Nonreciprocal scattering and implications for thermal emission control on a mid-infrared spatiotemporally modulated metasurface.

Anatoly Efimov, Chun-Chieh Chang, Simo Pajovic, Wilton J M Kort-Kamp, Dongsung Kim, Hou-Tong Chen, Diego A R Dalvit, Abul K Azad

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Article in Nature communications, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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8 authors.

Anatoly EfimovCenter for Integrated Nanotechnologies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA.

Chun-Chieh ChangCenter for Integrated Nanotechnologies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3728-2454

Simo PajovicTheoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7497-3118

Wilton J M Kort-KampTheoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0679-6690

Dongsung KimAccelerator Operations and Technology Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA.

Hou-Tong ChenCenter for Integrated Nanotechnologies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2014-7571

Diego A R DalvitTheoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA. dalvit@lanl.gov.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5282-2896

Abul K AzadCenter for Integrated Nanotechnologies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA. aazad@lanl.gov.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7784-7432

Funding

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Lorentz reciprocity fundamentally limits the performance of photonic systems by enforcing reciprocal energy exchange between source and detector, which implies a symmetric scattering matrix. In the context of thermal radiation, Lorentz reciprocity manifests as Kirchhoff's law-the equality of the spectral directional emissivity and absorptivity of a surface. Breaking this reciprocity is important for advancing photonic devices for energy conversion, radiative cooling and mid-infrared sensing and imaging. Here, we report the demonstration of spatiotemporally modulated nonreciprocal metasurfaces operating at mid-infrared frequencies. We design and fabricate a graphene-based integrated photonic structure and experimentally demonstrate nonreciprocal scattering from a metasurface, modulated at gigahertz frequencies. We further develop a theoretical framework to relate nonreciprocal scattering under spatiotemporal modulation with unequal absorptivity and emissivity, indicating a breakdown of the spectral directional version of Kirchhoff's law of thermal radiation. Together, our scattering experiments and theory imply effective decoupling of absorption and emission channels by breaking time-reversal symmetry at thermal wavelengths.

Identifiers

PMID42045178

DOI10.1038/s41467-026-72142-z

PMCPMC13324514

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND

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