Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: While thermal runaway occurs across diverse physical disciplines, its presence in subwavelength phase-change photonics remains unexplored because existing thermo-optical models break down near sharp optical transitions. Here, we introduce an iterative multiphysics framework coupling full-wave electrodynamics with heat transfer, and we discover optically induced thermal runaway in vanadium dioxide (VO2) nanostructures. The runaway switching threshold depends on the illumination wavelength, ambient temperature, and underlying substrate, with external thermal biasing significantly reducing the optical intensity required for runaway ignition. Our results push forward the modeling of sharp photothermal transitions and provide essential design principles for active metasurfaces, neuromorphic photonic devices, and nanoscale thermal management.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Subfield: Polymers and Plastics
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7204277463
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