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<p>Ultrafast all-optical modulators are central to the advancement of next-generation photonic computing and signal-processing systems. However, the intrinsic electron–phonon relaxation bottleneck in plasmonic materials has long constrained modulation speeds to the picosecond regime, hindering the realization of sub-100&#xa0;fs modulation. Here, we report a metastructured silver–single-crystal silicon nanodisk antenna that delivers experimentally resolved sub-100&#xa0;fs all-optical modulation. Distinct from conventional planar metal–semiconductor junctions, the nanodisk architecture spatially co-localizes plasmonic energy deposition with the metal–semiconductor transfer boundary within a nanoscale-confined volume. This configuration markedly shortens hot-carrier transport pathways and preferentially activates interfacial carrier extraction during the earliest relaxation stage, thereby establishing an interface-dominated modulation pathway that precedes electron–phonon thermalization. By enabling modulation on timescales comparable to intrinsic electronic response limits, this work establishes a physical foundation for ultrafast photonic modulation, including femtosecond free-space photonic computing architectures, temporal optical gating, and other ultrafast systems constrained by carrier or cavity lifetimes.</p><p></p>

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Sub-100 Femtosecond All-Optical Modulation Beyond Electron–Phonon Limits

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年4月7日

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  • Renxian Gao,
  • Jiayu Li,
  • Xiaoxiang Dong,
  • Yonglin He,
  • Wenbin Chen,
  • Peiwen Ren,
  • Xiaoyu Zhao,
  • Ming-De Li,
  • Zhilin Yang

摘要

Ultrafast all-optical modulators are central to the advancement of next-generation photonic computing and signal-processing systems. However, the intrinsic electron–phonon relaxation bottleneck in plasmonic materials has long constrained modulation speeds to the picosecond regime, hindering the realization of sub-100 fs modulation. Here, we report a metastructured silver–single-crystal silicon nanodisk antenna that delivers experimentally resolved sub-100 fs all-optical modulation. Distinct from conventional planar metal–semiconductor junctions, the nanodisk architecture spatially co-localizes plasmonic energy deposition with the metal–semiconductor transfer boundary within a nanoscale-confined volume. This configuration markedly shortens hot-carrier transport pathways and preferentially activates interfacial carrier extraction during the earliest relaxation stage, thereby establishing an interface-dominated modulation pathway that precedes electron–phonon thermalization. By enabling modulation on timescales comparable to intrinsic electronic response limits, this work establishes a physical foundation for ultrafast photonic modulation, including femtosecond free-space photonic computing architectures, temporal optical gating, and other ultrafast systems constrained by carrier or cavity lifetimes.