Back focal plane imaging of Tamm plasmons and their coupled emission

The unique optical properties of Tamm plasmons (TPs) – such as flexible wavevector matching conditions including inplane wavevector within the light line, and existing both S‐ and P‐polarized TPs − facilitate them for direct optical excitation. The Tamm plasmon‐coupled emission (TPCE) from a combined photonic–plasmonic structure sustaining both surface plasmons (SPs) and TPs is described in this paper. The sensitivity of TPCE to the emission wavelength and polarization is examined with back focal plane imaging and verified with the numerical calculations. The results reveal that the excited probe can couple with both TPs and SPs, resulting in surface plasmon‐coupled emission (SPCE) and TPCE, respectively. The TPCE angle is strongly dependent on the wavelength allowing for spectral resolution using different observation angles. These Tamm structures provide a new tool to control the optical emission from dye molecules and have many potential applications in fluorescence‐based sensing and imaging.     

Dyakonov surface waves in photonic metamaterials

We show that suitable photonic metamaterial structures can support lossless surface waves of the form envisaged by Dyakonov. The idea we put forward is based on the birefringent properties of photonic crystals in the long-wavelength limit, and uses the metamaterial anisotropy of the structures to meet the resonance conditions at which Dyakonov surface waves exist. Implementation of this concept can lead to the first experimental observation of Dyakonov waves, and might open the door to the realization of widely tunable sensing devices based on the unique properties of such waves.     

Optical Dyakonov surface waves at magnetic interfaces

We address the existence and properties of lossless surface waves that form at interfaces between magnetic and birefringent media. We show that the angular domain of existence of Dyakonov surface waves for magnetic interfaces is significantly larger than that for nonmagnetic ones. Our results have important implications for the experimental generation of surface waves and for their potential applications based on guided-to-leaky transitions.     

类特异材料半导体复合结构中的电子Tamm态

通过选取具有特殊能带结构的半导体材料碲镉汞(Hg_1-xCd_xTe), 类比电磁体系得到了电子体系中的类单负材料、类双负材料等类特异材料, 然后将其组合成一维复合异质结构. 通过数值计算, 发现复合结构中存在新型电子Tamm态, 包括返向电子Tamm态和含类近零折射率材料复合结构中的电子Tamm态. 这些结果拓展了人们对电子Tamm态的认识.     

平面金属等离激元美特材料对光学Tamm态及相关激射行为的增强作用

本文对具有类EIR色散特性的平面金属等离激元美特材料(planar plasmonic metamaterials, PPM)对光学Tamm态及相关激射行为的增强作用进行了研究. 我们首先运用传输矩阵方法分析了利用PPM结构的色散来增强光学Tamm态对应模式电磁局域密度的可能性. 其次, 我们将具有类EIR特性的PPM与一维光子晶体(photonic crystal, PC)合在一起设计了一种平面等离激元美特材料-光子晶体(PPM-PC)异质结构. 研究发现, 通过在电磁局域密度最高的PPM结构中(或附近)加入增益介质, 可观察到比通常光学Tamm态更强的激射增强效应及更明显的单色性响应. 这些特性使得这种PPM-PC结构有望被应用于低阈值激光器、荧光增强等方面.     

Experimental studies of optical surface excitations

Experimental methods for optical excitation of nonradiative surface waves, such as surface plasmons and surface phonons, are reviewed. Results for surface plasmons in InSb obtained by using samples with line gratings in the surface and by using the technique of attenuated total reflection (ATR) are compared. Best agreement between the theoretical and experimental surface plasmon dispersion curve ω(k) of InSb is found when using excitation by ATR, since the sample surface need not be disturbed in this case. Surface phonons have been excited optically by applying ATR to alkali halide crystals and to the polar semiconductor GaP. While agreement with the theoretical dispersion curve is extremely good for GaP and also for CaF₂, there are systematic deviations to lower frequencies for NaF and other alkali halides. In polar semiconductors the free carrier plasmon couples to the LO-phonon when ω_p ≈ ω_LO. This behaviour has been investigated theoretically and experimentally for the surface modes. For an interesting application of the ATR-technique, one can use the fact that dispersion and linewidth are a direct measure of the complex dielectric function ε(ω) in the frequency range of the optical surface waves.     

Transverse localization of Tamm plasmon in metal-DBR structure with disordered layer

Transverse localization of the optical Tamm plasmon(OTP) is studied in a metal-distributed Bragg reflector(DBR)structure with a one-dimensional disordered layer embedded at the interface between the metal and the DBR. The embedded disordered layer induces multiple scattering and interference of light, forming the light localization in the transverse direction. This together with the formation of Tamm plasmonic modes at the metal-DBR interface(i.e., the confinement of light in the longitudinal direction), gives birth to the so called transverse-localized Tamm plasmon. It is shown that for both transverse electric(TE) and transverse magnetic(TM) polarized light injection, the excited transverse-localized Tamm plasmon broadens and splits the dispersion curve due to spatial incoherence in the transverse direction, thus proving the stronger light confinement especially in the TE polarized injection. By adding the gain medium, specific random lasing modes are observed. The proposed study could be an efficient way of trapping and locally enhancing light on a subwavelength scale,which is useful in applications of random lasers, optical sensing, and imaging.     

Evidence for confined tamm plasmon modes under metallic microdisks and application to the control of spontaneous optical emission

We demonstrate strong confinement of the optical field by depositing a micron sized metallic disk on a planar distributed Bragg reflector. Confined Tamm plasmon modes are evidenced both experimentally and theoretically, with a lateral confinement limited to the disk area and strong coupling to TE polarized fields. Single quantum dots controllably coupled to these modes are shown to experience acceleration of their spontaneous emission when spectrally resonant with the mode. For quantum dots spectrally detuned from the confined Tamm plasmon mode, an inhibition of spontaneous emission by a factor 40±4 is observed, a record value in the optical domain.     

Controllable switching behavior of optical Tamm state based on nematic liquid crystal

The controllable behavior of optical Tamm state (OTS) is investigated in a heterostructure with nematic liquid crystal (NLC). By changing the external fields (electric field and temperature), the orientation of NLC’s molecules can be modified. It offers us an effective way to control the optical properties of the optical Tamm state. We obtain the critical condition for the appearance of the optical Tamm state. Our theoretical analysis and numerical simulations show that through choosing appropriate parameters we can not only change the frequency position of the optical Tamm state, but also realize the disappearance of the OTS.     

Coupling plasmons and dyakonons

We study the coupling of plasmons and Dyakonov surface waves propagating at the interfaces between isotropic-birefringent-metal layered structures. Efficient coupling is shown to occur with a proper choice of the crystal birefringence, the refractive index of the isotropic medium, and the light propagation direction relative to the crystal optical axis. In the case of low-loss metals, coupling efficiencies as high as 90% are predicted to be possible.     

半导体激光器激活层中的四波混频和相位共轭光的发生

本文提出了一种从半导体激光器中发生和检测相位共轭光的新方法,并用1.3μm分布反馈半导体激光器作了实验验证。本方法不仅可以用来发生相位共轭光,还可以用来研究振荡运转中的激光激活介质的非线性光学特性。     

Quantum‐optical analogies using photonic structures

Engineered photonic waveguides have provided in the past decade an extremely rich laboratory tool to visualize with optical waves the classic analogues of a wide variety of coherent quantum phenomena encountered in atomic, molecular or condensed‐matter physics. As compared to quantum systems, optics offers the rather unique advantage of a direct mapping of the wave function evolution in coordinate space by simple fluorescence imaging or scanning tunneling optical microscopy techniques. In this contribution recent theoretical and experimental advances in the field of quantum‐optical analogies are reviewed. Special attention is devoted to some relevant optical analogies based on the use of curved photonic structures, including: coherent destruction of tunneling in driven bistable potentials; coherent population transfer and adiabatic passage in laser‐driven multilevel atomic systems; quantum decay control and Zeno dynamics; electronic Bloch oscillations and Zener tunneling, Anderson localization and dynamic localization in crystalline potentials.     

Silver and gold films and fibers several nanometers thick: Very slow optical surface plasmons

On films and fibers of well-reflecting metals (silver, gold) several nanometers thick, surface plasmons could be slowed down by 10 to 40 times. The plasmons are additionally slowed down when the nanofilms (nanofibers) are placed into a medium with a dielectric constant that is approximately equal to but still smaller than the modulus of the negative dielectric constant of the metal. As the result, the optical frequency waves prove to have wavelengths of ∼4 nm, i.e., as in soft x-ray. The propagation losses of these waves are moderately high. We propose to develop the optics (the optical transformations — deviation, focusing, photonic crystals, etc.) of these waves on thin metal layers integrated into nanodevices. In particular, we calculated the probability of spontaneous emission of a photon by an atom (molecule) into the surface plasmon of a nanoparticle. This probability proved to be increased by many orders of magnitude. This work interprets experiments that show a higher (14 orders of magnitude and more) probability of spontaneous Raman scattering of a molecule on the surface of a silver nanoparticle. The molecule is in the field of a surface plasmon, owing to which the local field and density of states of the field prove to be increased to such an extent as to give a rise of 12 or 13 orders of magnitude. An additional increase by one or two orders of magnitude is due to the antenna effect of a pair of nanoparticles, one of which is extremely small and the other is sufficiently large to serve as an efficient transceiver antenna. The possibility of developing sources of light pulses of exceptionally short duration arises.     

Propagation of electrostatic energy through a quantum plasma

The theory of propagation of electrostatic energy through an infinite, homogeneous electron–ion quantum plasma is presented. Simple expressions for the energy flow, energy density, and energy velocity of longitudinal oscillation waves in the system are derived using the linearized quantum hydrodynamic theory for the electron fluid, which incorporates the important quantum statistical pressure and electron diffraction force, while the optical response of the ion particles is characterized by the classical frequency‐dependent dielectric function, ?_ion. Both cases of plasmon (high‐frequency) and quantum ion‐acoustic (low‐frequency) waves are considered.     

Dyakonov Plasmon–Polaritons Propagating along the Surface of a Hyperbolic Metamaterial

Optics and Spectroscopy - Plasmon–polaritons of the type of Dyakonov surface waves propagating along the plane boundary of a hyperbolic metamaterial with an arbitrary orientation of its...     

A method for detecting Dyakonov surface waves at an interface of two anisotropic media

The possibility of excitation and detection of Dyakonov surface waves at the interface of two identical homogeneous anisotropic media by means of the effect of polarization conversion in reflection is investigated theoretically. Excitation of the Dyakonov wave is uniquely related to a peculiarity in the reflection coefficient near a certain incidence angle determined only by parameters of the medium. The largest effect of conversion is achieved for the crystal plane exhibiting the largest difference of refractive indices.     

Optical Tamm states at the interface between a photonic crystal and a nanocomposite with resonance dispersion

Optical Tamm states localized at the edges of a photonic crystal bounded from one or both sides by a nanocomposite have been studied. The nanocomposite consists of metallic nanoinclusions, which have a spherical or orientationally ordered spheroidal shape and are dispersed in a transparent matrix, and is characterized by the resonant effective permittivity. The transmission, reflection, and absorption spectra have been calculated for waves with longitudinal and transverse polarizations in such structures at the normal incidence of light. The spectral manifestation of Tamm states that is due to the existence of negative values of the real part of the effective permittivity has been analyzed for the visible spectral range. It has been established that the characteristics of Tamm states localized at the edge of the photonic crystal depend strongly both on the concentration of nanoballs in the nanocomposite film and on its thickness. Modes formed by two coupled Tamm plasmon polaritons localized at the edges of the photonic crystal adjacent to two nanocomposite layers have been examined. It has been shown that, in the case of the anisotropic nanocomposite layer adjacent to the photonic crystal, each of two orthogonal polarizations of the incident wave corresponds to a specific frequency of the Tamm state localized at the edge; owing to this property, the transmission spectra of such a structure are polarization sensitive.     

Anisotropy‐assisted non‐scattering coherent absorption of surface plasmon‐polaritons

The ability to control propagation of electromagnetic guided modes lies at the heart of integrated nanophotonics. Surface plasmon‐polaritons are a class of guided modes which can be employed in integrated optical systems. Here, we present a theoretical design of a coherent surface plasmon absorber which can perfectly harvest energy of coherently incident surface plasmons without parasitic scattering into free space modes. Excitation of free space modes which usually accompanies scattering of a surface plasmon by an interface boundary is avoided due to specially tailored anisotropy of the absorber. The concept of coherent SPP absorber is analyzed numerically for spatially non‐uniform and finite‐size structures. We believe that our results will be important for the development of integrated nanoplasmonic systems.     

Evanescently coupled resonance in surface plasmon enhanced transmission

The optical transmission through subwavelength holes in metal films can be enhanced by several orders of magnitude by enabling interaction of the incident light with independent surface plasmon (SP) modes on either side of the film. Here, we show that this transmission is boosted by an additional factor of 10 when the energies of the SP modes on both sides are matched. These results, confirmed by a three-dimensional theoretical analysis, give a totally new understanding of the phenomenon of SP enhanced transmission. It is found that the holes behave like subwavelength cavities for the evanescent waves coupling the SPs on either side of the film. In this unusual device, the reflection at either end of the cavity is provided by the SP modes which act as frequency dependent mirrors.     

Ultra‐fast nano‐optics

Ultra‐fast nano‐optics is a comparatively young and rapidly growing field of research aiming at probing, manipulating and controlling ultrafast optical excitations on nanometer length scales. This ability to control light on nanometric length and femtosecond time scales opens up exciting possibilities for probing dynamic processes in nanostructures in real time and space. This article gives a brief introduction into the emerging research field of ultrafast nano‐optics and discusses recent progress made in it. A particular emphasis is laid on the recent experimental work performed in the authors' laboratories. We specifically discuss how ultrafast nano‐optical techniques can be used to probe and manipulate coherent optical excitations in individual and dipole‐coupled pairs of quantum dots, probe the dynamics of surface plasmon polariton excitations in metallic nanostructures, generate novel nanometer‐sized ultrafast light and electron sources and reveal the dipole interaction between excitons and surface plasmon polaritons in hybrid metal‐semiconductor nanostructures. Our results indicate that such hybrid nanostructures carry significant potential for realizing novel nano‐optical devices such as ultrafast nano‐optical switches as well as surface plasmon polariton amplifiers and lasers.