disorder in Self‐Organized Arrays of High‐Index Nanodisks

• Published in: Advanced optical materials 2021-09, Vol.9 (17), p.n/a
• Main Authors: Piechulla, Peter M., Fuhrmann, Bodo, Slivina, Evgeniia, Rockstuhl, Carsten, Wehrspohn, Ralf B., Sprafke, Alexander N.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arrays; Form factors; hyperuniformity; Light scattering; Materials science; metasurfaces; Nanoparticles; nanophotonics; Optical materials; Optics; Refractivity; Structure factor; tailored disorder
• ISSN: 2195-1071; 2195-1071
• DOI: 10.1002/adom.202100186

Arrays of nanoparticles exploited in light scattering applications commonly only feature either a periodic or a rather random arrangement of its constituents. For the periodic case, light scattering is mostly governed by the strong spatial correlations of the arrangement, expressed by the structure factor. For the random case, structural correlations cancel each other out and light scattering is mostly governed by the scattering properties of the individual scatterer, expressed by the form factor. In contrast to these extreme cases, it is shown here that hyperuniform disorder in self‐organized large‐area arrays of high refractive index nanodisks enables both structure and form factor to impact the resulting scattering pattern, offering novel means to tailor light scattering. The scattering response from the authors’ nearly hyperuniform interfaces can be exploited in a large variety of applications and constitutes a novel class of advanced optical materials. Being able to control and steer the scattering response of optical interfaces on demand is a central theme in the field of photonics. While scattering of optical metasurfaces is dictated by either the lattice or the individual scatterers, this study reveals that hyperuniform disorder unlocks a fundamentally new approach to shape the scattering response. ​