Large Field Enhancement Research Articles

Morphology Engineering for High-Q Plasmonic Surface Lattice Resonances with Large Field Enhancement

Plasmonic surface lattice resonances (SLRs) have endowed plasmonic systems with unprecedently high quality (Q) factors, giving rise to great advantages for light–matter interactions and boosting the developments of nanolaser, photodetector, biosensor and so on. However, it still lacks exploration to develop a strategy for achieving large electric field enhancements (FEs) while maintaining high Q factors of SLRs. Here, we investigate and verify such a strategy by engineering morphologies of plasmonic lattice, in which the influences of geometrical shapes, cross-section areas and structural compositions of particles are investigated. Firstly, we found that the Q factor of a plasmonic SLR is inversely proportional to the square of the cross-section area of the cell particles in the studied cases. Secondly, larger FEs of SLRs appear when the separated cell particles support stronger FEs. By combining these effects of particle morphology, we achieve a plasmonic SLR with Q factor and FE up to 2100 and 592 times, respectively. Additionally, supported by the derived connections between the Q factors and FEs of SLRs and the properties of cell particles, the property optimizations of SLRs can be done by optimizing the separated particles, which are distinctly time-saving in simulations. These results provide a guideline for the design of high-performance optical nanocavities, and can benefit a variety of fields including biosensing, nonlinear optics and quantum information processing.

Dielectric dual-dimer metasurface for enhanced mid-infrared chiral sensing under both excitation modes

Abstract Chirality (C) is a fundamental symmetry property of objects. Detecting and distinguishing molecular chirality in the infrared spectrum is important in life sciences, biology, and chemistry. In this paper, we demonstrate an achiral metasurface based on a gaped dual-germanium-dimer array for enhanced mid-infrared chiral sensing under both circularly polarized light (CPL) and linearly polarized light (LPL) excitations. With the metasurface, strong electric and magnetic dipole resonances with large field enhancement can be generated, resulting in an accessible superchiral hotspot in the dimer gaps under both excitation modes. The maximum electric and magnetic field enhancements exceed 220 and 100 for the bare metasurface, and exceed 70 and 60 for the metasurface coated with a 50 nm chiral biolayer under both excitations, respectively. Importantly, a high volume-averaged C enhancement C E_ave of 241 (444) and C E_ave_bio of 161 (102) under CPL (LPL) excitation can be achieved for the bare metasurface and it coated with the chiral biolayer, respectively. These results may open up new possibilities for ultrasensitive vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) and rotational optical dispersion (ORD) spectroscopy in the mid-infrared range.

High-Q Fano resonances in diamond nanopillars

We report on the optical behaviour of a nanostructured diamond surface on a glass substrate. The numerical model reveals that a simple geometrical pattern sustains Fano-like resonances with a Q-factor as high as 3.5 · 105 that can be excited by plane waves impinging normally on the surface. We show that the geometrical parameters of the nanopillars affect both the resonant frequency and the line shape. The nanostructured surface can be straightforwardly used as a refractive index sensor with high sensitivity and linearity. Our findings show that diamond-based meta-surfaces are a valuable nanophotonic platform to control light propagation at the nanoscale, enabling large field enhancement within the nanoresonators that can foster both linear and nonlinear effects.

Temperature-controlled optical switch metasurface with large local field enhancement based on FW-BIC

Introduction: Many researchers have explored the bound states in the continuum (BICs) as a particular bound wave state which can be used to achieve a very high Q-factor. High-Q factor devices, typically based on the bound states in the continuum (BICs), are well used in the fields of hypersensitive biochemical sensors, non-linear effects enhancement, plasmon lasers, and hi-performance filtering. However, symmetrical-protected BIC is difficult to achieve experimentally high-Q factor because it strongly depends on the geometry and can be destroyed by any slight disturbance in the potential well.Methods: Therefore, we proposed a parameter-adjusted Friedrich-Wintergen BIC based on the analysis model of time-coupled model theory, where the target system parameters can be tuned to achieve high-Q excitation.Results: Moreover, considering the tunability and flexibility of the components in various practical applications, we integrate active materials into metasurface arrays with the help of external stimuli to achieve modulation of high-Q resonances. Our results demonstrate that an optical resonator based on FW-BIC can modulate the BIC state by changing the intermediate gap.Discussion: The BIC state and the high-Q factor Fano resonance can be dynamically tuned by adding temperature-sensitive VO2 material.

Corona Discharge Behaviors with Presence of Floating Electrode in Air Insulation using Numerical Model Analysis

This paper deals with numerical analysis method for analyzing the partial discharge behaviors in terms of corona discharge in the presence of a floating electrode under lightning impulse voltage. To analyze the corona discharge behaviors at 0.5 mm short electrode gap system as basic research work between main conductor and floating electrode, we considered fully coupled numerical model based on the charge continuity equations for positively charged ion, negatively charged ion and free electrons. Poisson’s equation is coupled with hydro-dynamic drift-diffusion equations derived from the three kinds of charge continuity equation. Fowler-Nordheim field emission is assumed that the electron emission by electric field is used as boundary conditions for main conductor and floating electrode. As a results, it is found that the floating electrode creates a non-uniform electric field distribution with a large field enhancement, causing ionization to initiate corona discharge. In other words, floating electrode is early corona discharge inception by collecting the induced charge developed by high voltage electrode. This result is expected to be applicable to various corona discharge generating systems as well as insulation design of power apparatus with presence defects such as a floating metal particle under lightning impulse voltage.

Electric-Field Emission Mechanism in Q-Carbon Field Emitters.

In this paper, we report the excellent field emission properties of Q-carbon and analyze its field emission characteristics through structural, morphological, and electronic property correlations, supported by density functional theory (DFT) simulation studies. The Q-carbon field emitters show impressive and stable field emission properties, such as a low turn-on electric field of ∼2.38 V/μm, a high emission current density of ∼33 μA/cm2, and a critical field of ∼2.44 V/μm for the transition from a linear region to the saturation region in the F-N plot. The outstanding field emission properties of Q-carbon are attributed to (i) a unique sp2/sp3 mixture in Q-carbon, (ii) sp2-bonded highly conductive amorphous carbon-rich channels inside the Q-carbon cluster, (iii) a large local field enhancement due to the local geometry and microstructure of Q-carbon, and (iv) the presence of sp2-bonded amorphous carbon regions in the composite film. The temperature-dependent field emission properties, such as extreme sensitivity and an enhancement in the emission current density with temperature, can be explained by the local density of states near the Fermi level and the excellent thermal stability of the Q-carbon field emitters. From DFT simulation studies, the computed work function and the field-enhancement factor were determined to be 3.62 eV and ∼2300, respectively, which explains the excellent field emission characteristics of Q-carbon. The obtained field emission properties, in most cases, were superior to those from other carbon/diamond-based field emitters, which will open new frontiers in field emission-based electronic applications.

Electric Field Analysis on the Corona Discharge Phenomenon According to the Variable Air Space between the Ionizer and Ground Current Collector

In this paper, we present the optimized air space of the lightning protection rod (SK-AOR380) with the function of a charge transfer system (CTS). For evaluation of CTS in the laboratory setting, some studies have focused on the modification of the structure and shape of the CTS; the air space is designed (>2 mm) as an empirical design without quantitative data. However, in this paper, we have focused on the air space between the ionizer conductor and current collector to control the inception and occurrence position of corona discharge in air insulation. This is because the performance, such as the initial corona discharge inception of CTS, is determined by the air space. The simulation analysis was performed in a narrow, micro-sized air space as a first step, where the air space was reduced to the extent possible for simulation. To evaluate the performance of SK-AOR380 according to the narrow air space, we considered the numerical analysis method. The fundamental equations consist of Poisson’s equation and the charge continuity equation. Poisson’s equation for electric fields is a fully coupled numerical model based on the charge continuity equations for a positively charged ion, negatively charged ion, and free electron. Fowler–Nordheim electron emission was employed for the boundary condition at the surface of the ionizer conductor. To simulate the corona discharge behavior under standard lightning impulse voltage, we used a source of lightning voltage with 1.2/50 μs based on a double exponential equation; the corona discharge behaviors (electric field distribution, free electron density, positive and negative ion density) were investigated dependent on each time step (0.5, 1 and 1.2 μs) until 3.5 μs. The results revealed that the characteristics graph of free electron density, positive and negative ion density showed similar trends, with lightning impulse voltage increasing with increasing time steps until 1.2 μs and each density resulted in a decreasing trend from 1.2 μs to 3.5 μs. The SK-AOR380 is improved with a decreasing air space in terms of electric field distribution, electron, and ion density. In other words, the 0.0005 mm air space created a non-uniform electric field distribution with a large field enhancement, causing ionization to initiate corona discharge. In addition, in the case of a 0.0005 mm air space, the electric field and electron density are increased by 1.3 and 1.9 times, respectively, than that of 0.001 mm. However, there was no longer a significant difference under 0.0005 mm in the simulation results. To improve the CTS, we suggest the air space between the ionizer conductor and current collector should be less than 2 mm than that of conventional CTS from our research work.

Study on explosive emission characteristics of the silicon carbide modified graphite cathodes with varied morphologies

Explosive emission cathodes are extensively used in high power microwave sources. Growing requirements are highlighted in the performance of the explosive emission cathode with the development of the high power microwave technology. In order to improve the emission properties of the graphite cathode, modifications using SiC particles or whiskers are carried out by the in situ chemical vapor reaction method. The experiments demonstrate that SiC whiskers accelerate the explosive emission turn-on speed of the graphite cathode for large field enhancement factors and improve the emission uniformity due to the surface flashover plasma generation mechanism. SiC particles increase the emission capability of the graphite cathode, possibly corresponding to the dielectric properties of SiC particles. These results suggest that the SiC whiskers modified graphite cathode is suitable for applications under low magnetic field and large emission area conditions, while the SiC particles modified graphite cathode has a brighter application prospect in the long-time stable operation.

Real-Time Complex Dielectric Constant Measurement of Liquids Using Epsilon-Near-Zero Supercoupling Channels

This article proposes a device for real-time measurement of the complex dielectric constant of liquids at X-band. The device consists of a narrow waveguide channel operating at the cut-off frequency to achieve a large field enhancement based on Epsilon-Near-Zero (ENZ) supercoupling theory. A micro-3D-printed sample holder is placed inside the channel and connected to feeding tubes that are designed to prevent energy leakage from the channel. The field enhancement and confinement inside the channel creates a strong interaction with the liquids under test, thereby providing very sensitive measurements over a wide range of permittivities (approx. 1-65). Two variations of the device are fabricated. One that provides a higher accuracy and another that provides a higher sensitivity. A full-wave simulation based forward model is developed and optimized using a constrained Nelder-Mead simplex. An inversion is performed based on the optimized forward model to find the complex permittivity from the measured scattering parameters. Two sets of experiments are performed, one of static liquid mixtures and another of time-varying liquid mixtures. The static measurements are done with binary mixtures of ethanol-water and methanol-water. The time-varying measurements are done with ethanol-water-sugar mixtures and ethanol-water mixtures. The measured results are consistent between the two devices and are in very good agreement with the published literature over the entire range of dielectric constants tested.

CNT/Cu composite cathode: A new approach to long lifetime for explosive emission cathode

Carbon nanotube (CNT) cathodes have attracted much attention in recent years due to the advantages of large field enhancement factor and low emission threshold. However, the severe ablation under intense emission makes the lifetime short and therefore limits the application in the field such as high power microwave generation. To resolve this problem, this paper proposes to mix CNTs with metals, and a novel CNT/Cu composite cathode is manufactured. The lifetime experiments under voltage of 940 kV and repetition frequency of 20 Hz demonstrate that the lifetime of the CNT/Cu composite cathode is over 3 × 105 pulses, which is much longer than that of the normal copper cathode by at least one order of magnitude. The microscopic morphology analysis reveals that the CNT micro-protrusions and whiskers should be vital for the good emission property of the new cathode.

Exploiting plasmons in 2D metals for refractive index sensing: Simulation study

Ultrathin and two-dimensional (2D) metals can support strong plasmons, with concomitant tight field confinement and large field enhancement. Accordingly, 2D-metal nanostructures exhibiting plasmonic resonances are highly sensitive to the environment and intrinsically suitable for optical sensing. Here, based on a proof-of-concept numerical study, nano-engineered ultrathin 2D-metal films that support infrared plasmons are demonstrated to enable highly responsive refractive index (RI) sensing. For 3 nm-Au nanoribbons exhibiting plasmonic resonances at wavelengths around 1600 nm, a RI sensitivity of SRI > 650 nm per refractive index unit (RIU) is observed for a 100 nm-thick analyte layer. A parametric study of the 2D-Au system indicates the strong dependence of the RI sensitivity on the 2D-metal thickness. Furthermore, for an analyte layer as thin as 1 nm, a RI sensitivity up to 110 (90 nm/RIU) is observed in atomically thin 2D-In (2D-Ga) nanoribbons exhibiting highly localized plasmonic resonances at mid-infrared wavelengths. Our results not only reveal the extraordinary sensing characteristics of 2D-metal systems but also provide insight into the development of 2D-metal-based plasmonic devices for enhanced IR detection.

Inverse designed plasmonic metasurface with parts per billion optical hydrogen detection

Plasmonic sensors rely on optical resonances in metal nanoparticles and are typically limited by their broad spectral features. This constraint is particularly taxing for optical hydrogen sensors, in which hydrogen is absorbed inside optically-lossy Pd nanostructures and for which state-of-the-art detection limits are only at the low parts-per-million (ppm) range. Here, we overcome this limitation by inversely designing a plasmonic metasurface based on a periodic array of Pd nanoparticles. Guided by a particle swarm optimization algorithm, we numerically identify and experimentally demonstrate a sensor with an optimal balance between a narrow spectral linewidth and a large field enhancement inside the nanoparticles, enabling a measured hydrogen detection limit of 250 parts-per-billion (ppb). Our work significantly improves current plasmonic hydrogen sensor capabilities and, in a broader context, highlights the power of inverse design of plasmonic metasurfaces for ultrasensitive optical (gas) detection.

Molybdenum Oxide Functional Passivation of Aluminum Dimers for Enhancing Optical-Field and Environmental Stability

In this contribution, we present an experimental and numerical study on the coating of Al plasmonic nanostructures through a conformal layer of high-refractive-index molybdenum oxide. The investigated structures are closely coupled nanodisks where we observe that the effect of the thin coating is to help gap narrowing down to the sub-5-nm range, where a large electromagnetic field enhancement and confinement can be achieved. The solution represents an alternative to more complex and challenging lithographic approaches, and results are also advantageous for enhancing the long-term stability of aluminum nanostructures.

Acoustics of a Partially Partitioned Narrow Slit Connected to a Half-Plane: Case Study for Exponential Quasi-Bound States in the Continuum and their Resonant Excitation

Localized wave oscillations in an open system that do not decay or grow in time, despite their frequency lying within a continuous spectrum of radiation modes carrying energy to or from infinity, are known as bound states in the continuum (BIC). Small perturbations from the typically delicate conditions for BIC almost always result in the waves weakly coupling with the radiation modes, leading to leaky states called quasi-BIC that have a large quality factor. We study the asymptotic nature of this weak coupling in the case of acoustic waves interacting with a rigid substrate featuring a partially partitioned slit---a setup that supports quasi-BIC that exponentially approach BIC as the slit is made increasingly narrow. In that limit, we use the method of matched asymptotic expansions in conjunction with reciprocal relations to study those quasi-BIC and their resonant excitation. In particular, we derive a leading approximation for the exponentially small imaginary part of each wavenumber eigenvalue (inversely proportional to quality factor), which is beyond all orders of the expansion for the wavenumber eigenvalue itself. Furthermore, we derive a leading approximation for the exponentially large amplitudes of the states in the case where they are resonantly excited by a plane wave at oblique incidence. These resonances occur in exponentially narrow wavenumber intervals and are physically manifested in cylindrical-dipolar waves emanating from the slit aperture and exponentially large field enhancements inside the slit. The asymptotic approximations are validated against numerical calculations.

Evolutionary algorithm to design high-cooperativity optical cavities

Using an evolutionary algorithm combined with a gradient descent (GD) method we design optical cavities with significantly enhanced strong coupling rates between cavity photons and a single quantum emitter. Our approach allows us to find specially designed non-spherical mirrors which lead to high-finesse cavity eigenmodes with large field enhancement at the center of the cavity. The method is based on adding consecutive perturbations to an initial spherical mirror shape using the GD method for optimization. We present mirror profiles which demonstrate higher cavity cooperativity than any spherical cavity of the same size. Finally, we demonstrate numerically how such a cavity enhances the operation frequency and purity of coupling a Ca+ ion to an optical fiber photon.

Second-harmonic generation from singular metasurfaces

We present a theoretical study of second-harmonic generation from a singular metasurface. The singular metasurfaces strongly interact with the incident light, where the large field enhancement forms an intense surface polarization that generates the second-harmonic field. By using transformation optics, the calculation of nonlinear optical response is converted from the metasurface frame to that of a simple slab geometry, largely reducing the complexity of the problem. In addition, the singular metasurface exhibits a weak dependence on the incident angle of light, which can be potentially used as an all-angle device for harmonic generations. Finally, we study the symmetry dependence of second-harmonic generation in the far field for the singular metasurface and show how to enhance the conversion efficiency under normal incidence by breaking the surface inversion symmetry.

A polarization-resolved ECL strategy based on the surface plasmon coupling effect of orientational Au nanobipyramids patterned structures

Here, we developed a polarization-resolved surface plasmon coupling electrochemiluminescence (ECL) strategy based on orientational Au nanobipyramids (Au NBPs) patterned structures. As the surface plasmonic materials, the Au NBPs with large localized electromagnetic field enhancement were used to construct the different patterned structures through the droplet evaporation induced assembly. The distinct morphology of the horizontal and vertical Au NBPs patterned structures provided the different plasmonic properties reflecting on resonance peak positions and polarized absorbance. As a result, the variations of the polarized ECL emission of SnS2 QDs have been regulated by the Au NBPs patterned structures via the surface plasmon coupling progress. Because of the superior polarization-resolved ECL performances, the sensing system was used to analyze the miRNA-21 and miRNA-205 expression level in tumor tissues of triple negative breast cancer patients. The satisfactory results indicated this polarization-resolved sensing strategy possessed great potential for clinical analysis.

Pressured-induced superconducting phase with large upper critical field and concomitant enhancement of antiferromagnetic transition in EuTe2

We report an unusual pressure-induced superconducting state that coexists with an antiferromagnetic ordering of Eu2+ moments and shows a large upper critical field comparable to the Pauli paramagnetic limit in EuTe2. In concomitant with the emergence of superconductivity with Tc ≈ 3–5 K above Pc ≈ 6 GPa, the antiferromagnetic transition temperature TN(P) experiences a quicker rise with the slope increased dramatically from dTN/dP = 0.85(14) K/GPa for P ≤ Pc to 3.7(2) K/GPa for P ≥ Pc. Moreover, the superconducting state can survive in the spin-flop state with a net ferromagnetic component of the Eu2+ sublattice under moderate magnetic fields μ0H ≥ 2 T. Our findings establish the pressurized EuTe2 as a rare magnetic superconductor possessing an intimated interplay between magnetism and superconductivity.

Experimental verification of ill-defined topologies and energy sinks in electromagnetic continua

It is experimentally verified that nonreciprocal photonic systems with continuous translation symmetry may have an ill-defined topology. The topological classification of such systems is only feasible when the material response is regularized with a spatial-frequency cutoff. We experimentally demonstrate that adjoining a small air layer to the relevant material interface may effectively imitate an idealized spatial cutoff that suppresses the nonreciprocal response for short wavelengths and regularizes the topology. Furthermore, it is experimentally verified that nonreciprocal systems with an ill-defined topology may be used to abruptly halt the energy flow in a unidirectional waveguide due to the violation of the bulk-edge correspondence. In particular, we report the formation of an energy sink that absorbs the incoming electromagnetic waves with a large field enhancement at the singularity.

Laser-Driven Petahertz Electron Ratchet Nanobubbles.

A laser-driven quantum electron ratchet nanodevice is proposed. The ratchet consists of a series of disconnected bubble-shaped nanodiode structures with a sharp tip to induce a large field enhancement. A laser pulse is used to create a plasmon oscillation in the vertical direction, and the shape of the bubble funnels the electrons toward the sharp tip leading to net electron transport in the horizontal direction. The electron current carries the fingerprint of the driving laser field. The system is modeled by using the time-dependent orbital free density functional theory with nanostructures containing thousands of atoms.