Photon confinement in photonic crystal nanocavities

The quest for enhanced light‐matter interactions has enabled a tremendous increase in the performance of photonic‐crystal nanoresonators in the past decade. State‐of‐the‐art nanocavities now offer mode lifetime in the nanosecond range with confinement volumes of a few hundredths of a cubic micrometer. These results are certainly a consequence of the rapid development of fabrication techniques and modeling tools at micro‐ and nanometric scales. For future applications and developments, it is necessary to deeply understand the intrinsic physical quantities that govern the photon confinement in these cavities. We present a review of the different physical mechanisms at work in the photon confinement of almost all modern PhC cavity constructs. The approach relies on a Fabry‐Perot picture and emphasizes three intrinsic quantities, the mirror reflectance, the mirror penetration depth and the defect‐mode group velocity, which are often hidden by global analysis relying on an a posteriori analysis of the calculated cavity mode. The discussion also includes nanoresonator constructs, such as the important micropillar cavity, for which some subtle scattering mechanisms significantly alter the Fabry‐Perot picture.     

Influence of Atomistic Protrusion on the Substrate on Molecular Luminescence in Tunnel Junctions

Scanning tunneling microscope (STM) induced luminescence can be used to study various optoelectronic phenomena of single molecules and to understand the fundamental photophysical mechanisms involved. To clearly observe the molecule-specific luminescence, it is important to improve the quantum efficiency of molecules in the metallic nanocavity. In this work, we investigate theoretically the influence of an atomic-scale protrusion on the substrate on the emission properties of a point dipole oriented parallel to the substrate in a silver plasmonic nanocavity by electromagnetic simulations. We find that an atomic-scale protrusion on the substrate can strongly enhance the quantum efficiency of a horizontal dipole emitter, similar to the situation with a protrusion at the tip apex. We also consider a double-protrusion junction geometry in which there is an atomic-scale protrusion on both the tip and the substrate, and find that this geometry does provide significantly enhanced emission compared with the protrusion-free situation, but does not appear to improve the quantum efficiency compared to the mono-protrusion situation either at the tip apex or on the substrate. These results are believed to be instructive for future STM induced electroluminescence and photoluminescence studies on single molecules.     

A high-quality factor hybrid plasmonic nanocavity based on distributed Bragg reflectors

Herein,we propose a high-quality(Q) factor hybrid plasmonic nanocavity based on distributed Bragg reflectors(DBRs) with low propagation loss and extremely strong mode confinement.This hybrid plasmonic nanocavity is composed of a high-index cylindrical nanowire separated from a metal surface possessing shallow DBRs gratings by a sufficiently thin low-index dielectric layer.The hybrid plasmonic nanocavity possesses advantages such as a high Purcell factor(Fp) of up to nearly 20000 and a gain threshold approaching 266 cm~(-1)at 1550 nm,promising a greater potential in deep sub-wavelength lasing applications.     

纳米空腔堆积的一维碳纳米结构的合成与表征

Quasi-periodically intermittent hollow-cavity-stacked one-dimensional carbon nanostructures were obtained by microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition from the mixture of CH₄ and N₂ on Fe/γ-Al₂O₃ catalyst. This structure was characterized by transmission electron microscope (TEM), high-resolution TEM and X-ray energy dispersive spectral analysis. The results indicate that the trace impurity of nitrogen might account mainly for the formation of these novel nanostructures. The structural units in these one-dimensional carbon nanostructures are full of nanocavities, which may be of potential importance in hydrogen storage.     

Casimir effect modified surface energy of a nanocavity in homogeneous media

We determine the regularized van der Waals contribution to pressure within a spherical cavity of vapor in a homogeneous, isotropic, infinite medium. The spherical Hamaker function, , has been defined, for the first time, in contrast to the conventional Hamaker function for planar surfaces, . For the materials under consideration, the pressure inside the cavity varies as , where a is the radius of the cavity. For radii below a transition radius, the surface energy (or surface tension) becomes size dependent and could have important implications for homogeneous nucleation of nanosized bubbles in liquids, as well as cavitation of bubbles.

     

Synthesis and spectroscopic investigation of a novel solvatochromic dye

Optical response of a novel dye has been studied in various media like neat and mixed binary solvents, aqueous SDS micelles and β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) nanocavities. Fluorescence parameters in pure and mixed binary solvents have been found to be sensitive to the nature of the microenvironment. The emitting state of the dye in protic solvent is different from that in aprotic solvents. In presence of cations (H⁺, Mg²⁺), the dye exists in two tautomeric forms at equilibrium in solution. The values of the equilibrium constant (K) and ΔH⁰ have been measured. Values of local dielectric constant (ε) and microviscosity (η) at the region of solubilisation of the dye in aqueous SDS micellar media have been found out. The dye has also been found to form complex with β-CD. The equilibrium constant and the energy of maximum fluorescence of the dye encapsulated by β-CD have been determined.     

Plasmonic effect of nanoshelled nanocavity on encapsulated emitter's spontaneous emission

The plasmonic enhancement of nanoshelled nanocavity (a silica core coated by Ag or Au shell) on the spontaneous emission of an encapsulated emitter (a molecule or quantum dot) is studied systematically by analyzing the excitation rate and the apparent quantum yield together. By averaging all possible locations and orientations of the emitter, the average enhancement factor (AEF) of the emitter randomly located in the core is calculated. Our results show that the AEF is weaker than that of the emitter located at the core center. In addition, Ag nanoshell (NS) is a narrowband enhancer. As the thickness of the shell becomes thinner, the surface plasmon resonance of NS is red-shifted and the peak of AEF increases. The specificity of Ag NS for enhancing a specific spontaneous emission is higher than Au NS. In addition, Ag NS with a smaller core has a larger AEF, while Au NS has an optimal radius of core (30 nm) to obtain the maximum AEF. Moreover, the AEF is reduced, as the Stokes shift increases.     

Dynamic modulation in graphene-integrated silicon photonic crystal nanocavity

Silicon-based electro-optic modulators are the key devices in integrated optoelectronics. Integration of the graphene layer and the photonic crystal(PC) cavity is a promising way of achieving compact modulators with high efficiency. In this paper, a high-quality(Q) acceptor-type PC nanocavity is employed to integrate with a single-layer graphene for realizing strong modulation. Through tuning the chemical potential of graphene, a large wavelength shift of 2.62 nm and a Q factor modulation of larger than 5 are achieved. A modulation depth(12.8 dB) of the reflection spectrum is also obtained.Moreover, the optimized PC nanocavity has a large free spectral range of 131.59 nm, which can effectively enhance the flexibility of the modulator. It shows that the proposed graphene-based PC nanocavity is a potential candidate for compact,high-contrast, and low-power absorptive modulators in integrated silicon chips.     

基于三角晶格光子晶体谐振腔的双通道解波分复用器

提出了一种基于三角晶格二维光子晶体解波分复用器。该器件主体由线缺陷波导、环形谐振腔及点缺陷微腔构成。使用平面波展开法研究了线缺陷波导的特性,给出了线缺陷波导的能带图,对局部器件微调后进行大量的性能仿真以及对整体器件进行性能仿真,选择合适的器件参数,并使用时域有限差分法研究了不同波长的光在解波分复用器中的传输特性,并给出了电场分布图。仿真结果表明,该种结构可以实现波长分别为1271nm和1291nm两种光波的解波分复用。采用6个额外的介质柱,提高了环形腔的透射率;并通过在入射波导的入射口处增加三对介质柱,提高了波导的出射效率,从而整体上提高了双通道解波分复用器的输出效率。     

二维GaAs 基光子晶体微腔的制作与光谱特性分析

研究了以InAs量子点为有源区的二维GaAs基光子晶体微腔的设计与制作,测试并分析了室温下微腔的光谱特性.观察到了波长约为1137 nm,谱线半高宽度约为1 nm的尖锐低阶谐振模式发光峰.我们比较了不同刻蚀条件下光子晶体微腔的发光谱线,结果表明空气孔洞截面的垂直度是影响光子晶体微腔发光特性的重要因素之一.通过调节干法刻蚀工艺,改变空气孔半径与晶格常数的比率,可以在较大范围内调节谐振模式发光峰位置,达到谐振模式与量子点发光峰调谐的目的.