Long-range surface plasmon polaritons propagating on a dielectric waveguide support

In the traditional long-range surface plasmon geometry, an ultrathin metal film is sandwiched between two layers having identical dielectric constants. Here we demonstrate the long-range surface plasmon polariton (LRSPP) properties for a new structure where a thin layer with a dielectric constant exceeding that of the surroundings is inserted within the sandwich, provided the layer thickness d satisfies the condition k(⊥)d=mπ where k(⊥) is the component of the guide wavevector perpendicular to the layer and m is an integer. The resulting plasmon modes have smaller losses and nearly the same phase velocity as the original LRSPP. This provides a strategy to support silver films having thicknesses of 10's of nanometers to create plasmonic devices for sensor applications.     

长程表面等离子体的增强效应

研究了双层金属薄膜构型中构型参数对长程表面等离子体的影响,并发现了衰减全反射激发方法下长程表面等离子体的增强效应.以特征矩阵算法为基础,通过数值计算构型的反射谱,研究构型参数的变化对反射谱的影响.发现由于衰减全反射激发方法中耦合器的存在导致的非对称特性,会使双层金属薄膜构型中的长程表面等离子体拥有本征模式特性以外的有趣特性,如长程模式得到增强而另一支受到抑制,从而使能量更为集中在希望被激发的一支.研究结果对非对称激发构型中的长程表面等离子体研究具有启发意义.     

Tunable Pair Transmission in One-Dimensional Photonic Crystals Consisting of Single-Negative Materials

We study the transmission of one-dimensional photonic crystals consisting of single-negative permittivity and single-negative permeability media by using transfer matrix method. A pair of transmission modes is found in the gap. The transmission modes are dependent only on the ratio of the thicknesses of the two alternating layers. The separation of a pair of transmission modes can be tuned by varying the thickness of the defect layer or the ratio of thicknesses of the two alternating layers.     

Characteristics analysis of hybrid plasmonic waveguide for low-loss lightwave guiding

It has been experimentally demonstrated that a low-loss guided hybrid mode is supported if a metal strip is embedded in a low index polymer layer surrounded by two high index slabs. In this paper, further numerical analyses on the guided hybrid modes are reported to fully elucidate the characteristics of the hybrid plasmonic waveguide. For a one-dimensional slab structure with a metal film of infinite width, simulation results exhibit that low-loss guided hybrid modes are associated with surface plasmon modes and dual dielectric slab modes. The optical properties of the guided modes are improved by increasing the field intensity which is confined into lossless dielectric layers by decreasing the metal film thickness and increasing the refractive index and thickness of the high-index slabs. The finite element method is used to investigate the lateral mode confinement of the optical guided modes by the corresponding metal strip. By reducing the metal film width, the guided modes are confined in the plane transverse to the direction of propagation and the characteristics are significantly improved. The hybrid plasmonic waveguide can be exploited for long-range propagation-based application such as optical interconnection.     

Transparent conductive ITO/Ag/ITO multilayer electrodes deposited by sputtering at room temperature

ITO/Ag/ITO multilayers have been prepared onto conventional soda lime glass substrates by sputtering at room temperature. The optical and electrical characteristics of single layer and multilayer structures have been investigated as a function of the Ag and ITO film thicknesses. Transmittance and sheet resistance values are found mainly dependent on the Ag film thickness; whereas the wavelength range at which the maximum transmittance is achieved can be changed by adjusting the ITO films thickness. ITO/Ag/ITO electrodes with sheet resistance below 6 Ω/sq have been obtained for Ag film thickness above 10 nm and ITO layers thickness in the 30-50 nm range. These multilayers also show high transmittance in the visible spectral region, above 90% by discounting the glass substrate, with a maximum that is located at higher wavelengths for thicker ITO.     

Lead telluride nanocrystalline thin films: Structure,optical characterization and a broadband dielectric spectroscopy study

Nanocrystalline PbTe thin films were deposited on a glass substrate by thermal evaporation technique with two thicknesses namely, 45 and 250 nm. The structural studies revealed that the films have nanocrystalline cubic structure and the particle size was found to be 11 and 20.7 nm, for low and high thicknesses respectively. The FE-SEM study shows that the surface grains increase for higher thickness film. This indicates that samples lying under the strong regime of confinement for PbTe thin films. The optical properties confirm the occurrence of confinement process as the optical band gap are 1.67 and 0.9 eV for 45 and 250 nm films, respectively. The dielectric results indicated that the conductivity increases by about two orders of magnitude with increasing the thickness from 45 to 250 nm. Moreover, the permittivity shows a higher dispersion step at lower frequencies in both samples due to the hopping conduction mechanism in addition to the interfacial polarization in such heterogeneous structures. Another small dispersion step is noticed in case of the lower thickness. It is attributed to the polarization of the accumulated charge carriers near the grain boundaries interfaces. No indication of any electrode phenomena in both samples is shown here.     

Long range surface plasmon polariton waveguides at 1.31 and 1.55 μm wavelengths

We investigate characteristics of gold metal strip waveguides based on long range surface plasmon polaritons (LRSPPs) along thin metal strips embedded in a polymer for practical applications at the telecommunication wavelengths of 1.31 and 1.55 μm. Guiding properties of the gold strip waveguides are theoretically and experimentally evaluated with the limited thickness and width up to ∼20 nm and ∼10 μm, respectively. The lowest propagation loss of ∼1.4 dB/cm is obtained with a 14.5-nm-thick and 2-μm-wide gold strip at 1.55 μm. With a single-mode fiber, the lowest coupling loss of ∼0.4 dB/facet is achieved with a 14.5-nm-thick and 5-μm-wide gold strip at 1.55 μm. The lowest insertion losses are obtained 8-9 dB with 1.5 cm-long gold strips of a limited thickness and width at both the wavelengths. We demonstrate a 10 Gbps optical signal transmission via the LRSPP waveguide with a 14 nm-thick, 2.5 μm-wide, and 4 cm-long gold strip. These LRSPP waveguides have potential applications for optical interconnects and communications.     

ZnO薄膜/金刚石在不同激励条件下声表面波特性的计算与分析

本文首先以刚度矩阵法为基础, 给出了ZnO薄膜/金刚石在四种不同激励条件下的有效介电常数计算公式. 然后以此为工具, 分别计算了多晶ZnO(002) 薄膜/多晶金刚石和单晶ZnO(002) 薄膜/多晶金刚石的声表面波特性, 并根据计算结果及设计制作声表面波器件的要求, 对ZnO膜厚的选择进行了详细地分析. 最后讨论了ZnO/金刚石/Si复合晶片可以忽略Si衬底对声表面特性影响时对金刚石膜厚的要求. 关键词： 声表面波 压电多层结构 有效介电常数 刚度矩阵法     

Proposed electrically-pumped,III–V-metal hybrid plasmonic lasers

We propose an electrically-pumped hybrid plasmonic laser through the integration of a semiconductor quantum well laser with a thin metal film. Due to the coupling between the TM waveguide mode in the III–V active layer and the LRSPP mode around the metal thin film, light can be confined in both regions and optical gain can be provided by the active layer. We have shown that the quasi-odd supermode is the preferred lasing mode because of its larger confinement factor and lower modal loss compared to the quasi-even supermode. Through optimizing the gap distance between the active region and the metal film, we can obtain low threshold and a large amount of optical energy confined around the metal film for the hybrid plasmonic laser.     

Molecular mobility in polymer thin films

Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching was used to measure in-plane dye-probe diffusion coefficients, D, in thin films of monodisperse polystyrene supported on fused quartz substrates. The substrates were prepared with a high density of surface hydroxyl groups which interact favorably with repeat units of the polymer. The effects of temperature and film thickness were investigated, at temperatures above the bulk glass transition of the polymer, T(g), and in the range of film thicknesses from 1-10(2) times the radius of gyration (R(g)) of individual polymer molecules. As the film thickness decreases towards R(g) the value of D increases above the bulk values, with significant effects first appearing in films approximately 20R(g). In the thinnest films studied, about 4R(g), the values of D lie as much as two orders over bulk values. At the same time, the temperature dependence of D becomes much weaker than in bulk. Analysis by free volume theory indicates that apparent values of both T(g) and the thermal expansion coefficient for liquid state, alpha(L), decrease as the film thickness decreases. The possible effects of surface segregation of the dye probe are discussed.     

Thickness dependence of electrical properties of ITO film deposited on a plastic substrate by RF magnetron sputtering

Indium tin oxide (ITO) films with various thicknesses in range of 40-280 nm were prepared onto a plastic substrate (PMMA). Deposition was carried out with RF magnetron sputtering method and the substrate temperature was held at ∼70 °C, in lack of the thermal damage to the polymer substrate. Changes in microstructure and electrical properties of ITO films according to their thicknesses were investigated. It was found that amorphous layer with thickness of 80 nm was formed at the interface on the polymer substrate and polycrystalline ITO could be obtained above the thickness. Conductivity of ITO films was found to be strongly dependent on the crystallinity. Consequently, it is suggested that crystallinity of the deposited films should be enhanced at the initial stage of deposition and the thickness of amorphous region be reduced in order to prepare high quality ITO thin films on polymer substrates.     

High extinction ratio metal-insulator-semiconductor waveguide surface plasmon polariton polarizer

The attenuation characteristics of a multilayer metal clad GaAs-AlGaAs optical waveguide polarizer are theoretically investigated. The dispersion relations and field distribution of the multilayer structures are calculated for different geometrical parameters and material properties. The polarizer studied consists of a single mode finite/infinite metal clad GaAs-AlGaAs waveguide with a dielectric (SiO₂/Si₃N₄) buffer layer inserted between the metal and the waveguide.Conventionally, the TM polarized waves are found to exhibit an absorption peak at a particular buffer thickness (called critical buffer thickness).We shall show that the maximum TM absorption can be improved by a multiple factor up to 7 by choosing a buffer layer thicker than its critical value. This corresponds to an extinction ratio of 1470 dB for a polarizer length of 1 mm. Further, thicker buffers reduce the insertion losses and values as low as 0.1 dB can be obtained. The strong TM absorption in these structures is interpreted as resonant coupling of the guided mode to the lossy surface plasmon polariton supported by the thin metal film. Thicker buffer also reduces the TE losses (insertion losses) and hence increases the extinction ratio (ratio of TM to TE losses).This can be achieved by optimizing the buffer and the metal thicknesses. Another equally efficient polarizer can be designed by positioning a dielectric (same as buffer) layer (superstrate layer) above the metal film and then optimizing the buffer, metal and the superstrate thicknesses. We also show that the proposed polarizer with the superstrate layer is highly stable even when exposed to the extreme atmospheric changes.     

Amplified spontaneous emission from metal-backed poly[2-methoxy-5-(2’-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene] film

We investigate the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) from an Ag-backed poly[2-methoxy-5-(2’-ethylhexyloxy)1,4-phenylenevinylene] (MEH-PPV) film with different film thicknesses.The ASE characteristics of Ag-backed MEHPPV films with different thicknesses show that increasing the film thickness can reduce the influence of the Ag cladding.The threshold,the gain,and the loss of the device with a thickness of 170 nm are comparable to those of a metal-free device.The lasing threshold of this device is about 7.5 times that of a metal-free device.Our findings demonstrate that Ag-backed MEH-PPV film with an appropriate thickness can still be a good polymer gain material for the fabrication of solid-state lasers.     

双层金属纳米光栅的TE偏振光异常透射特性

根据在亚波长金属光栅表面添加电介质会引起TE偏振光的透射异常性, 应用严格耦合波理论和时域有限差分方法, 研究了双层金属纳米光栅在TE偏振光入射时产生的异常透射现象. 利用等效折射率方法建立了双层金属光栅的等效模型, 得到了TE偏振光透射率与聚合物的折射率、厚度以及金属层厚度的变化关系. 确认了结构中聚合物是透射异常出现的必要条件, TE偏振光以波导电磁模式在其中传播, 并认为类Fabry-Perot腔谐振是透射峰值产生的主要原因.     

Thickness Determination for a Two-Layered Composite of a Film and a Plate by Low-Frequency Ultrasound

We present an ultrasonic method for determining the thickness of a composite consisting of a soft thin film attached to a hard plate substrate, by resonance spectra in the low frequency region, The interrogating waves can be incident only to the two-layered composite from the substrate side. The reflection spectra are obtained by FFT analysis of the compressive pulsed echoes from the composite, and the thicknesses of the film and the substrate are simultaneously inversed by the simulated annealing method from the resonant frequencies knowing other acoustical parameters in prior. The sensitivity of the method to individual thickness, its convergence and stability against experimental noises are studied, Experiment with interrogating wavelength 4 times larger than the film thickness in a sample of a polymer film （0.054mm） on an aluminium plate （6.24mm） verifies the validity of the method. The average relative errors in the measurement of the thicknesses of the film and the substrate are found to be -4.1% and -0.62%, respectively.     

Thickness dependence of the work function in double-layer metallic films

The work function of metallic thin films limited by symmetric surfaces is expected to be thickness dependent at a level of 0.1 eV and a thickness range of about 5 nm. Recent experiments, however, demonstrated that Cu films on glass or Ni substrates show a long ranging (10–20 nm) increase of the work function with increasing film thickness [1]. This effect was attributed to a violation of local charge neutrality in films with unlike surfaces. In this paper we show that the barrier height of thin film diodes like metal-insulator-metal (MIM)-, metal-semiconductor (Schottky contacts)-and metal-vacuum-metal (Kelvin capacitors) structures decreases with increasing thickness of one metal electrode. This metal electrode consists of a double layer whose single layer thicknesses are of the order of few tens of nm. The observed effect can be attributed to a decrease of the work function at the counter limiting interface not exposed to the evaporation beam. A possible explanation can be found again in the violation of the local charge neutrality in films with unlike surfaces.     

空间多能电子辐照聚合物充电过程的稳态特性

空间同步轨道上多能电子辐照聚合物的充电过程及其稳态特性是研究和抑制通信卫星静电放电的基础.在同步电子散射-输运微观模型的基础上,采用具有10—400 keV积分能谱分布的多能电子辐照聚酰亚胺样品,进行了多能电子辐照聚酰亚胺充电过程的数值模拟,获得了空间电荷密度、空间电位、空间电场分布和聚合物样品参数条件下的表面电位和最大场强.结果表明,多能电子与样品发生散射作用并沉积在样品内形成具有高密度的电荷区域分布,同时在迁移和扩散的作用下输运至样品底部形成样品电流;充电达到稳态、电子迁移率较小时(小于10-10cm2·V-1·s-1),表面电位绝对值和充电强度随电子迁移率的降低明显加强,捕获密度较大时(大于1014cm-3),表面电位绝对值和充电强度随捕获密度的增大明显加强;聚合物样品厚度对表面电位和充电强度的影响大于电子迁移率、捕获密度和相对介电常数的影响.研究结果对于揭示空间多能电子辐照聚合物的充电现象及微观机理、提高航天器故障机理研究水平具有重要科学意义和价值.     

Terahertz dielectric spectra of (Ba,Sr)TiO<Subscript>3</Subscript> thin films

Reflection and transmission spectra of Ba_0.7Sr_0.3TiO₃ films with thicknesses of 36 and 800 μm on the MgO substrate are measured in the frequency range from 8 to 1000 cm^?1 at room temperature. The dielectric parameters of the film material are derived using the simulation method. The dependence of the permittivity on the film thickness is determined. It is found that the absorption spectrum of the substrate strongly affects the calculated dielectric spectra of the film material. It is demonstrated that the simulation should be performed with the inclusion of the dielectric losses in the substrate in the subphonon frequency range.     

Determination of Thickness of an Inaccessible Thin Film under a Multilayered System from Natural Frequencies

We investigate the relationship between natural frequencies of a multilayered system of different elastic materials and the thickness of the undermost thin film. The natural frequencies are numerically calculated from the reflection coefficient of a sample system of ＂steel-epoxy resin-aluminium-thin polymer＂ with normal incidence. Strain energy ratio is defined and calculated to give the physics explanation why some frequencies are sensitive to thickness of the thin film in certain range. Experiments of three specimens indicate that the measured natural frequencies agree well with the theoretical ones. It is found in our experiments that the ratio of the lowest film thickness to wavelength is about 1/5. The average relative errors for the inverted polymer film thicknesses are found to be 11.8%, -4.8% and -1.3%, respectively.     

Nonlinear dispersion equation and guided modes in a slab waveguide composed of a negative-index medium

We consider a slab waveguide made of a material with negative permeability and negative permittivity, the surrounding medium is conventional. By using the dispersion relation, we show the dispersion curves from the variation of the core width and other physical parameters. The associated energy flow for several thicknesses of the nonlinear layer waveguide is presented. We discuss possible new types of modes that can occur. It is found that the dispersion curves and the energy flow can be controlled by varying the thickness of the guide, the filling factor and the effective plasma frequency. A numerical simulation is done to well illustrate.