Credit: Nanfang Yu, Columbia Engineering
Photos of an optical modulator at two different states of SmNiO3. Pristine and electron-doped SmNiO3 show different colors due to their drastically different optical transparency. The device consists of a metasurface structure patterned on a thin film of SmNiO3 and a platinum back mirror, and it can modulate a narrow band of infrared radiation. Details of the metasurface structure can be seen in the following scanning electron micrographs.