Optical bound states in the continuum (BICs) underpin the existence of strongly localized waves embedded into the radiation spectrum. Here we bring the concept of BICs to the field of high-harmonic generation and employ resonant dielectric metasurfaces to generate efficiently optical harmonics up to the 11th order. We design BIC-resonant metasurfaces with a broken in-plane symmetry for the lower harmonics and then observe a transition to the nonlinear regime for higher harmonics. Our approach bridges the fields of perturbative and nonperturbative nonlinear optics on the subwavelength scale.

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Nano-and micro-coiled carbon fibers find applications in electronic devices, electromagnetic absorbers and filters. Smart devices can be conceived using tunable films on these fibers and tunable host materials. A new method of producing helical carbon fibers with dimensions in the order of less than a micrometer has been developed using microwaves. The microwave CVD system presented here eliminates the use of the toxic impurity gas, which is required in the conventional method. Both methods involve gas phase reactions over a substrate seeded with an appropriate catalyst. Micro-coiled carbon fiber (MCCF) was grown by the catalytic pyrolysis of acetylene on a silicon carbide substrate on which nickel metal powder was dispersed as a catalyst. Various factors, for example flow rate of the gas, particle size of the catalyst, effect of reaction temperature and time, were studied in order to understand the growth of the microwave synthesis of MCCF. MCCFs were also synthesized by a conventional method in the presence of thiophene as an impurity gas so that a comparison can be made with the materials obtained by the microwave system. The morphology of the final products were investigated by scanning electron microscopy. The carbon products obtained by traditional and microwave methods were investigated with the help of x-ray diffraction. The effect of various reaction conditions on the morphological development of a MCCF were examined in detail. Furthermore, a brief study was made on the microwave absorbing property of the MCCF.

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We demonstrate nonlinear silicon metasurfaces empowered by collective localized modes governed by bound states in the continuum operating in mid-infrared spectral range. When being resonantly excited, the metasurfaces generate 3rd to 11th odd optical harmonics.