Gate-Tunable Transmissive Metasurfaces – Featured on the Cover of ACS Applied Nano Materials

We are delighted to share that our research has been featured on the cover of ACS Applied Nano Materials, Volume 9, Issue 31, published on August 7, 2026.

About the Cover:

A transparent gate-tunable conducting-oxide metasurface transforms electrical control into programmable optical wavefronts. Through gate-induced carrier modulation in a metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) architecture and gradient-based inverse design, transmitted light can be dynamically redirected into desired diffraction angles. The artwork highlights the concept of electrically programmable beam steering using a transparent metasurface chip with individually addressable electrodes, pointing toward future compact and reconfigurable photonic systems.

Research Highlight:

What if the direction of light could be dynamically controlled simply by changing an electrical voltage?

Our team recently reported a gate-tunable transmissive conducting-oxide metagrating in ACS Applied Nano Materials. The device employs a metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) architecture, in which an applied voltage changes the carrier concentration of the conducting oxide and thereby modifies the amplitude and phase response of the nanoscale optical elements. This provides a route toward electrically controlled diffraction of transmitted light.

Because the optical tuning range of each individual meta-atom is inherently limited, simply switching between binary voltage states cannot efficiently direct light into a desired diffraction order. We therefore combine the electrically tunable metasurface with gradient-based inverse design, optimizing the voltage distribution across individual meta-atoms to make better use of their available amplitude and phase modulation. Experimentally, a binary metagrating was fabricated to demonstrate voltage-controlled transmissive diffraction as a proof of concept.

This work brings together nanophotonic devices, electrically tunable materials, and inverse design, providing a pathway for metasurfaces to evolve from static optical components toward dynamically controlled photonic systems. With further advances in gate dielectrics, independently addressable electrodes, and device efficiency, this platform could contribute to future programmable beam steering, LiDAR, and integrated photonic systems.

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閘極可調式穿透型超穎介面 – 獲選 ACS Applied Nano Materials 期刊封面

很高興與大家分享，我們近期發表的研究成果獲選為 ACS Applied Nano Materials 第 9 卷第 31 期（2026 年 8 月 7 日）的期刊封面。

關於封面：

透明的閘極可調式導電氧化物超穎介面，將電訊號控制轉化為可程式化的光學波前。透過金屬–氧化物–半導體（MOS）架構中的閘極載子調控，並結合梯度式逆向設計，穿透光可被動態導引至不同的繞射角度。封面呈現一個具有獨立可定址電極的透明超穎介面晶片，展現以電訊號實現可程式化光束操控的概念，並指向未來小型化與可重構光子系統的發展潛力。

研究介紹：

如果光束的方向也能像電子訊號一樣，只需要改變電壓就能動態控制，會帶來什麼樣的新型光學元件？

我們研究團隊近期在 ACS Applied Nano Materials 發表最新成果，提出一種閘極可調式穿透型導電氧化物超穎光柵（gate-tunable transmissive conducting-oxide metagrating）。我們利用金屬–氧化物–半導體（MOS）結構，透過外加電壓改變導電氧化物中的載子濃度，進而調控奈米結構對光的振幅與相位響應，實現以電訊號控制穿透光繞射的概念。

然而，單一奈米結構能提供的光學調控範圍有限，單純使用二元電壓並不容易將光有效集中到所需方向。因此，本研究進一步結合梯度式逆向設計，不再只考慮固定的高、低電壓狀態，而是最佳化不同奈米光學單元的電壓分布，在有限的振幅與相位調控能力下，更有效地將光導向目標繞射方向。實驗上，我們也透過二元超穎光柵驗證了電壓控制穿透式繞射的可行性。

這項成果展示了將奈米光子元件、電控材料與逆向設計結合的新方向，讓超穎介面的光學功能有機會從「製作完成後固定」進一步走向「可透過電訊號動態控制」。未來隨著閘極介電層、獨立電極控制與元件效率進一步提升，可望為可程式化光束控制、LiDAR 與整合式光子系統提供新的技術途徑。

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