Electrical Modulation Tramsmitted IR Light Through VO2 Thin Film on GaN Membranes

In the recent years, studies to develop near-infrared light modulators for imaging and sensing applications have attracted great attention. Here, we report on phase transition induced optical transmittance characteristics variation of electrochromic VO
2
thin film grown on GaN membrane for light modulation application. Insulator metal transition (IMT) phase of the VO
2
thin film was triggered using an electric field applied on the interdigitated metal electrodes deposited on it. Voltage triggered phase transition resulted in ~45% change in resistance of the thin film and ~11% reduction in transmitted optical power for a 1550 nm laser. Moreover, near-infrared light modulation utilizing IMT properties of the VO
2
thin film-based membrane was demonstrated by applying various voltages with pulse widths ranging from 2 ms to 300 µs,