Integrated Tunable Flat Lenses (TuneFuL)

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This proposal aims to revolutionise one of the fundamental components used in optics : the semiconductor laser. These components are used in a huge array of applications from high speed optical communications - they power the internet, to laser machining, ultra sensitive gas sensors, the defence industry and scientific research. Common to all these applications is the requirement to focus, control or shape the beam of light coming from the laser, this is conventionally done with an external lenses which are often many 10's of times the size of the laser, which is typically a few mm^3 in volume, and often much more expensive. Allied to this problem is that once the beam is focused or controlled it is very difficult and expensive to alter it. Moreover, for many applications such as sensing and defence one may want to scan the laser beam across a field of view to interrogate or acquire information from a wide area. Finally, the spectral purity of the laser is critically important in many of these applications where it essential that there is only one single emitted wavelength. This proposal aims to solve all these problems in a low cost, mass market way by creating a flat, electronically controllable lens which can be patterned onto the emitting facet of the laser. This proposal will apply exciting ideas from the emerging field of optical nanoantennas to create tunable nanoantenna arrays configured as flat lenses. They will be first developed as standalone devices and then integrated with a range of semiconductor lasers to create electronically tunable output beams for focusing and steering applications and simultaneous control of the spectral purity of the laser.