Prediction of negative index material lenses based on metallo‐dielectric nanotubes

We propose to assemble negative index materials (NIMs) from dielectric nanotubes with inner and outer surfaces covered by thin metallic films. The focusing properties of flat and concave lenses assembled from metallized titania nanotubes are compared with those of lenses made from nanorods with the refractive index n = –1 by performing numerical calculations using a multiple‐scattering approach. Focusing is proved for both types of lenses, however, the focusing properties of concave lenses are better. The lenses are shown to be tolerant to the introduction of disorder in the arrangement of nanotubes. Moreover, the disorder proves to improve the quality of the focal spot. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Theoretical study of the optical absorption and refraction index change in a cylindrical quantum dot

Analytical expressions of the optical absorption coefficient and the change in refractive index associated with intraband relaxation in a cylindrical quantum dot are obtained by using the density matrix formalism. Energy levels in conduction band were calculated with finite confining potential in the framework of the effective-mass envelope-function theory. Numerical calculations on a typical GaAs/AlβGa1−βAs QD are performed. It is found that the absorption and refraction index change sensitively depend not only on the incident optical wave but also on the dot size and the Al mole fraction β in the AlβGa1−βAs material.     

Study of Ge x Si1−x /Si superlattices by ellipsometry

Multiple-angle-of-incidence (MAI) ellipsometry is used to study Ge _x Si_1–x /Si superlattices fabricated by a RRH/VLP-CVD system. Based on the fundamental ellipsometric equations and properties of semiconductor superlattices (SL), various parameters of SL structure, such as the sublayer thickness, complex refractive index and composition, are achieved precisely and simultaneously. The results obtained from ellipsometry are well consistent with those from growth conditions and other characterization techniques.     

Intersubband optical absorption coefficients and refractive index changes in a parabolic cylinder quantum dot

Optical absorption coefficients and refractive index changes associated with intersubband transition in a parabolic cylinder quantum dot are theoretically investigated. In this regard, the electronic structure of the dot is studied using the one band effective mass theory, and by means of the compact-density matrix approach the linear and nonlinear optical absorption coefficients and refractive index changes are calculated. The effects of the size of the dot, optical intensity and electromagnetic field polarization on the optical absorption coefficient and refractive index changes are investigated. It is found that absorption and refractive index changes are strongly affected not only by the size of the dot but also by optical intensity and the electromagnetic field polarization.     

An off‐axis magnetron‐sputtering system for in situ studies of artificial superlattices growth by synchrotron radiation scattering

A sputtering chamber for the growth of artificial superlattices of oxide‐based materials is described. The chamber is designed to fit into a standard Huber eight‐circle diffractometer. The chamber serves for investigation with synchrotron radiation of growth characteristics of oxide‐based artificial superlattices in situ. Two Be windows of large area in the vacuum chamber enable measurement of reflections of X‐rays at entrance and exit angles up to ～50°. Large perpendicular momentum transfers are practical with this apparatus. The possibility of investigating X‐ray scattering in situ is demonstrated by observation of the effects of the modulation length and the stacking period on the growth characteristics of BaTiO₃/LaNiO₃ artificial superlattices.     

Temperature‐dependent electroluminescence intensity in green and blue (In,Ga)N multiple‐quantum‐well diodes

The electroluminescence (EL) intensity has been investigated of green and blue (In,Ga)N multiple‐quantum‐well diodes grown on c ‐plane sapphire over a wide temperature range and as a function of current between 0.01 mA and 10 mA. The EL intensity of the green diode with p‐(Al,Ga)N electron blocking layer does not show low‐temperature quenching, especially at low injection levels, previously observed for the blue (In,Ga)N quantum‐well diodes. This finding rules out possi‐ bilities that the freeze‐out of holes at deep Mg acceptor levels and the failure of hole injections through the p‐(Al,Ga)N layer are directly responsible for the EL quenching at temperatures below 100 K. Variations of the EL efficiency with current level suggest that capture/escape efficiencies of injected carriers by the wells play an important role for the determination of EL external quantum efficiency. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Photonic Jet by a Near‐Unity‐Refractive‐Index Sphere on a Dielectric Substrate with High Index Contrast

Photonic jets are normally generated in transmission mode and are represented as a spatially localized high‐intensity region on the shadow side of a particle‐lens, with a background to medium refractive index contrast of 1.3–1.7 while illuminated by a plane wave. Here, a photonic jet is discovered in the opposing plane wave propagation direction and lies in the area in the upper boundary of a near‐unity refractive index sphere on a high refractive index dielectric substrate. The redistribution of the power flow is inhibited during the reflected wave passing the near‐unity refractive index sphere. This has led to a unique effect on the focus position and shape of the produced photonic jet in reflection mode which can be maximally maintained near the sphere regardless of the modulation of the refractive index for the dielectric substrate material.     

Negative refraction of low‐frequency electromagnetic waves

Features of anomalous refraction of low‐frequency electromagnetic waves are investigated in all‐semiconductor nonmagnetic superlattices with a periodic array of two‐dimensional electron gas layers under quantum Hall effect conditions. We show that the structure exhibits negative refraction on the lateral surface for all angles of incidence, in the frequency region which has no limitation from the low‐frequency side, and that for such intriguing properties it requires no resonance frequency and no negative component of the permittivity tensor. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Removal of interminiband interactions in dynamic Wannier-Stark ladder by means of a pulse train with periodic repetition

A quasienergy structure of a dynamic Wannier-Stark ladder (DWSL) that is driven by a pulse train with periodic repetition is analyzed. Here, novel properties on coherent control realized by means of tuning a combination of laser parameters are revealed. In particular, we report a striking property that interminiband interactions due to both static and dynamic Zener tunnelings are completely removed from the DWSL by utilizing the periodic pulse train with either square or full-cycle saw-toothed unit-pulse-shape in a temporal domain, regardless of magnitude of Dc- and Ac-electric fields exerted on the original superlattices.     

Refractive indices of (AlAs)(GaAs) short-period superlattices

The refractive indices of short-period binary (AlAs)_m(GaAs)_n superlattices, wherem = n, were investigated by measuring the beam divergences of optical waveguides using these superlattices as the core material. It is demonstrated that the refractive index depends on the period of the superlattice and not simply on the average composition. The refractive index is shown to depend in a systematic way on the direct bandgap of the superlattice, although the relationship may not be quite the same as that for a random alloy.     

Two modes of electroluminescence from single‐walled carbon nanotubes

The electroluminescence from single‐walled carbon nanotube field effect transistors is spectrally resolved, and shows two distinct modes of light emission. The vast majority of nanotubes have spectrally broad emission consistent with the spectrum of blackbody radiation. Much more rarely, superposed on the broad emission is a single narrow (<50 meV) peak which is consistent with expectation for electron–hole recombination. The narrow emission is strong even at lower biases and in general has greater peak intensity than the broadband emission. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Unity‐Order Nonlinear Optical Index Change in Epsilon‐Near‐Zero Composite Materials of Gain Media and Metal Nanoparticles

This work reports giant optical nonlinearity of active gain composites containing metal nanoparticles. In the epsilon‐near‐zero regime, the effective index of the composite strongly depends on the magnitude of host material's saturable gain and one can obtain unity‐order nonlinear optical index change for the pump with gain saturation intensity. For pump intensity of about 100 kW/cm², the nonlinear refractive index (the refractive index change per unit pump intensity) reaches 10^?5 cm²/W, which is 6–8 orders‐of‐magnitude larger than the records recently obtained in epsilon‐near‐zero bulk materials. If the gain value of the host medium is slightly larger than a critical value, such large optical nonlinearity can be obtained without loss or even accompanying with amplification. The proposed materials also have the advantage of wide tunability of operating wavelength range from visible to infrared by changing the gain value of the host and the shape parameters and filling factors of metal nanoparticles.     

Influence of Deviation on Optical Transmission through Aperiodic Superlattices

We propose a deviation model and study the influences of the relative error and sensitivity of a machine on the transmission coefficients （TCs） of Fibonacci superlattices. It is found that for a system with fewer layers, the influence of deviation can be ignored. When superlattices become more complicated, they may be fabricated by a machine with suitable relative error and possess the designed value of TO. However, when the number of system layers exceeds some critical value, superlattices should be manufactured only by precise machines. The influence of the sensitivity is also discussed.     

Ultra‐subwavelength focusing of light by a monolayer of metallic nanoshells with an adsorbed defect

We study theoretically the focusing properties of a two‐dimensional periodic array of silver‐coated silica nanospheres. The array contains an adsorbed nanosphere of the same type which serves as point source when the array is illuminated by a plane wave. By using a rigorous multiple‐scattering theory we show that under plane wave illumination, the array focuses the incident light in a tight area with size of about 1/70 of the wavelength. At the same time, the near‐field is amplified by three orders of magnitude. The frequency corresponding to the focusing and amplification effects depends on the thickness of the silver nanoshell offering a tunable response of the structure. The latter can find application in optical trapping, lithography and imaging below the diffraction limit. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Silicon nanocrystals in silica—Novel active waveguides for nanophotonics

Nanophotonic structures combining electronic confinement in nanocrystals with photon confinement in photonic structures are potential building blocks of future Si-based photonic devices. Here, we present a detailed optical investigation of active planar waveguides fabricated by Si⁺-ion implantation (400 keV, fluences from 3 to 6×10¹⁷ cm⁻²) of fused silica and thermally oxidized Si wafers. Si nanocrystals formed after annealing emit red-IR photoluminescence (PL) (under UV-blue excitation) and define a layer of high refractive index that guides part of the PL emission. Light from external sources can also be coupled into the waveguides (directly to the polished edge facet or from the surface by applying a quartz prism coupler). In both cases the optical emission from the sample facet exhibits narrow polarization-resolved transverse electric and transverse magnetic modes instead of the usual broad spectra characteristic of Si nanocrystals. This effect is explained by a theoretical model which identifies the microcavity-like peaks as leaking modes propagating below the waveguide/substrate boundary. We present also permanent changes induced by intense femtosecond laser exposure, which can be applied to write structures like gratings into the Si-nanocrystalline waveguides. Finally, we discuss the potential for application of these unconventional and relatively simple all-silicon nanostructures in future photonic devices.     

Intermediate frequency modes in Raman spectra of Ar+‐irradiated single‐wall carbon nanotubes

We study the effect of Ar⁺ irradiation on the intermediate frequency modes (IFM) in Raman spectra of single‐wall carbon nanotubes. We observe new features in the intermediate frequency region from 386 to 635 cm^–1 as the defect concentration increases, whereas at the same time there is a decrease of other IFM modes. After annealing in vacuum, the IFM modes recover and become similar to those of the nanotubes before irradiation. We interpret the new features in the Raman spectra as originating from the phonon density of states that becomes visible in the Raman process due to the presence of defects. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Optical Nonlinear Properties of CdSeS/ZnS Core/Shell Quantum Dots

The optical nonlinear properties of CdSeS/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) areinvestigated by Z-scan technique using fundamental harmonic generation(1064nm) of mode-locked Nd:YAG laser for the first time. The experimental results show that two photon absorptions (TPA) occur at input intensity up to 12.5GW/cm². CdSeS/ZnS QDs have an average TPA cross section of 13710GM and large nonlinear refractive index on order of 10^-7esu. The large optical nonlinearities perhaps allow the CdSeS/ZnS QDs to be one kind of candidate material for bioimaging and fluorescence label, optical limiting and all-optical switching.     

Nonlinear Optical Processes in Doped Semiconductor Superlattices

For doped semiconductor superlattices we have analyzed the effects of absorption saturation and change in the refractive index depending on the level of their excitation and structure parameters. The calculations were carried out with account for the tails of the density of states and screening of the electrostatic potential. It is shown that doped superlattices may display shading, i.e., the increase in the absorption coefficient at a fixed frequency with increase in light intensity. For –doped superlattices a stronger nonmonotonicity of the change in the refractive index with increase in the excitation level in comparison with typical structures can manifest itself.     

High‐energy X‐ray optics with silicon saw‐tooth refractive lenses

Silicon saw‐tooth refractive lenses have been in successful use for vertical focusing and collimation of high‐energy X‐rays (50–100 keV) at the 1‐ID undulator beamline of the Advanced Photon Source. In addition to presenting an effectively parabolic thickness profile, as required for aberration‐free refractive optics, these devices allow high transmission and continuous tunability in photon energy and focal length. Furthermore, the use of a single‐crystal material (i.e. Si) minimizes small‐angle scattering background. The focusing performance of such saw‐tooth lenses, used in conjunction with the 1‐ID beamline's bent double‐Laue monochromator, is presented for both short (～1:0.02) and long (～1:0.6) focal‐length geometries, giving line‐foci in the 2 µm–25 µm width range with 81 keV X‐rays. In addition, a compound focusing scheme was tested whereby the radiation intercepted by a distant short‐focal‐length lens is increased by having it receive a collimated beam from a nearer (upstream) lens. The collimation capabilities of Si saw‐tooth lenses are also exploited to deliver enhanced throughput of a subsequently placed small‐angular‐acceptance high‐energy‐resolution post‐monochromator in the 50–80 keV range. The successful use of such lenses in all these configurations establishes an important detail, that the pre‐monochromator, despite being comprised of vertically reflecting bent Laue geometry crystals, can be brilliance‐preserving to a very high degree.     

Ab initio calculation of optical absorption and reflectivity of Si(0 0 1)/SiO2 superlattices with varying interfaces

Using first-principles calculations we investigate the influence of interface modification and layer thicknesses on the optical properties of Si/SiO₂ superlattices. Four interface models with different dangling-bond passivation are considered. The results demonstrate confinement effects not only for the fundamental band gaps but also for the optical properties. While for a large Si layer thickness of the Si/SiO₂ superlattices the interface dependence is small, the calculations show a significant structure dependence for thin Si layers. © 2007 Elsevier Science. All rights reserved.