title: Metadevice for intensity modulation with sub-wavelength spatial resolution.
abstract: Effectively continuous control over propagation of a beam of light requires light modulation with pixelation that is smaller than the optical wavelength. Here we propose a spatial intensity modulator with sub-wavelength resolution in one dimension. The metadevice combines recent advances in reconfigurable nanomembrane metamaterials and coherent all-optical control of metasurfaces. It uses nanomechanical actuation of metasurface absorber strips placed near a mirror in order to control their interaction with light from perfect absorption to negligible loss, promising a path towards dynamic diffraction and focusing of light as well as holography without unwanted diffraction artefacts.
authors.affiliation: Optoelectronics Research Centre and Centre for Photonic Metamaterials, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK.
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cencillo-Abad
authors.affiliation: Optoelectronics Research Centre and Centre for Photonic Metamaterials, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK.|Centre for Disruptive Photonic Technologies, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences and The Photonics Institute, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637371.
authors.forename: Nikolay I
authors.initials: NI
authors.lastname: Zheludev
authors.affiliation: Optoelectronics Research Centre and Centre for Photonic Metamaterials, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Plum