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Figs. S1 to S11
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References (27–40)
J. Phys. Chem. C 116, 14139–14150 (2012). Acknowledgments: We acknowledge the National Research
19. C. Joachim, M. A. Ratner, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. Foundation (NRF) for supporting this research under the 21 November 2013; accepted 28 February 2014
102, 8801–8808 (2005). Competitive Research Programme (CRP) program (award NRF-CRP 10.1126/science.1248797

for general propagation angle qi, this line will

Optical Broadband Angular Selectivity extend through the regions of the extended
modes as well as through the band gap regions.
Yichen Shen,1* Dexin Ye,2 Ivan Celanovic,1 Steven G. Johnson,1,3 However, for p-polarized light, there is a spe-
John D. Joannopoulos,1 Marin Soljačić1 cial propagation angle, known as the Brewster
Light selection based purely on the angle of propagation is a long-standing scientific challenge. angle qB, for which the extended modes exist
In angularly selective systems, however, the transmission of light usually also depends on the light regardless of w (dashed line in Fig. 2A) (8, 16):
frequency. We tailored the overlap of the band gaps of multiple one-dimensional photonic crystals, each rffiffiffiffiffi

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with a different periodicity, in such a way as to preserve the characteristic Brewster modes across a e2
qB ¼ tan−1 ð1Þ
broadband spectrum. We provide theory as well as an experimental realization with an all–visible spectrum, e1
p-polarized angularly selective material system. Our method enables transparency throughout the visible
spectrum at one angle—the generalized Brewster angle—and reflection at every other viewing angle. where qB is the Brewster angle in the layers with
dielectric constant e1. At qB, p-polarized light is
he ability to control light has long been a at micrometer scale (15). The first two of these fully transmitted for all frequencies at both

T major scientific and technological goal. In

electromagnetic theory, a monochromatic
electromagnetic plane wave is characterized (apart
mechanisms are difficult to realize in the optical
regime; the other two work only as angularly se-
lective absorbers.
interfaces (from e1 to e2 layers and from e2 to
e1 layers). This condition is not sufficient to
achieve angular selectivity; we also need to re-
from its phase and amplitude) by three funda- Here, we introduce a basic principle to achieve move all the extended modes in other propagation
mental properties: its frequency, its polarization, optical broadband angular selectivity. Our result directions. Because the location of the band gap
and its propagation direction. The ability to se- rests on (i) the fact that polarized light transmits scales proportionally to the periodicity of the
lect light according to each of these separate prop- without any reflection at the Brewster angle, (ii) quarter-wave stack, the effective band gap can be
erties would be an essential step in achieving the existence in photonic crystals of band gaps enlarged when we stack quarter-wave stacks with
control over light (Fig. 1). that prevent light propagation for given frequency various periodicities together (17–19). The details
Tremendous progress has been made toward ranges, and (iii) the band gap–broadening effect of of this process are illustrated in fig. S1 (20). As a
both frequency selectivity and polarization se- heterostructures. First, we prove our fundamental proof of principle, in Fig. 2D we plot the band
lectivity. Frequency selectivity (Fig. 1A) can be idea theoretically for a single polarization and diagram of an ideal structure with e1 = 1 and e2 =
obtained, for example, by taking advantage of oblique incident angles, and also for both polar- 2 and the number of quarter-wave stacks approach-
photonic band gaps in photonic crystals (1–5). izations and normal angle of incidence. Second, ing infinity. By doing this with a finite system of
Polarization selectivity (Fig. 1B) is accomplished, we experimentally demonstrate the concept in the 50 stacks (10 bilayers in each stack), we can
for example, by means of a “wire grid” polarizer case of all–visible spectrum, p-polarized light. achieve an angularly selective range of less than
(6) or by exploiting birefringent materials (7, 8). The demonstrator is transparent for all colors at 2° and a frequency bandwidth of ≥54%, sim-
Methods based on interference and resonance one viewing angle and highly reflecting at every ilar to the size of the visible spectrum (Fig. 2G).
effects have been explored for angular selectivity, other viewing angle. For s-polarized light, as there is no Brewster
but they have limited applications because they We begin by considering a simple quarter- angle, this construction behaves as a dielectric
are sensitive to frequency. wave stack with periodicity a, relative permeabil- mirror that reflects over a wide frequency range
An angularly selective material system should ity m of m1 = m2 = 1, and relative permittivities e and over all incident angles (fig. S2) (20).
ideally work over a broadband spectrum. Such of e1 and e2. In such a system, monochromatic The mechanism above provides both angular
a system could potentially play a crucial role in plane waves with frequency w propagate only in selectivity and polarization selectivity, and is there-
many applications, such as high-efficiency solar certain directions; propagation in other directions fore useful in many applications. For example, in
energy conversion (9, 10), privacy protection (11), is not allowed because of destructive interference most optically pumped lasers, the pumping light
and detectors with high signal-to-noise ratios. (3). Another way to look at this is through the comes in with a specific polarization and at one
Some progress has been made toward achieving photonic band diagram shown in Fig. 2A: Modes specific angle. A cavity built with both angularly
broadband angular selectivity by means of metal- that are allowed to propagate (so-called extended selective and polarization-selective mirrors will al-
lic extraordinary transmission (12, 13), anisotropic modes) exist in the shaded region; no modes are low the pumping light to get through, while at the
metamaterials (14), combined use of polarizers allowed to propagate in the white regions (known same time trapping all the light with other propa-
and birefringent films (11), or geometrical optics as band gaps). In the photonic band diagram, gation directions and polarizations inside the cavity.
1
modes with propagation direction forming an The restriction on the polarization can be lifted
Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute angle qi with respect to the z axis in Fig. 2 (in the by releasing the conventional requirement that m1 =
of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. 2Laboratory of
layers with dielectric constant ei) lie on a straight m2 = 1. During the past decade, it has been dem-
Applied Research on Electromagnetics, Zhejiang University, pffiffiffiffi
Hangzhou 310027, China. 3Department of Mathematics, Mas- line represented by w ¼ k y c=ð ei sin qi Þ, onstrated that metamaterials have the potential to
sachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. where ky is the y component (as defined in Fig. achieve e = m ≠ 1 in a broad frequency range
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] 2) of the wave vector k and c is the speed of light; (21–23). Consider two media with e1 = m1 ≠ e2 = m2;

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 REPORTS

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Fig. 1. Illustration of light selection on the Fig. 2. Theoretical illustration. (A) Extended modes (shaded regions) for off-axis propagation vectors
basis of its fundamental properties. (A) Fre- (0, ky, kz) in a quarter-wave stack with two materials having e1 = 1 and e2 = 2, respectively. The green region
quency selectivity provides control over transmis- indicates modes with E fields polarized in the yz incidence plane (p-polarized). The dashed black line cor-
sion or reflection of different frequencies. Photonic responds to the Brewster angle qB in both layers. (B) Schematic layout of a simple quarter-wave stack. (C) The
crystals (such as omnidirectional mirrors) can select same plot as in (A), but with e1 = m1 = 1, e2 = m2 = 2, and for both p- and s-polarizations. (D and F) Extended
light in specific frequency bandwidths. (B) Polariza- modes for an ideal heterostructure with (m, n) → ∞. (E) Schematic layout of the heterostructure stacking
tion selectivity provides control over the transmis- mechanism. (G) P-polarized transmission spectrum of 50 quarter-wave stacks at various periodicities. Each
sion or reflection of different polarizations. An ideal quarter-wave stack consists of 10 bilayers of {e1 = 1, e2 = 2} materials. The periodicities of these quarter-wave
polarizer selects light with a specific polarization. stacks form a geometric series ai = a0r i –1 with a0 = 200 nm and r = 1.0212, where ai is the periodicity of
(C) Angular selectivity provides control over the trans- ith stack. See (20) for a more detailed discussion of this stacking process. (H) P- and s-polarized trans-
mission or reflection of incident angles; so far, mission spectrum for a structure that has the same number of stacks and layers per stack as in (G), but with
achieving broadband selectivity has remained elusive. a0 = 140 nm and r = 1.0164, and with different material properties: e1 = m1 = 1, e2 = m2 = 2.

under those circumstances, there is no reflection E with respect to the plane of incidence. When the performance of the material system. Exam-
at the interface at normal incidence because the Zi = Zt, the reflectivities for s- and p-polarized light ples of optimizations based on three different
two media are impedance-matched,
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiwhere the im- become identical. In particular, the Brewster angle physical mechanisms are shown in fig. S3 (20).
pedance Z is defined as Z ¼ m=e. The off-axis is the same for both polarizations (qB = qi = qr = To show the feasibility of the method described
reflectivity can be calculated directly from the 0°). As a proof of principle, we plot the band dia- above, we present an experimental realization for
generalized Fresnel equations (8): gram of a quarter-wave stack with e1 = m1 = 1 and the e1 ≠ e2, m1 = m2 = 1 case. The sample was
  e2 = m2 = 2 in Fig. 2C. As in the previous case, we fabricated with the bias target deposition (BTD)
Er
1
cos qi − 1 cos qt technique (25) at 4Wave Inc. using SiO2 (e1 ≈
¼ 1Z i Zt can broaden the band gaps by stacking quarter-
ð2Þ
Ei ⊥ cos qi þ 1 cos qt wave stacks with various periodicities together (Fig. 2.18, m1 = 1) and Ta2O5 (e2 ≈ 4.33, m2 = 1) on a
Zi Zt 2F); this approach gives rise to ultra-broadband 2 cm × 4 cm fused silica wafer (University Wafer
and angular selectivity at normal incidence for both Inc.). The sample consists of 84 layers in total
  1
cos qi − 1 cos qt
polarizations (Fig. 2H). (Fig. 2E). There are six bilayer stacks (m = 6),
Er
¼ 1Z t Zi ð3Þ Other than using photonic band gaps to re- each bilayer stack consisting of seven bilayers
Ei ∥ cos qi þ 1 cos qt move unwanted extended modes, there might (n = 7), with the thicknesses of each layer equal in
Zi Zt
exist even more optimized ways to forbid light a given stack. The periodicities of the six bilayer
where the subscripts i and r denote incident light from propagating in unwanted directions: The stacks form a geometric series with ai = a0r i–1 for
and reflected light, respectively, and the subscripts narrowness of angular selectivity can be optimized the ith stack, where a0 = 140 nm and r = 1.165.
⊥ and || indicate the direction of the electric field using numerical tools (17, 24) to further enhance For index-matching purposes, the whole sample

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 REPORTS
Our method has a number of attractive fea-
tures, including simplicity, narrow angle selectiv-
ity, scalability beyond optical frequencies, and
reproducibility on large scales. Furthermore, this
method can be implemented in other wave systems
that have Brewster angle analogs, such as acoustic
and elastic waves. A natural next step would be to
examine materials whose magnetic permeability
is similar to their dielectric constant, so as to reach
angular selectivity in both polarizations.

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visible spectrophotometer (Cary 500i); a p-polarizer Acknowledgments: We thank P. Rebusco for critical reading
was used to filter the source beam. The experimen- and editing of the manuscript, J. J. Senkevich for advice on
fabricating the sample, and C.-W. Hsu for valuable discussion.
tally measured result agrees with the rigorous coupled Supported in part by the Army Research Office through
wave analysis (RCWA) (27) simulation prediction the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies under contract
(Fig. 4), which includes the measured dispersion W911NF-13-D0001. The fabrication part of the effort, as well
of materials (index variation < 1.3% for SiO2 and as M.S. (in part), were supported by the MIT S3TEC Energy
Research Frontier Center of the U.S. Department of Energy
< 6.2% for Ta2O5 over the wavelength range under grant DE-SC0001299.
from 400 to 700 nm). In the experimental mea-
Fig. 4. Simulation and experimental measure- surements, the peak transmittance at qB becomes Supplementary Materials
www.sciencemag.org/content/343/6178/1499/suppl/DC1
ment. Comparison between the p-polarized trans- lower at shorter wavelengths (Fig. 4, lower panel) Figs. S1 to S3
mission spectrum of the RCWA simulation (27) (top) because the wavelength is getting closer to the Reference (28)
and the corresponding experimental measurements dimensional tolerance of fabrication. Movie S1 is Movie S1
(bottom). The value of transmission is indicated by a video recording of the full process with the sam- 16 December 2013; accepted 24 February 2014
the color bars. ple rotating 90° in this experimental setup. 10.1126/science.1249799

www.sciencemag.org SCIENCE VOL 343 28 MARCH 2014 1501

Optical Broadband Angular Selectivity
Yichen Shen, Dexin Ye, Ivan Celanovic, Steven G. Johnson, John D. Joannopoulos and Marin Soljacic

Science 343 (6178), 1499-1501.

DOI: 10.1126/science.1249799

Optical Angular Selection

A monochromatic electromagnetic plane wave is typically characterized by three properties: its frequency, its
polarization, and its propagation direction. While the selection of light signals based on the first two properties has been
studied in depth, selection based on direction is relatively unexplored but equally important. Shen et al. (p. 1499)
demonstrate a simple approach that provides narrow-angle selectivity over a broad range of wavelengths using

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heterostructured photonic crystals that act as a mirror for all but a narrow range of viewing angles where the crystals are
transparent. Such angular selection should find a number of applications in, for example, high efficiency solar energy
conversion, privacy protection systems, or high signal-to-noise detectors.

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SUPPLEMENTARY http://science.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2014/03/27/343.6178.1499.DC1
MATERIALS

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