Cooperative Thermal-Electric Field Control of Infrared Modulation Using a Vanadium Dioxide Film-Based Modulator.

Vanadium dioxide (VO) has garnered significant attention as a material for actively tunable infrared (IR) modulators due to its reversible and responsive modulation effect on IR radiation, which is accompanied by its intrinsic insulator-metal phase transition (IMT). Here, we propose a multilayer device structure that integrates VO film with microheater and interdigitated electrodes for cooperative thermal-electric field control of IMT. Our results demonstrate that while intense electric fields can trigger abrupt IMT, deep modulation of IR radiation requires energy integration through Joule heating, which limits the response time of IR transmission controlled by electric field. Thus, cooperative thermal-electric field control, which provides a constant, uniform temperature field while electrically switching the IMT, is more effective for achieving a faster response time and retaining the intrinsic modulation depth of VO-based IR modulators. Our findings offer valuable insights for the development of VO-based IR modulators with improved performance.