Light Confinement Research Articles

Ultrahigh‐Q Resonance in Bound States in the Continuum–Enabled Plasmonic Terahertz Metasurface

The study of optical resonators is of significant importance in terms of their ability to confine light in optical devices. A major drawback of optical resonators is the phenomenon of light emission due to their limited capacity for light confinement. Bound states in the continuum are gaining significant attention in the realization of optical devices due to their unique ability for reducing light scattering via interference mechanisms. This process can potentially suppress scattering, leading to improved optical performance. Using this concept, a metasurface having two elliptical silicon (Si) resonators nonidentically angled to create an out‐of‐plane asymmetry is studied. Various parameters are optimized by employing a genetic algorithm (GA) to subsequently achieve a high‐Q factor at terahertz frequencies. Herein, the device is fabricated using a novel method, and a thick high‐index resonator is achieved. Terahertz measurements are carried out to validate the results. It is indicated in the experimental results that plasmons appear at the top surface of the metasurface and create strong sharp resonances that are sensitive to the external environment. Owing to strong field confinement ability, and high‐Q factor, the metasurface is sensitive to its surrounding environment and can be essentially employed in terahertz sensing applications.

Two-dimensional heterostructure quasi-BIC photonic crystal surface-emitting laser with low divergence

Abstract High beam quality, large-area output, and small footprint are significant pursuing goals for vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), which impose strict requirements on tight light confinements with minimized radiation losses. To achieve this, bound states in the continuum (BICs) have been demonstrated as an effective way of trapping light. Here, we combine BICs and photonic bandgaps to realize a quasi-BIC single-mode photonic crystal (PhC) laser on a colloidal quantum dots (CQDs)/silicon oxide (SiO2) hybrid integrated platform. The PhC cavity is a defect-free hexagonal heterostructure with three regions, and the thin CQDs film is embedded within the SiO2 nanopillar planar array as both an optical gain material and a backbone for the PhC. The mode gaps between different regions provide the lateral confinement while the quasi-BICs near the Γ-point generate the small-divergence vertical radiation coupling, resulting in a well-defined emission concentrating within ±1.85° of the normal surface direction and an optical pumping energy density threshold of 216.75 μJ/cm2. Our results demonstrate the design flexibility and versatility of the quasi-BIC laser even with a low contrast of a refractive index between the PhC slab and the substrate, which has potential applications in cavity quantum electrodynamics, nonlinear optics, and integrated photonics.

Breaking bandgap limitation: Improved photosensitization in plasmonic-based CsPbBr3 photodetectors via hot-electron injection

A higher detection performance and stability are always pursued in the development of photoelectric or photo-electrochemical devices, critical for their further commercial application. Here, we report a CsPbBr3-based photodetector engineered from a multilayer Si/Ag islands/CsPbBr3/PMMA system, showing an evidently enhanced photosensitization and breaking the absorption edge of CsPbBr3. On the one hand, the photocurrent contribution from plasmonic hot-electron injection effectively extends the detection limit of our photodetectors much below the band edge of CsPbBr3, depending only on Schottky barrier. On the other hand, the surface plasmons on nanoscale silver islands can considerably improve the light harvesting ability of the CsPbBr3 layer, ascribed to the confinement of light in the adjacency of silver islands. Numerical simulations show the localized enhancement of light near silver islands, corresponding to the excitation of localized surface plasmon resonances. It shows a higher light intensity distribution inside the CsPbBr3 layer of the photodetector consisting of Si/Ag islands/CsPbBr3/PMMA with the photodetector with only Ag islands in accordance with their current–voltage(I–V) characteristics. Ultimately, our plasmonic CsPbBr3-based photodetector presents a >10-fold increase in the photocurrent and a doubling of the operating lifetime. Our work provides important insight into the realization of the performance and stability of optoelectronic devices based on plasmonics.

Numerical analysis of optical confinement insilica and tellurite multicore fibers fornear-infrared image transportation.

We analyzed light confinement in circular step-index cores of tellurite and silica fibers through numerical calculations and also examined crosstalk between the fundamental modes of cores in multicore fibers. Our analysis showed that tellurite fibers have a pixel density about 2.2 times higher and a brightness about 1.4 times brighter than silica fibers. As a result, tellurite multicore image fibers have the potential to provide improved resolution and brightness for near-infrared image transportation compared with silica fibers.

Confined steady simple shear flow of polymeric liquids

In a confined simple shear flow, the macromolecules of a polymeric liquid reorient near the walls so that the measured viscosity decreases. For instance, in a small-amplitude oscillatory shear flow, the real part of the complex viscosity decreases with confinement, and macromolecular orientation explains this. These effects in oscillation have been explained analytically for a rigid dumbbell suspension and, for a confined small-amplitude oscillatory shear flow, the summation coefficients have been determined. By contrast, for the confined steady shear flow, the summation coefficients are undetermined. In this paper, we determine these coefficients and use them to evaluate the steady shear (i) viscosity and (ii) normal stress coefficients for a rigid dumbbell suspension. We find that the zero-shear viscosity and the zero-shear first normal stress coefficients decrease with confinement. We further find that the dimensionless (i) steady shear viscosity curve increases with confinement and (ii) first normal stress coefficient first decreases with light confinement and then increases with greater confinement. We confirm our theory, at low confinement, by comparing with our new measurements of the confined zero-shear viscosity of a polystyrene solution.

Radiative volume plasmon and phonon-polariton resonances in TiN-based plasmonic/polar-dielectric hyperbolic optical metamaterials

Ferrell and Berreman modes are absorption resonances in thin metal films and polar-dielectric media that arise from radiative bulk plasmon-polariton and phonon-polariton excitations. Compared to surface polaritons, Ferrell and Berreman modes occur due to volume charge oscillations across the medium and provide a unique pathway for light–matter interactions. Though the resonances are studied individually, stringent polarization and material requirements have prevented their observation in one host medium. Here, we show simultaneous excitation of Ferrell and Berreman absorption resonances in refractory epitaxial TiN/Al0.72Sc0.28N plasmonic metal/polar-dielectric hyperbolic metamaterials in the visible and far-infrared spectral ranges. The nanoscale periodicity of the superlattices enables the coupling of bulk plasmons (and longitudinal optical phonons) across different TiN (and Al0.72Sc0.28N) layers and allows polarization matching with free-space light that results in Ferrell (and Berreman) mode excitations. Ferrell and Berreman absorption resonances can be used for strong light confinement in radiative cooling, thermophotovoltaics, and other dual-band applications.

Improvement of Optical Confinement for Terahertz Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser with Square-Lattice Photonic Crystal Structure

A new method proposed to enhance the optical confinement of the terahertz band in a vertical cavity surface emitting laser involves introducing a square-lattice photonic crystal structure. This structure’s filling factor was optimized by computing the energy band structure and optical band values of the photonic crystal. The optimal optical band value is 0.436–0.528 a/λ. At a specific carrier concentration, the real part of dielectric constant of GaAs/AlGaAs materials will gradually increase with the increase of Al elements. By adjusting the length of the resonant cavity, a vertical cavity surface emitting laser with two wavelengths can be created without utilizing current injection. Additionally, the photonic crystal structure’s control effect on the transverse mode of the vertical cavity surface emitting laser and the release effect of the PN junction light confinement were analyzed. Numerical calculations indicated that incorporating a cubic photonic crystal structure in the vertical cavity surface emitting laser resulted in a 2× increase in the difference frequency intensity and a 6.33× increase in the optical field intensity.

Actively Tunable Phonon Polaritons in Twisted α-MoO3 Slabs With Weyl Semimetal Interlayer

Hybrid phonon polaritons (PhPs) in polar van der Waals (vdW) layered materials are very appealing for the confinement of light at the nanoscale and have facilitated various applications. However, manipulation of in-plane anisotropic PhPs via external stimuli presents a significant challenge. Here, we offer a lithography-free avenue to create structure for the realization of hybridized PhPs from α-phase molybdenum trioxide (α-MoO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> ) vdW crystal with dependence on the chemical potential of Weyl semimetals (WSM). We demonstrate the distinct dispersion tunability of the strongly coupled PhPs and the optical topologic transitions from open to closed iso-frequency contours (IFCs). As the chemical potential is strongly temperature dependent, an alteration of the hybridization will be met by changing the temperature of surroundings, which enables an efficient way for the control of light-matter interaction at nanoscale in the mid-infrared (MIR) range.

Highly confined low-loss light transmission in linear array-enabled hybrid plasmonic waveguides

Deep subwavelength highly confined and long-range optical propagation is vital for photonics integration. However, the performance of the guided mode could be improved by the trade-off between light confinement and loss. Here, we demonstrate a high-performance hybrid waveguide consisting of a high-index nanowire separated from a linear array by a low-index dielectric gap. The array significantly achieves the plasmonic platform optimization based on a linear combination of few-layer graphene (FLG) and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) layers. Through the hybridization of graphene plasmon polaritons and hyperbolic phonon polaritons mode, the resulting hybrid waveguide shows at least double times larger propagation distance and smaller mode area than the multilayer waveguide. Further, modulated by altering material configuration and geometric effects, the mode properties reveal that it is more flexible to adjust the optical transmission, along with a strong deep-subwavelength mode with low loss. Because of highly confined low-loss propagation, the hybrid waveguide is expected to be an excellent building block for various mid-infrared photonic integrated circuits. The present structure also has the potential to be extended to other FLGs, like magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene and trilayer graphene/hBN moiré superlattice.

Direct nano-imaging of light-matter interactions in nanoscale excitonic emitters

Strong light-matter interactions in localized nano-emitters placed near metallic mirrors have been widely reported via spectroscopic studies in the optical far-field. Here, we report a near-field nano-spectroscopic study of localized nanoscale emitters on a flat Au substrate. Using quasi 2-dimensional CdSe/CdxZn1-xS nanoplatelets, we observe directional propagation on the Au substrate of surface plasmon polaritons launched from the excitons of the nanoplatelets as wave-like fringe patterns in the near-field photoluminescence maps. These fringe patterns were confirmed via extensive electromagnetic wave simulations to be standing-waves formed between the tip and the edge-up assembled nano-emitters on the substrate plane. We further report that both light confinement and in-plane emission can be engineered by tuning the surrounding dielectric environment of the nanoplatelets. Our results lead to renewed understanding of in-plane, near-field electromagnetic signal transduction from the localized nano-emitters with profound implications in nano and quantum photonics as well as resonant optoelectronics.

Microsphere‐Aided Super‐Resolution Scanning Spectral and Photocurrent Microscopy for Optoelectronic Devices

AbstractDielectric microspheres naturally possess unique optical properties by which the light's focus and confinement can be manipulated on a microscale. Combining microspheres and optical or Raman microscopy, super‐resolution imaging beyond the diffraction limit and enhancement of Raman signals are demonstrated to provide abundant spectroscopic information on materials. However, microsphere‐aided super‐resolution scanning photocurrent imaging remains challenging to date. Here, based on the photonic nanojet mechanism, a super‐resolution photocurrent and spectral microscopy equipped with a scanning tip with silica dielectric microspheres are presented. With such microsphere‐aided microscopy, order of magnitude enhancements for single‐point Raman and photoluminescence signals can be achieved, and the spatial resolutions for photocurrent and spectral mapping surpass the best resolution of the original confocal system restricted by the diffraction limit. This versatile system enables correlative super‐resolution spectral and photocurrent imaging, serving as a reliable tool for comprehensively understanding and uncovering the optoelectronic properties of materials.

Optimization of strip-based hybrid plasmonic terahertz waveguide with distributed Bragg reflector layers

In view of recent developments in the utilization of terahertz (THz) communications technology for the increasing demands of high speed and data rates for various wireless applications, this research work targets the design and analysis of distributed Bragg reflector (DBR)-based hybrid plasmonic THz waveguide. This THz waveguide operates at a frequency range from 2.5 to 3.5 THz. The proposed DBR-based hybrid plasmonic THz waveguide consists of DBR layers of gallium arsenide (GaAs) and aluminum arsenide, high-density polyethylene (HDPE) as substrate, a GaAs stripe for wave-guidance, and few layers of graphene layers in HDPE for better confinement. To increase the light confinement between DBR and graphene, a GaAs strip is placed into HDPE. By altering the width and height of the GaAs strip, the parameters birefringence, mode field diameter (MFD), confinement loss, effective mode area, beat length, and dispersion have been fully examined. The obtained simulation results shows high birefringence of 0.6276, maximum MFD of 45 mm, low confinement loss of 7.5 × 10 − 9 mm − 1, high effective mode area of 16.5 mm2, and low anomalous dispersion of 0.0023 (ps/THz/cm) in the range of 2.5 to 3.5 THz. This optimized THz waveguide may helps to enable in guided THz applications for photonic integrated circuits.

Sol–Gel Photonic Glasses: From Material to Application

In this review, we present a short overview of the development of sol-gel glasses for application in the field of photonics, with a focus on some of the most interesting results obtained by our group and collaborators in that area. Our main attention is devoted to silicate glasses of different compositions, which are characterized by specific optical and spectroscopic properties for various applications, ranging from luminescent systems to light-confining structures and memristors. In particular, the roles of rare-earth doping, matrix composition, the densification process and the fabrication protocol on the structural, optical and spectroscopic properties of the developed photonic systems are discussed through appropriate examples. Some achievements in the fabrication of oxide sol-gel optical waveguides and of micro- and nanostructures for the confinement of light are also briefly discussed.

A photonic integrated chip platform for interlayer exciton valley routing

Interlayer excitons in two-dimensional semiconductor heterostructures show suppressed electron–hole overlap resulting in longer radiative lifetimes as compared to intralayer excitons. Such tightly bound interlayer excitons are relevant for important optoelectronic applications, including light storage and quantum communication. Their optical accessibility is, however, limited due to their out-of-plane transition dipole moment. In this work, we design a complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor-compatible photonic integrated chip platform for enhanced near-field coupling of these interlayer excitons with the whispering gallery modes of a microresonator, exploiting the high confinement of light in a small modal volume and high-quality factor of the system. Our platform allows for highly selective emission routing via engineering an asymmetric light transmission that facilitates efficient readout and channeling of the excitonic valley state from such systems.

Review of Microbottle Resonators for Sensing Applications

Microbottle resonators (MBR) are bottle-like structures fabricated by varying the radius of an optical fiber. MBRs can support whispering gallery modes (WGM) by the total internal reflection of the light coupled into the MBRs. MBRs have a significant advantage in sensing and other advanced optical applications due to their light confinement abilities in a relatively small mode volume and having high Q factors. This review starts with an introduction to MBRs’ optical properties, coupling methods, and sensing mechanisms. The sensing principle and sensing parameters of MBRs are discussed here as well. Then, practical MBRs fabrication methods and sensing applications are presented.

Scalable manufacturing of high-index atomic layer–polymer hybrid metasurfaces for metaphotonics in the visible

Metalenses are attractive alternatives to conventional bulky refractive lenses owing to their superior light-modulating performance and sub-micrometre-scale thicknesses; however, limitations in existing fabrication techniques, including high cost, low throughput and small patterning area, have hindered their mass production. Here we demonstrate low-cost and high-throughput mass production of large-aperture visible metalenses using deep-ultraviolet argon fluoride immersion lithography and wafer-scale nanoimprint lithography. Once a 12″ master stamp is imprinted, hundreds of centimetre-scale metalenses can be fabricated using a thinly coated high-index film to enhance light confinement, resulting in a substantial increase in conversion efficiency. As a proof of concept, an ultrathin virtual reality device created with the printed metalens demonstrates its potential towards the scalable manufacturing of metaphotonic devices.

Monolithically integrated photonic crystal surface emitters on silicon with a vortex beam by using bound states in the continuum.

Optical resonant cavities with high quality factor (Q-factor) are widely used in science and technology for their capabilities of strong confinement of light and enhanced light-matter interaction. The 2D photonic crystal structure with bound states in the continuum (BICs) is a novel concept for resonators with ultra-compact device size, which can be used to generate surface emitting vortex beams based on symmetry-protected BICs at the Γ point. Here, to the best of our knowledge, we demonstrate the first photonic crystal surface emitter with a vortex beam by using BICs monolithically grown on CMOS-compatible silicon substrate. The fabricated quantum-dot BICs-based surface emitter operates at 1.3 µm under room temperature (RT) with a low continuous wave (CW) optically pumped condition. We also reveal the BIC's amplified spontaneous emission with the property of a polarization vortex beam, which is promising to provide a novel degree of freedom in classical and quantum realms.

Generation of Tamm Plasmon Resonances for Light Confinement Applications in Narrowband Gradient-Index Filters Based on Nanoporous Anodic Alumina.

Gold-coated gradient-index filters based on nanoporous anodic alumina (Au-coated NAA-GIFs) were used as model platforms to elucidate how Tamm plasmons can be tailored by engineering the geometric features of the plasmonic and photonic components of these hybrid structures. NAA-GIFs with well-resolved, intense photonic stopbands at two positions of the visible spectrum were fabricated through sinusoidal pulse anodization. These model photonic crystals were used to assess how the quality of Tamm plasmon resonances can be enhanced by tuning the features of the dielectric mirror and the thickness of the porous gold coating layer. It is found that the highest value of the quality factor of Tamm resonance (Q Tamm = 237) is obtained for 11 nm of gold on a dielectric mirror with low porosity corresponding to the resonant spectral position of λTamm of ∼698 nm. Our analysis indicates that Tamm resonances in as-produced Au-coated NAA-GIFs are weak due to the constrained range of wavelengths (narrow bands) at which these photonic crystal structures reflect light. However, after broadening of their photonic stopband upon pore widening, Tamm resonances become better resolved, with higher intensity. It is also observed that the quality of light confinement worsens progressively with the thickness of the porous gold coating layer after a critical value. In contrast to conventional surface plasmon resonance systems, this hybrid Tamm porous system does not require complex coupling systems and provides a nanoporous structure that can be readily tailored for a range of photonic technologies such as sensing and lasing.

Spectral properties of intermediate to high refractive index nanocubes.

Plasmonic resonances in sub-wavelength cavities, created by metallic nanocubes separated from a metallic surface by a dielectric gap, lead to strong light confinement and strong Purcell effect, with many applications in spectroscopy, enhanced light emission and optomechanics. However, the limited choice of metals, and the constraints on the sizes of the nanocubes, restrict the optical wavelength range of applications. We show that dielectric nanocubes made of intermediate to high refractive index materials exhibit similar but significantly blue shifted and enriched optical responses due to the interaction between gap plasmonic modes and internal modes. This result is explained, and the efficiency of dielectric nanocubes for light absorption and spontaneous emission is quantified by comparing the optical response and induced fluorescence enhancement of nanocubes made of barium titanate, tungsten trioxide, gallium phosphide, silicon, silver and rhodium.

Visualizing the Nanoscopic Field Distribution of Whispering-Gallery Modes in a Dielectric Sphere by Cathodoluminescence.

A spherical dielectric particle can sustain the so-called whispering-gallery modes (WGMs), which can be regarded as circulating electromagnetic waves, resulting in the spatial confinement of light inside the particle. Despite the wide adoption of optical WGMs as a major light confinement mechanism in salient practical applications, direct imaging of the mode fields is still lacking and only partially addressed by simple photography and simulation work. The present study comprehensively covers this research gap by demonstrating the nanoscale optical-field visualization of self-interference of light extracted from excited modes through experimentally obtained photon maps that directly portray the field distributions of the excited eigenmodes. To selectively choose the specific modes at a given light emission detection angle and resonance wavelength, we use cathodoluminescence-based scanning transmission electron microscopy supplemented with angle-, polarization-, and wavelength-resolved capabilities. Equipped with semi-analytical simulation tools, the internal field distributions of the whispering-gallery modes reveal that radiation emitted by a spherical resonator at a given resonance frequency is composed of the interference between multiple modes, with one or more of them being comparatively dominant, leading to a resulting distribution featuring complex patterns that explicitly depend on the detection angle and polarization. Direct visualization of the internal fields inside resonators enables a comprehensive understanding of WGMs that can shed light on the design of nanophotonic applications.