Modulatable optical radiators and metasurfaces based on quantum nanoantennas

We investigate the tunable and switchable optical radiators and metamaterials formed by metallic nanodipole antennas with submicroscopic gaps (1.2 nm), of which linear and third-order nonlinear quantum conductivities are observed due to the photon-assisted tunneling effect. The quantum conductivities induced at the nanogap are relevant to power dissipations, which can be enhanced by the strongly localized optical fields associated with the plasmonic resonance. We demonstrate that the scattering property of an individual quantum nanoantenna and the transparency of a metamasurface constituted of it can be tuned by electrostatically controlling the linear conductivity (electronic tuning) or by adjusting the irradiation intensity that varies the nonlinear quantum conductivity (all-optical tuning).