Dual-band isotropic metamaterial absorber based on near-field interaction in the Ku band

We numerically and experimentally investigate single-band and dual-band isotropic metamaterial absorbers (IMAs) based on metallic disks. By optimizing the diameter of the metallic disks and the thickness of the dielectric substrate, the single-band IMA is observed at 16.2 GHz with absorptivity of 97%. When adding one disk-pair to the structure, the dual-band IMA is obtained at 12.8 and 15.5 GHz due to the symmetry breaking. The physical mechanics is explained by near-field coupling effect and equivalent LC circuit model. The measurement results performed in the range 12–18 GHz show a good agreement with simulation and theoretical analysis. Our findings demonstrate a new approach to achieve dual-band and multi-band IMAs.     

Nanorod near-field radiative heat exchange analysis

A theoretical method for cylinder-to-cylinder radiative heat exchange is formulated. The method utilized was a modified version of a previously published numerical method for near-field sphere-to-sphere radiative exchange. Modifications were made to the numerical procedure to make it applicable to cylindrical geometry of nanorods. Nanorods investigated had length to diameter ratios of 3:1 and 7:1. The heat exchange of nanorods is plotted vs. gap to assess the impact of near-field radiative transfer as gap decreases. Graphical results of energy vs. nanorod radii are also presented. A nanorod-to-plane configuration is estimated utilizing a nanorod asymptotic method. The nanorod-to-nanorod method approximates a nanorod-to-plane geometric configuration when one nanorod radii is held constant, and the second nanorod radii is iteratively increased until the corresponding radiative exchange converges.     

Investigation of resonant properties of metal core–shell nanoparticles using T-matrix calculations

Using T-matrix method, plasmon resonance properties of metal core–shell nanoparticles are systematically investigated. It is shown that dielectric/metal core–shell structure may be excited stronger at resonance than metal/dielectric and hetero-metal ones, but the resonance states are extremely sensible to the layers thickness. For three-layer nanospheres, resonance properties will be dominated by a sub-10 nm silver outermost shell, while only weakened by a silica one. Finally, tiny eccentric distance between the centers of core and shell in eccentric two-layer nanoparticles may fundamentally change the resonance mode of nanoparticles, and results in higher local electrical field enhancement than concentric nanospheres.     

Enhancement of light-emitting efficiency using combined plasmonic Ag grating and dielectric grating

Based on the analysis of the near-field evanescent wave in total internal reflection, the flip-chip light-emitting diode (LED) structure was proposed by placing a plasmonic Ag grating and a perforated sapphire grating in the substrate. The finite difference time domain (FDTD) method has been applied to study the spectral properties of the hybrid structure and the enhancement factor of light extraction efficiency of the LED model. From the computation examples, the effects of structure parameters on the extraction enhancement have been investigated. The results indicate that the plasmonic grating can enhance the near-field evanescent wave and couple it to propagation wave in the specific wavelength bands, which leads to the photons emitting out of the LED chip with high extraction efficiency. Due to the combined gratings used, the enhancement factor of the light extraction efficiency can reach approximately 4 times at a relatively longer wavelength.     

近场光存储及其研究进展

本文从近场光学的超分辨原理出发详细介绍和分析了孔径探针型近场光存储技术、SIL透镜近场光存储技术和近场超分辨结构光盘存储技术等的基本原理、研究现状以及它们的优缺点及存在的问题     

Local field enhancement of pair arrays of silver nanospheres

Local field surface plasmon excitation of pair arrays of silver nanospheres was studied using three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method. The near-field enhancement was associated with the radius of nanosphere and the incident wavelength, the highest of which always appeared in the penultimate gaps, regardless of the number of the pairs. The surface plasmon resonance could be controlled and tuned by radius of nanosphere and incident wavelength.     

Negative refraction and imaging properties of circular photonic crystals

The electromagnetic wave propagation in a two-dimensional (2D) circular photonic crystal (CPC) is investigated. The CPC structure is composed of air holes in the dielectric background material. The finite element method is used to study the optical and propagating properties of the CPC slab. Numerical simulations show that negative refraction and near-field imaging can appear in a 2D CPC slab. We also find that the high-symmetry CPC slab possesses an optics axis along the vertical direction intersecting the symmetric center. As a result, the CPC slab can exhibit an excellent imaging performance when a source is placed on the optical axis.     

Dynamics of topological defects in the Lβ′ phase of 1,2-dipalmitoylphosphatidycholine bilayers

We use the optical birefringence of 1,2-dipalmitoylphosphatidycholine bilayers (DPPC) in the gel (L_β′) phase to study recombination dynamics of topological defects. The birefringence of anisotropic thin films, such as the L_β′ phase of DPPC bilayers, is related to their molecular polarizability, different on the heads and the acyl chains. When the sample is cooled down into the L_β′ phase, a period of rapid recombination (taking place over a few seconds) is followed by slow dynamics with metastable states existing in excess of several minutes. After this, either another metastable state or a truly stable state remains where no further change is observed, although a spatially non-uniform distribution of the orientation of the birefringence remains. We compare our results with a model for the free energy and the dynamics of the lipid bilayer in the gel state, finding good qualitative agreement.     

A LOW-FREQUENCY ELECTROMAGNETIC NEAR-FIELD INVERSE PROBLEM FOR A SPHERICAL SCATTERER

The interior low-frequency electromagnetic dipole excitation of a dielectric sphere is uti- lized as a simplified but realistic model in various biomedical applications. Motivated by these considerations, in this paper, we investigate analytically a near-field inverse scatter- ing problem for the electromagnetic interior dipole excitation of a dielectric sphere. First, we obtain, under the low-frequency assumption, a closed-form approximation of the series of the secondary electric field at the dipole＇s location. Then, we utilize this derived approx- imation in the development of a simple inverse medium scattering algorithm determining the sphere＇s dielectric permittivity. Finally, we present numerical results for a human head model, which demonstrate the accurate determination of the complex permittivity by the developed algorithm.     

有孔探针近场拉曼光谱和成像技术进展

基于有孔探针SNOM的近场拉曼光谱和成像技术的出现使得拉曼光谱的分辨率突破了光学衍射极限,从而提供了一个有力的工具对样品亚波长尺度之下的化学信息进行表征。文章讨论了探针性质对实现近场拉曼光谱的影响,并全面地介绍了有孔探针近场拉曼光谱发展十余年来在纳米尺度化学分辨成像、液-液界面性质研究、微观层面解释SERS增强机理、图像化反映SERS热点分布等诸多领域的研究进展。