Bound states in the continuum in asymmetric dual-patch metasurfaces

Abstract

We investigate the bound states in the continuum (BICs) in dielectric metasurfaces consisting of asymmetric dual rectangular patches in the unit cell of a square lattice. Various types of BICs are identified in the metasurface at normal incidence, associated with very large quality factors and vanishing spectral linewidths. In particular, symmetry-protected (SP) BICs occur when the four patches are fully symmetric, which exhibit antisymmetric field patterns that are decoupled from the symmetric incident waves. By breaking the symmetry of patch geometry, the SP BICs degrade to quasi-BICs that are characterized by Fano resonance. Accidental BICs and Friedrich-Wintgen (FW) BICs occur when the asymmetry is introduced in the upper two patches, while holding the lower two patches symmetric. The accidental BICs occur on isolated bands when the linewidth of either the quadrupole-like mode or LC-like mode vanishes by tuning the upper vertical gap width. The FW BICs appear when the avoided crossing is formed between the dispersion bands of dipole-like and quadrupole-like modes by tuning the lower vertical gap width. At a special asymmetry ratio, the accidental BICs and FW BICs may appear in the same transmittance or dispersion diagram, accompanied with the concurrence of dipole-like, quadrupole-like, and LC-like modes.