The IRG on ferroelectric nanophotonic materials and devices seeks to develop tunable photonic devices by combining the nonlinear dispersion of photonic metamaterials with the unusual optical properties of ferroelectric perovskites. A series of experimental tests and theoretical calculations have demonstrated the potential of this approach. The bottom figure shows how the refractive index of a ferroelectric thin film can be changed with applied electric field. The top right shows how light can be confined to a ferroelectric wave-guide the results of a theoretical calculation. The bottom right figures shows how the photonic band-edge of a hexagonal pattern (background) changes with refractive index and geometric parameters. Such band-edge maps are being used to select regions of great sensitivity.
