Nonlinear Transient Dynamics of Photoexcited Silicon Nanoantenna for Ultrafast All-Optical Signal Processing

Optically generated electron-hole plasma in high-index dielectric nanostructures was demonstrated as a means of tuning of their optical properties. However, until now an ultrafast operation regime of such plasma driven nanostructures has not been attained. Here, we perform pump-probe experiments with resonant silicon nanoparticles and report on dense optical plasma generation near the magnetic dipole resonance with ultrafast (about 2.5 ps) relaxation rate. Basing on experimental results, we develop an analytical model describing transient response of a nanocrystalline silicon nanoparticle to an intense laser pulse and show theoretically that plasma induced optical nonlinearity leads to ultrafast reconfiguration of the scattering power pattern. We demonstrate 100 fs switching to unidirectional scattering regime upon irradiation of the nanoparticle by an intense femtosecond pulse. Our work lays the foundation for developing ultracompact and ultrafast all-optical signal processing devices.