Plasmon Line Research Articles

High Chromaticity Aluminum Plasmonic Pixels for Active Liquid Crystal Displays.

Chromatic devices such as flat panel displays could, in principle, be substantially improved by incorporating aluminum plasmonic nanostructures instead of conventional chromophores that are susceptible to photobleaching. In nanostructure form, aluminum is capable of producing colors that span the visible region of the spectrum while contributing exceptional robustness, low cost, and streamlined manufacturability compatible with semiconductor manufacturing technology. However, individual aluminum nanostructures alone lack the vivid chromaticity of currently available chromophores because of the strong damping of the aluminum plasmon resonance in the visible region of the spectrum. In recent work, we showed that pixels formed by periodic arrays of Al nanostructures yield far more vivid coloration than the individual nanostructures. This progress was achieved by exploiting far-field diffractive coupling, which significantly suppresses the scattering response on the long-wavelength side of plasmonic pixel resonances. In the present work, we show that by utilizing another collective coupling effect, Fano interference, it is possible to substantially narrow the short-wavelength side of the pixel spectral response. Together, these two complementary effects provide unprecedented control of plasmonic pixel spectral line shape, resulting in aluminum pixels with far more vivid, monochromatic coloration across the entire RGB color gamut than previously attainable. We further demonstrate that pixels designed in this manner can be used directly as switchable elements in liquid crystal displays and determine the minimum and optimal numbers of nanorods required in an array to achieve good color quality and intensity.

Efficient Platform for Flexible Engineering of Superradiant, Fano-Type, and Subradiant Resonances

Delicate control of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) line shapes is crucial for the development of nanoplasmonics with dedicated applications. In this paper, we develop a method to fabricate large-scale periodic structures with significantly different plasmonic properties by the holographic lithography method. We show that SPR line shapes can be controllably engineered from a broad superradiant line shape to an asymmetrical Fano-type resonance, as well as an ultranarrow subradiant mode, which are clearly correlated with the structural parameter (morphology) of the fabricated structures. The wavelength of the SPR band can be tuned from the visible to near-infrared region by changing the incident angle. The nanostructures fabricated by the present method show a clear correlation between the morphology of plasmonic structures and SPR line shapes, which can serve as an efficient platform for engineering SPR line shapes for specific applications. Most importantly, the capability to produce structures of lar...

Propagation and localization of quantum dot emission along a gap-plasmonic transmission line.

Plasmonic transmission lines have great potential to serve as direct interconnects between nanoscale light spots. The guiding of gap plasmons in the slot between adjacent nanowire pairs provides improved propagation of surface plasmon polaritons while keeping strong light confinement. Yet propagation is fundamentally limited by losses in the metal. Here we show a workaround operation of the gap-plasmon transmission line, exploiting both gap and external modes present in the structure. Interference between these modes allows us to take advantage of the larger propagation distance of the external mode while preserving the high confinement of the gap mode, resulting in nanoscale confinement of the optical field over a longer distance. The performance of the gap-plasmon transmission line is probed experimentally by recording the propagation of quantum dots luminescence over distances of more than 4 μm. We observe a 35% increase in the effective propagation length of this multimode system compared to the theoretical limit for a pure gap mode. The applicability of this simple method to nanofabricated structures is theoretically confirmed and offers a realistic way to combine longer propagation distances with lateral plasmon confinement for far field nanoscale interconnects.

Multiple higher-order Fano resonances in plasmonic hollow cylindrical nanodimer

The optical properties of a nanodimer composed of hollow nanocylinders that are located in a close proximity to each other are investigated. The plasmon modes of the dimer resonator spectrally overlap and induce plasmonic Fano resonances due to destructive interference. For the generation of multiple Fano resonances with large modulation depths and sharp linewidths, several configurations of the dimer nanostructure are analyzed. Different kinds of unique Fano resonances are obtained by changing the polarization of incident light. Moreover, the spectral positions and modulation depths of the higher-order multiple Fano resonances can be flexibly tuned and controlled in the extinction spectrum by varying the geometrical parameters. The proposed resonator has the advantage to exhibit multiple Fano resonances with large modulation depths and offers high values of figure of merit and contrast ratio due to which it can be greatly appropriate for plasmon line shaping, slow light and broadband biosensing applications.

Fractal nanoparticle plasmonics: the Cayley tree.

There has been strong, ongoing interest over the past decade in developing strategies to design and engineer materials with tailored optical properties. Fractal-like nanoparticles and films have long been known to possess a remarkably broad-band optical response and are potential nanoscale components for realizing spectrum-spanning optical effects. Here we examine the role of self-similarity in a fractal geometry for the design of plasmon line shapes. By computing and fabricating simple Cayley tree nanostructures of increasing fractal order N, we are able to identify the principle behind how the multimodal plasmon spectrum of this system develops as the fractal order is increased. With increasing N, the fractal structure acquires an increasing number of modes with certain degeneracies: these modes correspond to plasmon oscillations on the different length scales inside a fractal. As a result, fractals with large N exhibit broad, multipeaked spectra from plasmons with large degeneracy numbers. The Cayley tree serves as an example of a more general, fractal-based route for the design of structures and media with highly complex optical line shapes.

Extinction properties of gold nanorod complexes

Plasmonics with subwavelength characteristics can break the diffraction limit of light and be used to produce the sub-wavelength optoelectronic device, thus it has aroused great interest for decades. Local surface plasmon resonance of metal nanoparticles has become one of the research hotspots due to the fact it can produce extinction and near-field enhancement effect. How to achieve controllable plasmon line shape and generate strong electromagnetic field enhancement is of great significance for improving the sensing performance, nonlinear effect and surface enhanced Raman factor of metallic nanostructures. The optical properties of plasmonic oligomer clusters composed of normal and L-shaped nanrod dimers are investigated by using the finite-difference time-domain method in this paper. There are two energy modes for an L-shaped nanorod due to its shaped anisotropy, where plasmons oscillate along the arms of the L-shaped nanorod or oscillate over the whole length of the L-shaped nanorod. Therefore, two bonding resonances appear in the spectrum of an L-shaped nanorod dimer, while only one bonding resonance exists for normal nanorod dimer. When a normal nanorod dimer and an L-shaped nanorod dimer are aligned together to form a quadrumer, the three bonding resonances can be excited simultaneously and radiative damping can be suppressed effectively around the dip spectral positions. It is shown that the optical responses of quadrumer can be strongly tuned by manipulating the geometry parameters. For example, the coupling between the two dimers can be modified by adjusting the separation, and the three resonances shift toward higher energies with the increasing of the separation. In addition, the optical responses of individual nanorod depend on the corresponding arm length. As a result, the three resonances of the quadrumer can also be well tuned by adjusting the arm length. Comparing the variation of resonance peak positions between L-shaped nanorod dimer and normal nanorod dimer, we can more intuitively understand spectral lineshape variation of quadrumer. These results can be used for guiding the design of nano-photonic devices for plasmonic oligomer clusters and also for developing the application of surface-enhanced Raman scattering and biological sensing.

Radiation and absorption properties of gold nanodipoles in transmitting mode

ABSTRACTThis article presents an analysis of radiation and absorption properties of cylindrical gold nanodipoles in the transmitting mode. The conventional antenna theory and the linear method of moments are used for theoretical analysis of these antennas in the near‐infrared and lower optical frequencies (100−500 THz). Frequency dependence of radiation and absorption parameters such as input impedance, efficiency, radiation, and loss resistance is calculated for different dipole's lengths and radii. The presented results can be useful to design efficient nanodipoles and to perform the input impedance matching of these antennas with plasmonic optical transmission lines. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 57:1–6, 2015

Plasmonic Grid Array of Gold Nanorods for Point-to-Point Optical Communications

A novel wire-grid array of nanorods is introduced. The array consists of five gold radiating rods and four gold perpendicular connecting rods. Each rod represents a plasmonic transmission line supporting single Surface Plasmon Polariton mode guided to the interface between the metal and surrounding dielectric. The propagation characteristics of this single strip plasmonic transmission line are studied using an integral equations formulation solved using the Method of Moments. The new array is designed for operation at a wavelength of 1.55 μm, which is commonly used by optical communication systems. The overall physical and electrical sizes of the array are (0.68-by-1.05 μm) and (λ <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">g</sub> -by-3λ <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">g</sub> /2), respectively. The maximum directivity of the proposed wire-grid nantenna array on top of a substrate with refractive index of 2 reaches 15.24 dBi. The proposed wire-grid nantenna array has a symmetric radiation pattern with reasonable side-lobe-level and extremely low cross-polarization level.

Integral equations formulation of plasmonic transmission lines.

In this paper, a comprehensive integral equation formulation of plasmonic transmission lines is presented for the first time. Such lines are made up of a number of metallic strips with arbitrary shapes and dimensions immersed within a stack of planar dielectric or metallic layers. These lines support a number of propagating modes. Each mode has its own phase constant, attenuation constant, and field distribution. The presented integral equation formulation is solved using the Method of Moments (MoM). It provides all the propagation characteristics of the modes. The new formulation is applied to a number of plasmonic transmission lines, such as: single rectangular strip, horizontally coupled strips, vertically coupled strips, triangular strip, and circular strip. The numerical study is performed in the frequency (wavelength) range of 150-450 THz (0.66-2.0 μm). The results of the proposed technique are compared with those obtained using Lumerical mode solution, and CST. Very good agreement has been observed. The main advantage of the MoM is its intrinsic speed for this type of problem compared to general purpose solvers.

Submicron omega-shaped plasmonic polarization rotator

In this paper, a novel compact plasmonic polarization converter is proposed. This rotator is based on conversion between even and odd modes of the coupled nanostrip plasmonic transmission line. The even and odd modes of that line have vertical and horizontal polarization, respectively. The proposed structure is capable of transferring the optical field from the substrate to the surface of the chip. This energy transfer between the surface and the substrate can be utilized for multilevel optical routing in plasmonic circuits. The device is optimized using a genetic algorithm for optimal performance at the optical telecommunication range of 1.55 μm. The cross-coupling is minimized over a wide wavelength range. The results are confirmed using full-wave electromagnetic simulation. The study includes a sensitivity analysis of the device’s response to perturbation in its main parameters. This novel device is appropriate for various applications in telecommunications and biomedical sensing.

Dipole Nantennas Terminated by Traveling Wave Rectifiers for Ambient Thermal Energy Harvesting

In this paper, rectennas formed from nanodipole antennas terminated by plasmonic metal–insulator–metal (MIM) travelling wave transmission line rectifiers are developed for ambient thermal energy harvesting at 30 THz. The transmission lines are formed from two strips coupled either vertically or laterally. A systematic design approach is presented, that shows how different components can be integrated with each other with maximum radiation receiving nantenna efficiency, maximum coupling efficiency between nantenna and rectifier, and maximum MIM diode rectifier efficiency. The tunneling current of the rectifier is calculated using the transfer matrix method and the nonequilibrium Green's function. A detailed parametric study of the coupled strips plasmonic transmission lines is presented and thoroughly discussed. The overall efficiencies of the proposed travelling wave rectennas are fully expressed and compared.

Impurity-induced plasmon damping in individual cobalt-doped hollow Au nanoshells.

The optical properties of plasmonic nanoparticles in the size range corresponding to the electrostatic, or dipole, limit have the potential to reveal effects otherwise masked by phase retardation. Here we examine the optical properties of individual, sub-50 nm hollow Au nanoshells (Co-HGNS), where Co is the initial sacrificial core nanoparticle, using single particle total internal reflection scattering (TIRS) spectroscopy. The residual Co present in the metallic shell induces a substantial broadening of the homogeneous plasmon resonance line width of the Co-HGNS, where the full width at half-maximum (fwhm) broadens proportionately with increasing Co content. This doping-induced line broadening provides a strategy for controlling plasmon line width independent of nanoparticle size, and has the potential to substantially modify the relative decay channels for localized nanoparticle surface plasmons.

Mode conversion in high-definition plasmonic optical nanocircuits.

Symmetric and antisymmetric guided modes on a plasmonic two-wire transmission line have distinct properties and are suitable for different circuit functions. Being able to locally convert the guided modes is important for realizing multifunctional optical nanocircuits. Here, we experimentally demonstrate successful local conversion between the symmetric and the antisymmetric modes in a single-crystalline gold plasmonic nanocircuit with an optimally designed mode converter for optical signals at 194.2 THz. Mode conversion may find applications in controlling nanoscale light-matter interaction.

Multiple Fano resonances in bimetallic layered nanostructures

Plasmonic Fano resonances arise in bimetallic layered nanostructures (metal–dielectric–metal and dielectric–metal–dielectric–metal) are studied theoretically as the function of their geometrical parameters. Multiple Fano resonances are generated in these nanostructures where several subradiant dark modes appear due to the geometrical symmetry breaking induced by offsetting different layers. The plasmonic responses of the proposed nanoparticles with equal volumes are compared and multiple Fano resonances with large modulation depths are obtained in metal–dielectric–metal structure which is highly suitable for multi-wavelength sensing and plasmon line shaping. However, the dielectric–metal–dielectric–metal nanostructure is found to provide a slightly better tunability of higher-order plasmonic modes compared to metal–dielectric–metal nanostructure due to which it can be useful for biomedical applications.

Excitation of Multiple Fano-Like Resonances Induced by Higher Order Plasmon modes in Three-Layered Bimetallic Nanoshell Dimer

The presence of plasmonic Fano-like resonances in the optical response of isolated and dimer metal-dielectric-metal nanostructures are investigated theoretically. The nanostructures are engineered in such a way to support multiple Fano-like resonances that are induced by the interference of bright and dark plasmon modes. It is found that the dimer resonators exhibit different types of Fano resonances for both the transverse and longitudinal polarizations unlike conventional nanodimers. Several configurations of the dimer Fano resonator are analyzed with special emphasis on the Fano spectral line shape. Breaking the symmetry of the dimer nanostructure in various directions control the asymmetric line shape and provides different kinds of unique Fano resonances. In certain cases, the Fano resonators exhibit multiple Fano resonances that are particularly significant for plasmon line shaping and can serve as platforms for multi-wavelength sensing applications.

Plasmon Line Width in Liquid Metals

With the recent development of synchrotron radiation sources and the instrumentations, inelastic X-ray scattering (IXS) has become an important tool for observing plasmons in materials. One of the significant advantages of IXS is that it can be applied to liquid samples, which is considerably difficult for electron energy loss spectroscopy. Thus far, the IXS study of plasmons in liquid samples has been performed for several systems such as liquid lithium, liquid aluminum, or lithium ammonia solutions. However, the properties of plasmons in the liquid phase are less clearly understood than those in the crystalline phase. One of such properties is the plasmon line width. For the solid state, the finite line width observed in experiments can be evaluated using the formulations derived in previous theoretical studies, in which the effect of interband transitions, phonon-assisted intraband (or interband) transitions, and the excitations of two electron–hole (e–h) pairs are considered. These effects should also play an important role in liquid, because a finite line width is also observed in liquid samples. The effects of phonon and two e–h pairs are readily extended to liquid systems, since these effects can be calculated without using information on the ionic structure. On the other hand, the effect of interband transitions is difficult to extend to the liquid state, because it strongly depends on the ionic structure. In this work, we show the derivation of a formula for evaluating the plasmon line width at the zero momentum transfer, q 1⁄4 0, in metallic liquid. The formula describes how the ionic structure influences the plasmon line width for metallic liquid. The application of the formula to liquid alkali metals is also shown. The plasmon line width at q 1⁄4 0, E1=2ð0Þ, is written as E1=2ð0Þ 1⁄4 h !p Im ð!pÞ; ð1Þ

Excitation of Multiple Fano Resonances in Plasmonic Clusters with D2h Point Group Symmetry

Fano resonances in plasmonic nanostructures exhibit sharp resonance and strong light confinement. These properties are very useful for sensing applications, which rely on plasmon line shape engineering. Fano resonances in plasmonic clusters depend on structure symmetry, and this study provides a general understanding of Fano resonances in clusters with D2h symmetry. We show that, because of the excitation of B3u and B2u dark subradiant modes, four kinds of Fano resonances appear in the spectra for hexamers with D2h symmetry. When a central particle is introduced to form a heptamer, it is shown that, aside from influence on the resonant behaviors or appearance of an additional Fano resonance for a specific polarization, several hybridized dark subradiant modes are excited for both polarizations, and up to eight kinds of Fano resonances appear in the spectra. Plasmonic clusters with D2h symmetry are suitable for plasmon line shaping, and it is expected that these structures are useful for multiwavelength se...

Magneto-optical spaser

We present an electrodynamical model of a quantum plasmonic device--the magneto-optical (MO) spaser. It is shown that a spherical gain nanoparticle coated with a metallic MO shell can operate as a spaser amplifying circularly polarized surface plasmons. The MO spaser may be used in design of an optical isolator in plasmonic transmission lines as well as in spaser spectrometry of chiral molecules.

Reconfigurable Parallel Plasmonic Transmission Lines With Nanometer Light Localization and Long Propagation Distance

A hybrid plasmonic parallel transmission line scheme constructed by a spatial single mode with time-domain multiline waveguide is presented in this paper. The proposed configuration enables a nanometer light localization while retaining a long propagation distance (~74 μm) at optical communication wavelengths with no crosstalk between data channels. High extinction ratio between the nanoribs peak energies (~20 dB) has been achieved after optimization. Furthermore, the proposed optical parallel transmission line scheme shows the advantages of enabling an optical device with a large number of parallel transmission channels, as well as a good robustness with respect to the fabrication tolerances.

Higher Order Tunable Fano Resonances in Multilayer Nanocones

We present a computational study of the plasmonic response of a gold–silica–gold multilayered nanostructure based on truncated nanocones. Symmetry breaking is introduced by rotating the nanostructure and by offsetting the layers. Nanocones with coaxial multilayers show dipole–dipole Fano resonances with resonance frequencies depending on the polarization of the incident light, which can be changed by rotating the nanostructure. By breaking the axial symmetry, plasmonic modes of distinct angular momenta are strongly mixed, which provide a set of unique and higher order tunable Fano resonances. The plasmonic response of the multilayered nanocones is compared to that of multishell nanostructures with the same volume and the former are discovered to render visible high-order dark modes and to provide sharp tunable Fano resonances. In particular, higher order tunable Fano resonances arising in non-coaxial multilayer nanocones can vary the plasmon lines at various spectral regions simultaneously, which makes these nanostructures greatly suitable for plasmon line shaping both in the extinction and near field spectra.