Passive and active optical properties of high-contrast self-assembled metastructures in the visible and mid-infrared range

We show our latest experimental and numerical results on self-assembled high refractive index contrast metastructures exhibiting remarkable optical properties in the visible and in the Mid infrared ranges. The investigated metastructures can be classified into three categories, related to different choices of materials and fabrication techniques: a) Zinc oxide-zinc tungstate (ZnO-ZnWO4 ) self-organized eutectic composite consisting of parallel ZnO thin layers (lamellae) embedded in a dielectric ZnWO4 matrix for polarization control and birefringent filters in the visible and in the Mid-infrared range; b) self-assembled sputtered MoS2 Nano stripes on corrugated glass substrates for high efficient energy harvesting and enhanced photocatalytic activity; c) Twisted Ga2O3/MoO3 thin layers for polarization control of IR Thermal emission. In conclusion, we show that Self-assembled metastructures may provide promising solutions for the realization of scalable and cost-effective passive and active optical elements.