Subwavelength Volumes Research Articles

THz Radiation from Subwavelength Volumes on Water Surfaces and in Air: Effects of Mass Density Gradients and External Magnetic Fields

THz Radiation from Subwavelength Volumes on Water Surfaces and in Air: Effects of Mass Density Gradients and External Magnetic Fields

Hexagonal Plasmonic Arrays for High-Throughput Multicolor Single-Molecule Studies.

Nanophotonic biosensors offer exceptional sensitivity in the presence of strong background signals by enhancing and confining light in subwavelength volumes. In the field of nanophotonic biosensors, antenna-in-box (AiB) designs consisting of a nanoantenna within a nanoaperture have demonstrated remarkable single-molecule fluorescence detection sensitivities under physiologically relevant conditions. However, their full potential has not yet been exploited as current designs prohibit insightful correlative multicolor single-molecule studies and are limited in terms of throughput. Here, we overcome these constraints by introducing aluminum-based hexagonal close-packed AiB (HCP-AiB) arrays. Our approach enables the parallel readout of over 1000 HCP-AiBs with multicolor single-molecule sensitivity up to micromolar concentrations using an alternating three-color excitation scheme and epi-fluorescence detection. Notably, the high-density HCP-AiB arrays not only enable high-throughput studies at micromolar concentrations but also offer high single-molecule detection probabilities in the nanomolar range. We demonstrate that robust and alignment-free correlative multicolor studies are possible using optical fiducial markers even when imaging in the low millisecond range. These advancements pave the way for the use of HCP-AiB arrays as biosensor architectures for high-throughput multicolor studies on single-molecule dynamics.

Femtosecond laser direct writing wedge metallic microcavities for terahertz sensing

Metallic resonators allow the manipulation of electromagnetic fields in subwavelength volumes for strong light-matter interaction, underpinning emerging flat-optics devices. Metamaterials designed with optimized effective mode volume (Veff) for stimulating and maximizing the utilization of high-density photons are highly desirable for sensing applications. Here, we demonstrate a bowtie-type terahertz (THz) metallic aperture metamaterial structure with low Veff for enhanced biosensing. The device leverages the inherent characteristic of the femtosecond laser fabrication process enabling wedge cavities down to 3 µm by tailoring the pulse energy, whose sensing performance is superior to trapezoidal ones. Such a substrate-free, microcavity metallic metamaterial sensor with extremely strong interactions achieves an experimentally normalized sensitivity of 0.654 RIU−1, and demonstrates the detection of L-proline down to 0.87 nmol. These findings provide new insights into the design and optimization of efficient THz metamaterials with tightly confined fields for ultrasensitive biomolecular detection.

Dissipative and dispersive cavity optomechanics with a frequency-dependent mirror

An optomechanical microcavity can considerably enhance the interaction between light and mechanical motion by confining light to a subwavelength volume. However, this comes at the cost of an increased optical loss rate. Therefore, microcavity-based optomechanical systems are placed in the unresolved-sideband regime, preventing sideband-based ground-state cooling. A pathway to reduce optical loss in such systems is to engineer the cavity mirrors, i.e., the optical modes that interact with the mechanical resonator. In our work, we analyze such an optomechanical system, whereby one of the mirrors is strongly frequency dependent, i.e., a suspended Fano mirror. This optomechanical system consists of two optical modes that couple to the motion of the suspended Fano mirror. We formulate a quantum-coupled-mode description that includes both the standard dispersive optomechanical coupling as well as dissipative coupling. We solve the Langevin equations of the system dynamics in the linear regime showing that ground-state cooling from room temperature can be achieved even if the cavity is not in the resolved-sideband regime, but achieves effective sideband resolution through strong-optical-mode coupling. Importantly, we find that the cavity output spectrum needs to be properly analyzed with respect to the effective laser detuning to infer the phonon occupation of the mechanical resonator. Our work also predicts how to reach the regime of nonlinear quantum optomechanics in a Fano-based microcavity by engineering the properties of the Fano mirror. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Advanced Terahertz Refractive Sensing And Fingerprint Recognition Through Metasurface-Excited Surface Waves.

High-sensitive metasurface-based sensors are essential for effective substance detection and insightful bio-interaction studies, which compress light in subwavelength volumes to enhance light-matter interactions. However, current methods to improve sensing performance always focus on optimizing near-field response of individual meta-atom, and fingerprint recognition for bio-substances necessitates several pixelated metasurfaces to establish a quasi-continuous spectrum. Here, a novel sensing strategy is proposed to achieve Terahertz (THz) refractive sensing, and fingerprint recognition based on surface waves (SWs). Leveraging the long-range transmission, strong confinement, and interface sensitivity of SWs, a metasurface-supporting SWs excitation and propagation is experimentally verified to achieve sensing integrations. Through wide-band information collection of SWs, the proposed sensor not only facilitates refractive sensing up to 215.5°/RIU, but also enables the simultaneous resolution of multiple fingerprint information within a continuous spectrum. By covering 5µm thickness of polyimide, quartz and silicon nitride layers, the maximum phase change of 91.1°, 101.8°, and 126.4° is experimentally obtained within THz band, respectively. Thus, this strategy broadens the research scope of metasurface-excited SWs and introduces a novel paradigm for ultrasensitive sensing functions.

Strong anapole-plasmon coupling in dielectric-metallic hybrid nanostructures.

The nanoscale ampification of light-matter interactions exhibits profound potential in multiple scientific fields, such as physics, chemistry, surface science, materials science, and nanophotonics. Nonetheless, achieving robust optical mode coupling within cavities faces significant hurdles due to modal dispersion and weak optical field confinement. In this theoretical investigation, we demonstrate the viability of strong coupling between the anapole mode of a slotted silicon nanodisk and the plasmonic modes of an Ag nanodisk dimer at visible light frequencies. By introducing anapole modes, we successfully confine light to subwavelength volumes, suppressing radiative losses and achieving a remarkable Rabi splitting of 468 meV. This substantial coupling is facilitated by the large spatial overlap of intense optical fields. Capitalizing on this strong mode coupling, we generate novel hybrid energy states with significant electromagnetic field enhancement. Our study serves as a valuable blueprint for designing platforms based on strong anapole mode coupling at visible frequencies and paves the way for deeper explorations into nanoscale light-matter interactions.

Mirror-Enhanced Plasmonic Nanoaperture for Ultrahigh Optical Force Generation with Minimal Heat Generation.

Double Nanohole Plasmonic Tweezers (DNH) have emerged as a powerful approach for confining light to sub-wavelength volume, enabling the trapping of nanoscale particles much smaller than the wavelength of light. However, to circumvent plasmonic heating effects, DNH tweezers are typically operated off-resonance, resulting in reduced optical forces and field enhancements. In this study, we introduce a novel DNH design with a reflector layer, enabling on-resonance illumination while minimizing plasmonic heating. This design efficiently dissipates heat and redistributes the electromagnetic hotspots, making them more accessible for trapping nanoscale particles and enhancing light-matter interactions. We also demonstrate low-power trapping and release of small extracellular vesicles. Our work opens new possibilities for trapping-assisted Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS), plasmon-enhanced imaging, and single photon emission applications that demand strong light-matter interactions.

All-dielectric scale invariant waveguide

Total internal reflection (TIR) governs the guiding mechanisms of almost all dielectric waveguides and therefore constrains most of the light in the material with the highest refractive index. The few options available to access the properties of lower-index materials include designs that are either lossy, periodic, exhibit limited optical bandwidth or are restricted to subwavelength modal volumes. Here, we propose and demonstrate a guiding mechanism that leverages symmetry in multilayer dielectric waveguides as well as evanescent fields to strongly confine light in low-index materials. The proposed waveguide structures exhibit unusual light properties, such as uniform field distribution with a non-Gaussian spatial profile and scale invariance of the optical mode. This guiding mechanism is general and can be further extended to various optical structures, employed for different polarizations, and in different spectral regions. Therefore, our results can have huge implications for integrated photonics and related technologies.

Multi-faceted plasmonic nanocavities.

Plasmonic nanocavities form very robust sub-nanometer gaps between nanometallic structures and confine light within deep subwavelength volumes to enable unprecedented control of light-matter interactions. However, spherical nanoparticles acquire various polyhedral shapes during their synthesis, which has a significant impact in controlling many light-matter interactions, such as photocatalytic reactions. Here, we focus on nanoparticle-on-mirror nanocavities built from three polyhedral nanoparticles (cuboctahedron, rhombicuboctahedron, decahedron) that commonly occur during the synthesis. Their photonic modes have a very intricate and rich optical behaviour, both in the near- and far-field. Through a recombination technique, we obtain the total far-field produced by a molecule placed within these nanocavities, to reveal how energy couples in and out of the system. This work paves the way towards understanding and controlling light-matter interactions, such as photocatalytic reactions and non-linear vibrational pumping, in such extreme environments.

Near- and far-field study of polarization-dependent surface plasmon resonance in bowtie nano-aperture arrays.

Bowtie nano-apertures can confine light into deep subwavelength volumes with extreme field enhancement, making them a useful tool for various applications such as optical trapping, deep subwavelength imaging, nanolithography, and sensors. However, the correlation between the near- and far-field properties of bowtie nano-aperture arrays has yet to be fully explored. In this study, we experimentally investigated the polarization-dependent surface plasmon resonance in bowtie nano-aperture arrays using both optical transmission spectroscopy and photoemission electron microscopy. The experimental results reveal a nonlinear redshift in the transmission spectra as the gap size of the bowtie nanoaperture decreases for vertically polarized light, while the transmission spectra remain unchanged with different gap sizes for horizontally polarized light. To elucidate the underlying mechanisms, we present simulated charge and current distributions, revealing how the electrons respond to light and generate the plasmonic fields. These near-field distributions were verified by photoemission electron microscopy. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of the plasmonic properties of bowtie nano-aperture, enabling their further applications, one of which is the optical switching of the resonance wavelength in the widely used visible spectral region without changing the geometry of the nanostructure.

High-harmonic generation from a subwavelength dielectric resonator.

Higher-order optical harmonics entered the realm of nanostructured solids being observed recently in optical gratings and metasurfaces with a subwavelength thickness. Structuring materials at the subwavelength scale allows us toresonantly enhance the efficiency of nonlinear processes and reduce the size of high-harmonic sources. We report the observation of up to a seventh harmonic generated from a single subwavelength resonator made of AlGaAs material. This process is enabled by careful engineering of the resonator geometry for supporting an optical mode associated with a quasi-bound state in the continuum in the mid-infrared spectral range at around λ=3.7 μm pump wavelength. The resonator volume measures ~0.1 λ3. The resonant modes are excited with an azimuthally polarized tightly focused beam. We evaluate the contributions of perturbative and nonperturbative nonlinearities to the harmonic generation process. Our work proves the possibility to miniaturize solid-state sources of high harmonics to the subwavelength volumes.

Bistable Switch Based on Tunable Fano Resonance in Coupled Resonator-Cavity Structure

We report a side-coupled resonator-cavity configuration with a tunable Fano-type interference effect for a novel subwavelength switch. A defective microstrip photonic crystal (PC) structure is designed to provide a continuum state, while a split ring resonator (SRR) is introduced to offer a narrow discrete resonance. The SRR is conductively side-coupled with the microstrip PC cavity in a subwavelength volume. Interactions between them result in Fano-type transmitting spectra with a sharp and asymmetric spectral line profile. A varactor diode serving as the nonlinear medium inclusion is integrated into the slit of the SRR for active control of the sharp Fano resonance. The strongly localized field produced by Fano resonance plays a role in improving the nonlinear properties of the microstrip PC cavity. It is found that a significant blue shift of 94 MHz on the Fano resonance frequency can be achieved by increasing the input power levels from −25 dBm to 8 dBm. We also found that the maximum transmission contrast exceeding 15.9 dB can take place between two bistable states existing at 3.05 dBm and 4.32 dBm for a bidirectional sweep of input power under a monochromatic signal frequency of 1.27 GHz. The findings may benefit the exploitation of metamaterials-assisted active photonic nanocircuits.

Nonlinear Dielectric Nanoresonators and Metasurfaces: Toward Efficient Generation of Entangled Photons

AbstractAmong the most prominent effects resulting from nonlinear light–matter interaction is the generation of correlated and entangled photons through various processes, notably via spontaneous parametric down‐conversion or spontaneous four‐wave mixing. Such nonlinear optical processes benefit from the concentration of electromagnetic fields in small volumes. Dielectric nanoresonators and their 2D layouts—metasurfaces—provide efficient ways to control light in subwavelength volumes enabling the enhancement of nonlinear light–matter interaction and the generation of entangled photons. Nanoresonators and metasurfaces offer a radical miniaturization of quantum light sources allowing better scalability, which opens a pathway toward arrangements of photon sources in complex subwavelength configurations for advanced photon state control. In this work, the recent progress in this emergent area of research is reviewed.

Room‐Temperature Low‐Threshold Plasmonic Nanolaser through Mode‐Tailoring at Communication Wavelengths

AbstractPlasmonic nanolasers have shown unique potential for on‐chip optical interconnects at optical communication wavelengths because of their ultra‐small physical volumes beyond the diffraction limit. However, the high threshold and associated power consumption are key remaining challenges due to the long‐recognized intrinsic plasmonic absorption and extrinsic losses related to the inevitable fabrication imperfections and the resulting rough surfaces or interfaces. This article demonstrates a new threshold‐reduction strategy in a silver‐cup plasmonic nanolaser by selectively confining plasmonic modes at the high‐quality naturally cleaved surfaces at the bottom, while avoiding the rough etched surfaces of the sidewall. Through size control and modal design, lasing preferentially occurs via the bottom whispering gallery plasmonic mode with a large quality factor, small modal volume, and robust performance largely immune to fabrication imperfections. The nanolaser has a subwavelength volume of 0.02λ3 near λ = 1.55 µm with a record‐low threshold of 20.1 kW cm−2 for a near‐infrared plasmonic nanolaser at room temperature under optical pumping. Importantly, the laser becomes the first near‐infrared plasmonic nanolaser to meet the power‐consumption requirement of less than 10 fJ bit−1, providing one of the rarely available on‐chip sources with a small footprint and low power consumption for the photonic integrated circuits.

Versatile optical beam routers based on inversely designed supercell metagratings

Metagratings manipulating the wavefront with a subwavelength volume have been widely explored in recent years for their potential applications in optical beam routers, such as laser beam splitters and combiners. Current metagratings are hampered from practical beam rerouting due to inhibitive computational load of engineering design and expensive nanofabrication cost. In this work, we apply the emerging concept of supercell metagratings, which arranges random binary gratings of a unit cell in a one-dimensional periodicity, to simplify such design and fabrication processes. A high-performance inverse design framework for the supercell gratings is proposed. In such a framework, we use coupled wave algorithm as a fast-converging electromagnetic solver for the forward calculation and particle swarm optimization algorithm for the backward optimization. By manipulating the building blocks of a unit cell, specific diffraction orders of supercell gratings can be intentionally strengthened or eliminated. We finally realize high-efficiency, broadband and multi-functionality optical beam splitters and combiners both in visible and near-infrared regimes. We envision that the proposed method offers an avenue towards the mass production realization of flat optics.

Boosting anapole-exciton strong coupling in all-dielectric heterostructures

The light manipulation beyond the diffraction limit plays an invaluable role in modern physics and nanophotonics. In this work, we have demonstrated a strong coupling with a large Rabi splitting of 151 meV between bulk WS 2 excitons and anapole modes in the WS 2 -Si nanodisk heterostructure array with nanoholes as small as 50 nm radius. This result is acquired by introducing anapole modes to suppress radiative losses to confine light into subwavelength volumes and large spatial overlapping between excitons and strong optical fields. Our work shows that anapole modes may serve as a powerful way to enhance the interaction between light and matter at nanoscales, and it should pave an avenue toward high-performance all-dielectric optoelectronic applications.

On the excitation and radiative decay rates of plasmonic nanoantennas

Abstract Plasmonic nanoantennas have the ability to confine and enhance incident electromagnetic fields into very sub-wavelength volumes, while at the same time efficiently radiating energy to the far-field. These properties have allowed plasmonic nanoantennas to be extensively used for exciting quantum emitters—such as molecules and quantum dots—and also for the extraction of photons from them for measurements in the far-field. Due to electromagnetic reciprocity, it is expected that plasmonic nanoantennas radiate energy as efficiently as an external source can couple energy to them. In this paper, we adopt a multipole expansion (Mie theory) and numerical simulations to show that although reciprocity holds, certain plasmonic antennas radiate energy much more efficiently than one can couple energy into them. This work paves the way towards designing plasmonic antennas with specific properties for applications where the near-to-far-field relationship is of high significance, such as: surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, strong coupling at room temperature, and the engineering of quantum states in nanoplasmonic devices.

Comparative Analysis of the Near‐ and Far‐Field Optical Response of Thin Plasmonic Nanostructures

AbstractNanostructures made of metallic materials support collective oscillations of their conduction electrons, commonly known as surface plasmons. These modes, whose characteristics are determined by the material and morphology of the nanostructure, couple strongly to light and confine it into subwavelength volumes. Of particular interest are metallic nanostructures for which the size along one dimension approaches the nanometer or even the subnanometer scale, since such morphologies can lead to stronger light–matter interactions and higher degrees of confinement than regular three‐dimensional nanostructures. Here, the plasmonic response of metallic nanodisks of varying thicknesses and aspect ratios is investigated under far‐ and near‐field excitation conditions. It is found that, for far‐field excitation, the strength of the plasmonic response of the nanodisk increases with its thickness, as expected from the increase in the number of conduction electrons in the system. However, for near‐field excitation, the plasmonic response becomes stronger as the thickness of the nanodisk is reduced. This behavior is attributed to the higher efficiency with which a near‐field source couples to the plasmons supported by thinner nanodisks. The results of this work advance the understanding of the plasmonic response of thin metallic nanostructures, thus increasing their potential for the development of novel applications.

Morphology dependence of nanoparticle-on-mirror geometries: A quasinormal mode analysis

Plasmonic nanoantennas are able to produce extreme enhancements by concentrating electromagnetic fields into sub-wavelength volumes. Recently, one of the most commonly used nanoantennas is the nanoparticle-on-mirror geometry, which allowed for the room temperature strong coupling of a single molecule. Very few studies offer analysis of near-field mode decompositions, and they mainly focus on spherical and/or cylindrically-faceted nanoparticle-on-mirror geometries. Perfectly spherical nanoparticles are not easy to fabricate, with recent publications revealing that a rhombicuboctahedron is a commonly occurring nanoparticle shape – due to the crystalline nature of metallic nanoparticles. In this paper, we perform a quasi-normal mode analysis for the rhombicuboctahedron-on-mirror nanoantenna and map the field distributions of each mode. We examine how the geometry of the cavity defines the near-field distribution and energies of the modes, and we show that in some cases the mode degeneracies break. This has a significant impact on the radiative emission and far-field profile of each mode, which are measured experimentally. Understanding how realistic nanoantenna geometries behave in the near-field and far-field helps us design antennas with specific properties for controlling and sensing quantum emitters in plasmonic systems.

Advances and applications of nanophotonic biosensors.

Nanophotonic devices, which control light in subwavelength volumes and enhance light-matter interactions, have opened up exciting prospects for biosensing. Numerous nanophotonic biosensors have emerged to address the limitations of the current bioanalytical methods in terms of sensitivity, throughput, ease-of-use and miniaturization. In this Review, we provide an overview of the recent developments of label-free nanophotonic biosensors using evanescent-field-based sensing with plasmon resonances in metals and Mie resonances in dielectrics. We highlight the prospects of achieving an improved sensor performance and added functionalities by leveraging nanostructures and on-chip and optoelectronic integration, as well as microfluidics, biochemistry and data science toolkits. We also discuss open challenges in nanophotonic biosensing, such as reducing the overall cost and handling of complex biological samples, and provide an outlook for future opportunities to improve these technologies and thereby increase their impact in terms of improving health and safety.