Dark Mode Research Articles

Three-dimensional metamaterial for reconfigurable multi-band electromagnetically induced transparency based on VO2

Conventional 2D planar metamaterials struggle to achieve multi-band electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) effects due to structural constraints. This paper proposes what we believe to be a novel three-dimensional (3D) metamaterial consisting of a vertical split-ring resonator with vanadium dioxide (VO2) islands at the openings. Based on VO2’s reversible phase transition capabilities, the designed metamaterial has excellent reconfigurability for multi-band EIT effects. When the surface temperature is at room temperature, VO2 exhibits an insulating state. The near-field coupling between bright and dark modes leads to a triple-band EIT effect at 1.72, 1.82, and 1.91 THz, characterized by multi-band, low-loss, and narrowband filtering. In contrast, when the temperature exceeds 68°C, VO2 transitions to its metallic state, resulting in a single transmission window with favorable slow light characteristics. Compared to traditional EIT metamaterials, our work realizes multi-band modulation and switchable operating modes, enhancing flexibility and adaptability. The excellent performance indicates its suitability for various applications, including multi-channel sensors, switchable absorptions, enhancing coupling and slow light devices, etc.

Mitigating interface damping of metal adhesion layers of nanostructures through bright-dark plasmonic mode coupling

Metal (such as Cr, Ti, etc.) adhesion layers, which are generally used to prevent nanostructures from falling off during electron beam lithography processes, will introduce interface damping, decrease the near-field enhancement, and shorten the dephasing time of localized surface plasmons (LSP). Maintaining metal adhesion layers while alleviating the induced interface damping in nanostructures is crucial for high-performance sensing, surface-enhanced Raman scattering elements, plasmon-based photocathodes, and plasmon-mediated catalysis. Here, we experimentally demonstrated that the mitigation of interface damping of metal adhesion layers can be achieved through the coupling between the bright and dark plasmonic modes of gold nanorods. We attribute the mitigation to stronger confinement across the plasmon energy, which effectively reduces the proportion of plasmon energy injected into the Cr adhesive layers. Compared to weak coupling, the non-radiative damping of plasmonic modes 1 and 2 is reduced by approximately 74% and 85%, respectively, under strong coupling conditions. The experimental results are supported by finite-difference time-domain simulations and are well explained by the calculated interaction potential for different gap sizes. This research will further benefit applications where low interface damping is required, such as the construction of low-threshold nanolasers and ultrasensitive sensing systems.

High-efficiency terahertz surface plasmon metacoupler empowered by bilayer bright–dark mode coupling

Conversion from free-space waves to surface plasmons has been well studied as a key aspect of plasmonics. In particular, efficient coupling and propagation of surface plasmons via phase gradient metasurfaces are of great current research interest. Hereby, we demonstrate a terahertz metacoupler based on a bilayer bright–dark mode coupling structure attaining near-perfect conversion efficiency (exceeding 95%) without considering absorption loss of the materials and maintaining a high conversion level even when the area of the excitation region changes. To validate our design, a fabricated metacoupler was assessed by scanning near-field terahertz microscopy. Our findings could pave the way for developing high-performance plasmonic devices encompassing ultra-thin and compact functional devices for a diverse range of applications, especially within the realm of high-speed terahertz communications.

Keeping dark modes dark: Reducing the effects of symmetry breaking at oblique incidence

Dark modes are defined by their lack of radiative coupling to the far field. However, the modes can be made to couple to far field radiation by symmetry breaking. For a resonant dimer, obliquely incident waves can create a phase difference in the currents between the elements, resulting in symmetry breaking. This work reduces symmetry breaking effects by minimizing the size of a dimer of dipolar elements with respect to its resonant wavelength. We obtain a mode that can experimentally be excited from the near field but has negligible excitation in the far field for obliquely incident waves. Such a mode could have use in wireless security applications.

Cavity dark mode mediated by atom array without atomic scattering loss

Cavity dark mode mediated by atom array without atomic scattering loss

Photocurrent in Silic in Silicon/Barium Titanate/Nikel Structures

Photosensitive silicon/barium titanate/nickel structures with undoped barium titanate and doped europium were synthesized using the sol-gel method. The current-voltage characteristics were studied under illumination with a xenon lamp, highlighting a monochromatic line in the range of 400–800 nm and in dark mode. The synthesized structures showed the presence of a photocurrent on the reverse branch of the current-voltage characteristics over the entire studied range of illumination wavelengths. The maximum reverse branch current for a structure with undoped barium titanate was achieved when exposed to radiation with a wavelength of 470 nm and was about 0.6 μA for a bias voltage ranging from 2 to 10 V. Doping barium titanate with europium leads to an increase in the photocurrent by 17–26 %.

Advanced terahertz refractive index sensor in all-dielectric metasurface utilizing second order toroidal quasi-BIC modes for biochemical environments

We present a novel design for an all-dielectric metasurface ultra-sensitive refractive index (RI) sensor, characterized by a high-quality factor (Qf) and figure of merit (FOM). This design incorporates two high-order toroidal modes, including electric toroidal quadrupole (\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\:{Q}_{T}^{e}$$\\end{document}​) and magnetic toroidal quadrupole (\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\:{Q}_{T}^{m}$$\\end{document}​) based on quasi‑bound states in the continuum (q-BIC) resonances. Our findings demonstrate the feasibility of switching between \\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\:{Q}_{T}^{e}$$\\end{document} and \\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\:{Q}_{T}^{m}$$\\end{document}​ through various symmetry-breaking mechanisms. To excite these high-order toroidal modes, we explored several symmetry-breaking strategies, including complex structural designs, symmetry disruption, and variations in the incident wave angle. Symmetry breaking in the structure induces new modes in the transmission spectrum, which are highly advantageous for sensing applications due to the presence of dark modes. The designed metasurface exhibits the capability to sense a broad range of RI in diverse environments, particularly in biochemical fields. Sensitivity (S) is significantly enhanced by the excitation of new resonance modes and adjustments in the incidence angle, increasing from 217 GHz/RIU in a symmetrical structure to 512.3 GHz/RIU for \\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\:{Q}_{T}^{e}$$\\end{document}​. The FOM improves from 197 RIU 1 to 8538 RIU− 1 for \\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\:{Q}_{T}^{e}$$\\end{document}​ and 152,395 RIU− 1 for \\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\:{Q}_{T}^{m}$$\\end{document}​. Additionally, the Qf rises from 872 to 17,983 and 921,351 for \\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\:{Q}_{T}^{e}$$\\end{document}​ and \\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\:{Q}_{T}^{m}$$\\end{document}​, respectively.

Excitation of high-quality quasi-BIC toroidal mode in a lattice perturbed terahertz metasurface

The bound state in continuum (BIC) is a phenomenon that describes the existence of nonradiative modes (dark modes) embedded in the continuum frequency range. However, an ideal BIC cannot be detected experimentally. The BIC can be transformed into a quasi-BIC by establishing a leaky channel to the radiation continuum. In this study, instead of the conventional asymmetric split ring resonator structure, a sharp quasi-BIC mode is excited in a symmetric split ring resonator (SRR) metasurface by the perturbation of the lattice constant of the unit cell via changing the interspacing distance between two adjacent SRRs. The quality factor of the quasi-BIC mode can be tuned by varying the interspacing of two SRRs, while the resonance frequency of the quasi-BIC mode remains stable. An eigenmode analysis confirms the presence of the quasi-BIC mode, while the ab initio Fano theory and a coupled oscillator model elucidate the radiative and nonradiative coupling mechanisms. The influence of geometric perturbations on the quasi-BIC mode is quantitatively assessed through the extracted fitting parameters, providing insights into the transition from the dark mode (ideal BIC) to the quasi-BIC mode. The terahertz time domain spectroscopy measurement demonstrates a signature of the quasi-BIC resonance mode as a result of the band folding in the first Brillouin zone induced by the doubling of the lattice constant.

The Effect of Display Polarity on Reading Speed and Reading Error Among Young Adults

Objective: The widespread adoption of digital devices has surged, particularly since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Nearly everyone now owns devices like laptops, tablets, or smartphones, offering options for light mode (positive polarity) and dark mode (negative polarity) to suit individual preferences. This study examines how display polarity affects reading performance among young adults. Material and Methods: Thirty participants engaged in a 15-minute reading task on a laptop with randomly assigned display polarities, followed by a 15-minute break before repeating the task. Results: Reading speed, measured in words per minute (wpm), differed significantly between polarities, with negative polarity yielding higher speeds (136.27±25.58 wpm) compared to positive polarity (128.42±19.98 wpm), Z=-2.355, p-value<0.05. However, no significant polarity-related differences were found in reading errors, including mispronunciation (p-value=0.193) or omission (p-value=0.113). Conclusion: Negative polarity displays enhanced reading performance by increasing reading speed; while reading errors remained unaffected.

Laser Control of Specular and Diffuse Reflectance of Thin Aluminum Film-Isolator-Metal Structures for Anti-Counterfeiting and Plasmonic Color Applications

Plasmonic structural color originates from the scattering and absorption of visible light by metallic nanostructures. Stacks consisting of thin, disordered semicontinuous metal films are attractive plasmonic color media, as they can be mass-produced using industry-proven physical vapor deposition techniques. These films are comprised of random nano-island structures of various sizes and shapes resonating at different wavelengths. When irradiated with short-pulse lasers, the nanostructures are locally restructured, and their optical response is altered in a spectrally selective manner. Therefore, various colors are obtained. We demonstrate the generation of structural plasmonic colors through femtosecond laser modification of a thin aluminum film–isolator–metal mirror (TAFIM) structure. Laser-induced structuring of TAFIM’s top aluminum film significantly alters the sample’s specular and diffuse reflectance depending on the fluence value and the number of times a region is scanned. A “negative image” effect is possible, where a dark field observation mode image is a negative of a bright field mode image. This effect is visible using an optical microscope, the naked eye, and a digital camera. The use of self-passivating aluminum results in a long-lasting, non-fading coloration effect. The reported technique could be used in anti-counterfeiting and security applications, as well as in plasmonic color printing and macroscopic and microscopic marking for personalized fine arts and aesthetic products such as jewelry.

Lateral plasmonic crystals: Tunability, dark modes, and weak-to-strong coupling transition

Lateral plasmonic crystals: Tunability, dark modes, and weak-to-strong coupling transition

Sol-Gel Spin Coating Synthesis and Characterization of Cadmium Zinc Phosphate Thin Films: Structural, Optical, and Electrical Properties

This study successfully implemented the sol-gel and spin coating technique to grow cadmium zinc phosphate cadmium zinc phosphate (CZP) thin films on a glass substrate and p-Si wafer. Structural and morphological analyses were conducted via X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Additionally, the films’ linear and nonlinear optical properties, encompassing absorbance performance, energy gap, refractive index, dielectric, conductivity, and electronegativity, were systematically studied through UV–vis spectroscopy. XRD analysis uncovers the zinc ions substitution by cadmium ions in zinc phosphate’s unit cell, generating oxygen vacancies crucial for maintaining charge neutrality. SEM images then showcase the intricate and organized nano CZP framework. Shifting to optical studies, CZP film analysis spanning 190–2500 nm reveals an indirect energy band gap of 2.92 eV. Transitioning to electrical characteristics, the CZP/p-Si junction undergoes dark mode I-V-T analysis, elucidating the ideality factor, series resistance, and barrier height.

Research on Drug Efficacy using a Terahertz Metasurface Microfluidic Biosensor Based on Fano Resonance Effect.

Advanced biosensors must exhibit high sensitivity, reliability, and convenience, making them suitable for detecting trace samples in biological or medical applications. Currently, biometric identification is the predominant method in clinical practice, but it is complex and time-consuming. In this study, we propose an optical metasurface utilizing the Fano resonance effect, which exhibits a sharp resonance with a transmittance of 32% at 0.65 THz. The resonance dip has a narrow bandwidth of 0.07 THz and a high Q-factor of 42. This resonance arises from the coupling of bright and dark modes, underpinned by the electromagnetic mechanism of Fano resonance. We integrated the metasurface into a microfluidic platform and fabricated low-temperature gallium arsenide photoconductive antennas (LT-GaAs-PCAs) on both sides of the microfluidics to efficiently generate and detect THz waves, significantly reducing the system's volume. The biosensor's detection limits for Escherichia coli (E. coli) and cefamandole nafate are 5 × 103 cells/mL and 5 μg/mL, respectively. Experimentally, when E. coli and cefamandole nafate solutions were sequentially injected into the microfluidic chip, a blue shift in the spectrum was observed. The sensor measured a 95.2% killing rate of E. coli by 40 μg/mL cefamandole nafate solution, with only a 3% deviation from biological experiments. Additionally, a timed killing experiment using 40 μg/mL cefamandole nafate on E. coli revealed a 93.7% killing rate within 3 min. This research presents a THz microfluidic biosensor with rapid detection, high sensitivity, and enhanced portability and integration, offering a promising approach for biomedical research, including antibiotic efficacy assessment and bacterial concentration monitoring.

Magnetic quadrupolar resonance in a symmetric three-layered plasmonic metasurface

Dark plasmon mode with even symmetry presents an effective way for manipulating light-matter interactions due to its attractive properties of small radiative loss and strongly intensified near-field, which opens up space for both fundamental explorations and optoelectronic device developments. In this paper, we demonstrate magnetic quadrupolar resonance in a symmetric plasmonic metasurface under oblique light incidence. In a three-layered metasurface made of a cross-shaped gold array on top of a magnesium fluoride film backed with a copper ground plane, a magnetic quadrupolar resonance is excited at 37.3 THz with a quality factor of 34, which is four times of the regular magnetic dipolar resonance excited in the same structure. By increasing the incident angle, asymmetry perturbation on the magnetic quadrupolar mode becomes more pronounced as evidenced from its decreased quality factor. In addition, due to the structure symmetry of the used metal cross, the metasurface exhibits polarization-selective excitation of two separate magnetic quadrupolar modes at 37.3 THz and 42.3 THz for the electric field along four symmetry axes of the structure. Our demonstrated distinctive magnetic quadrupolar resonance offers an alternative mode design in plasmonic metamaterials with an improved quality factor, which could be beneficial for metamaterial applications in sensing, optical filtering and infrared emission manipulation etc.

A second-order kinetic model for global analysis of vibrational polariton dynamics.

The interaction between cavity photons and molecular vibrations leads to the formation of vibrational polaritons, which have demonstrated the ability to influence chemical reactivity and change material characteristics. Although ultrafast spectroscopy has been extensively applied to study vibrational polaritons, the nonlinear relationship between signal and quantum state population complicates the analysis of their kinetics. Here, we employ a second-order kinetic model and transform matrix method (TMM) to develop an effective model to capture the nonlinear relationship between the two-dimensional IR (or pump-probe) signal and excited state populations. We test this method on two types of kinetics: a sequential relaxation from the second to the first excited states of dark modes, and a Raman state relaxing into the first excited state. By globally fitting the simulated data, we demonstrate accurate extraction of relaxation rates and the ability to identify intermediate species by comparing the species spectra with theoretical ground truth, validating our method. This study demonstrates the efficacy of a second-order TMM approximation in capturing essential spectral features with up to 10% excited state population, simplifying global analysis and enabling straightforward extraction of kinetic parameters, thus empowering our methodology in understanding excited-state dynamics in polariton systems.

Controllable dual resonances of Fano and EIT in a graphene-loaded all-dielectric GaAs metasurface and its sensing and slow-light applications

Abstract Active nanophotonic metasurfaces have attracted considerable attention for their promise to develop compact, tunable optical metadevices with advanced functions. In this work, we theoretically demonstrated the dynamically controllable dual resonances of Fano and electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) using a graphene-loaded all-dielectric metasurface with U-shaped gallium arsenide (GaAs) nanobars operating in the near-infrared region. The destructive interference between a subradiant mode (i.e., a dark mode) supported by two vertical GaAs bars and two radiative modes (i.e., two bright modes) supported by a horizontal GaAs nanobar gives rise to a Fano resonance and an EIT window with high transmission and a large quality factor (Q-factor) in the transmission spectrum. Importantly, the transmission amplitudes can be flexibly modulated by adjusting the graphene Fermi levels without rebuilding the nanostructures. This modulation results from the controllable light absorption by the loaded graphene monolayer due to its interband losses in the near-infrared spectrum. Furthermore, the peak wavelengths of the Fano resonance and EIT window with high Q-factors are highly sensitive to variations in the refractive index (RI) of the surrounding medium, giving the proposed metasurface a relatively good sensitivity of ~700 nm/RIU and a high figure of merit (FOM) of 280, making it an effective RI sensor. Additionally, the metasurface features an adjustable slow light effect, indicated by the adjusted group delay time ranging from 0.12 ps to 0.38 ps. Therefore, the metasurface system proposed in this work offers a viable platform for advanced multi-band optical sensing, low-loss slow light devices, switches, and potential applications in nonlinear optical fields.

An ultrasensitive refractive index based THz optical biosensor based on plasmon induced transparency (PIT)

A novel, label-free optical sensor based on plasmon induced transparency (PIT) has been designed for the detection of basal cell carcinoma in the terahertz (THz) frequency range. The sensor consists of a thin Indium Antimonide (InSb) layer on top of a silica layer with patterned plasmonic antennas where the biosamples are deposited. To overcome the problem associated with the absorption modes of water molecules in THz, the sensor is designed with resonances at frequencies where light absorption of water molecules is minimal. To enhance the reported sensor’s performance features, parametric sweeps have been conducted on the geometrical attributes of the nanostructure. Due to the strong coupling between radiative and dark plasmonic modes, the sensor has a very high sensitivity of 4.50 THz RIU−1, a Q factor of 112.7, and a figure of merit (FOM) of 43.3. The suggested design is ultracompact and easy to fabricate with the potential to be used in numerous biomedical sensing applications.

Perceiving Dark Mode Colour Schemes in Choropleth Maps

Perceiving Dark Mode Colour Schemes in Choropleth Maps

Multiband electromagnetically induced transparency-like on metamaterials

In recent years, the electromagnetically induced transparency-like (EIT-like) of metamaterials has been widely concerned due to obtain high Q, which has potential applications in the field of sensing and slow light. In this paper, an EIT-like metamaterial structure in the microwave band was investigated, which can realize to multi-band EIT-like phenomena. The equivalent circuit method and the electric field distribution are used to study the EIT -like effect’ mechanism, and the multi-band EIT-like phenomenon is discussed by analyzing its structural parameters. The results show that the multi-band EIT in the proposed structure is obtained by coupling multiple bright modes to multiple dark modes. The change of transmission spectrum is discussed by changing the environmental permittivity. The results have potential applications in areas such as refractive index sensing, filters.

Adjustable slow light with high group index in a graphene metasurface based on plasmon-induced transparency

A relatively simple metasurface structure is proposed to achieve a dynamically tunable slow light effect. The metasurface consists of two horizontal graphene strips and two vertical continuous graphene strips. Strong interference between the bright and dark modes enables the metasurface to generate a significant triple plasmon-induced transparency (PIT). Varying the coupling distance between the horizontal strips, double-PIT and triple-PIT can be transformed into each other. During the reduction of the transparent window, electromagnetic waves undergo strong phase changes, resulting in a higher group index. After structural optimization, the maximum time delay and group index can be as high as 2.624 ps and 3934, surpassing comparable slow light devices. The proposed patterned graphene metasurface provides theoretical guidance for designing high-performance slow light devices for optical storage, nonlinear optics and quantum optics.