Tuning the optical response of a dielectric grating using vanadium-dioxide as a phase-change material

In this work, we demonstrate the modulation in optical response at visible wavelengths of a dielectric grating structure under a thermal stimulus. The grating structure is coated with a thin layer of vanadium dioxide (VO2) which undergoes a phase transition from an insulator to a metal at a temperature of ∼ 68°C. We report on the design, simulations, and characterization of the proposed structure. Measured optical response through experiments finds a good agreement with the predictions made by numerical simulations.