{
  "abstract": "Image processing lies at the foundation of many modern technologies, such as augmented reality and autonomous driving, yet conventional digital approaches remain energy-intensive and limited in speed. Nonlocal metasurfaces - 2D structures engineered at the nanoscale to support delocalized, dispersion engineered resonances - provide a fast, energy-efficient and ultrathin platform to perform image processing directly on the light path. Introducing tunability in this platform is an outstanding challenge, and would enable dynamic real-time control over the implemented processing operation, facilitating flexible integration into adaptive and multifunctional photonic architectures. Here, we demonstrate optically tunable edge detection at ultrafast speeds by integrating a dielectric nonlocal metasurface with multilayer WS2, whose strong exciton-driven optical response enables dynamic control of the metasurface nonlocality at sub-ps speeds. Using resonant optical pumping of the A-exciton in WS2, the metasurface transfer function is rapidly switched from edge detection to bright-field imaging by tuning its spatial nonlocality. Operating in the visible spectral range at a wavelength around 700 nm, the device shows ultrafast switching times and reaches an amplitude modulation depth of 11.5 dB for normal incident light. This approach provides a reconfigurable, ultrathin, all-optical platform for adaptive optical computing systems and highlights the potential of the highly nonlinear properties of 2D materials for active metasurfaces at ultrafast speeds.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2609.22006",
  "author_total": 7,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Bernardo S. Dias"
    },
    {
      "name": "Romain Tirole"
    },
    {
      "name": "Michele Guizzardi"
    },
    {
      "name": "Andrea Cordaro"
    },
    {
      "name": "Albert Polman"
    },
    {
      "name": "Andrea Alù"
    },
    {
      "name": "Jorik van de Groep"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6nprq057ahvz7.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2609.22006",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "6nprq057ahvz7",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.22006",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "physics.optics"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2504|Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7213937137",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.22006",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-18",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6nprq057ahvz7.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:23:03Z",
      "native_id": "2609.22006",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.22006"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:physics.optics",
      "subfield": "optics-photonics"
    }
  ],
  "title": "All-Optical Control over Nonlocality for Ultrafast Image Processing with an Excitonic Metasurface",
  "title_text": "All-Optical Control over Nonlocality for Ultrafast Image Processing with an Excitonic Metasurface",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:23:03Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6nprq057ahvz7",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}