EIT based tunable metal composite spherical nanoparticles

Optical polarizability of a composite metal–dielectric and dielectric–metal spherical nanoparticle is investigated in view of achieving all-optical tunability. In this work, the Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT) implemented in the shell or core of the nanoparticle is used. For the proposed nanoparticle, we show that EIT phenomenon can be utilized to tune the resonance frequency in the frequency response of polarizability. We present a quasi-static analysis for determining polarizability of the nanoparticle. According to our simulation results, all-optical tunability of polarizability can be achieved for reasonable values of optical pump power. Also, we demonstrate how the extinction quality factor and electric field distribution can be controlled for the introduced nanoparticle.     

Critical coupling in a Fabry-Pérot cavity with metamaterial mirrors

We study critical coupling (CC) in a system of a dielectric layer sandwiched between two metamaterial layers leading to near-total suppression of both reflection and transmission at specified frequencies. The tunability of the CC frequency is demonstrated by varying the angle of incidence retaining the full causal response for the metamaterials.     

高调谐BST薄膜制备及介电性能研究

用改进的溶胶凝胶(sol-gel)法逐层制备钛酸锶钡(Ba_0.6Sr_0.4TiO₃, BST)薄膜,研究中间热处理(preheating,PT)对薄膜结构及介电性能的影响.X射线衍射(XRD)表明,BST薄膜主要沿(110)方向生长,对应立方钙钛矿结构,PT使晶化增强.X射线光电子能谱(XPS)表明,PT促使表面非钙钛矿结构向钙钛矿结构转变.原子力显微镜(AFM)和介电性能测试表明,随着PT频次的增加,薄膜形貌改善,表面粗糙度降低,介电调谐 关键词： 中间热处理 高调谐 溶胶凝胶法 钛酸锶钡     

The size effect of Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 thin films on the ferroelectric properties

Barium strontium titanate (BST) thin films were prepared by RF magnetron sputtering. The dielectric constant-voltage curves and the hysteresis loops of BST thin films with different grain sizes and film thicknesses were investigated. When the grain size increases from 12 nm to 35 nm, remarkable increases in dielectric constant and tunability were observed. Above 12 nm, the BST films exhibited size effects, i.e. a decrease in maximal polarization (P_m) and an increase in coercive electric field (E_c) with reduction in grain size. In our investigation, the dielectric constant, tunability and maximal polarization increased as the film thickness increased. Furthermore, the size dependence of the dielectric constant and tunability of Ba_0.6Sr_0.4TiO₃ thin films is determined by that of the maximal polarization and the coercive electric field.     

The influence of Co doping on the dielectric, ferroelectric and ferromagnetic properties of Ba0.70Sr0.30TiO3 thin films

Ba_0.70Sr_0.30TiO₃ (BST) thin films doped by Co (BSTC) are fabricated by sol-gel method on a Pt/Ti/SiO₂/Si substrate. A strong correlation is observed among the microstructure, dielectric, ferroelectric, ferromagnetic properties and Co concentration. The dielectric constant of BST thin films can be tailored from 343 to 119 by manipulating the Co concentration. The dielectric loss of BSTC thin films are still kept below 0.020 and the tunability is above 30% at a dc-applied electric field of 500 kV/cm. With increasing Co doping up to 10 mol%, the coexistence of ferromagnetism and ferroelectrics is found. Suitable dielectric constant, low-dielectric loss, and high tunability of this kind of thin films can be useful for potential tunable applications.     

Tamm states and nonlinear surface modes in photonic crystals

We predict the existence of surface gap modes, known as Tamm states for electronic systems, in truncated photonic crystals formed by two types of dielectric rods. We investigate the energy threshold, dispersion, and modal symmetries of the surface modes, and also demonstrate the existence and tunability of nonlinear Tamm states in binary photonic crystals with nonlinear response.     

基于钛酸锶钡介电非线性效应的可调谐太赫兹人工电磁媒质

数值仿真研究了内嵌钛酸锶钡薄膜夹层的金属网格谐振单元人工电磁媒质的谐振行为. 垂直电磁波激励下, 电磁响应频率随着内嵌夹层钛酸锶钡薄膜介电常数的变大呈现红移, 调谐率为22.6%. 本文提出的人工电磁媒质调谐方法只需要以结构单元的上下两层金属图形本身作为电极对内嵌夹层钛酸锶钡薄膜施加电压, 极大地简化了可调谐人工电磁媒质的制备及应用, 在太赫兹人工电磁媒质调制器等方面具有潜在的应用. 关键词： 人工电磁媒质 钛酸锶钡薄膜 介电非线性 调谐     

Dielectric properties of multilayered SrTiO3 thin films with graded oxygen vacancy concentration

SrTiO₃ (STO) thin films were homo-epitaxially grown on Nb-doped STO substrates at varying oxygen pressures, and the effect of oxygen vacancy concentration on the dielectric properties of the STO thin films was studied and is presented herein. Although the STO thin films with low oxygen vacancy concentration demonstrated low zero-bias permittivity, low dielectric tunability, and high dielectric dissipation, the STO thin films, however, could withstand a large electric field. While the STO thin films with high oxygen vacancy concentration exhibited reduced dielectric loss and high dielectric tunability, they exhibited a low breakdown electric field. In order to make use of the respective advantages of the STO thin films with different oxygen vacancy concentrations, a trilayered structure was obtained by varying the oxygen pressure during deposition and combining one thin STO layer with large oxygen vacancy concentration sandwiched by two STO thin films with low oxygen vacancy concentration. The microstructure and dielectric properties of the trilayer were then studied. X-ray diffraction analysis indicated that the trilayer was a relaxed STO multilayer formed by two STO thin layers with different lattice parameters. An improved optimization of high tunability and low loss was achieved in the relaxed trilayer. PACS 77.84.Bw; 68.55; 77.22.Ch; 68.35.Ct; 74.80.Dm     

The effect of Mg doping on the dielectric and tunable properties of Pb0.3Sr0.7TiO3 thin films prepared by sol–gel method

Mg doped Pb_0.3Sr_0.7TiO₃ (PST) thin films were fabricated by the sol–gel method on a Pt/Ti/SiO₂/Si substrate. The microstructure, surface morphology, dielectric and tunable properties of PST thin films were investigated as a function of Mg concentration. It is found that proper Mg doping dramatically improves the dielectric loss (0.0088 @ 1 MHz), furthermore, the crystallinity, dielectric constant, and tunability of films simultaneously decrease with the increase of Mg content. The 2 mol% Mg doped PST thin film shows the highest figure of merit (FOM) value of 36.8 for its the smallest dielectric loss and upper tunability. The dependence of Rayleigh coefficient on the doping concentration was examined, which indicated that the reduction of dielectric constant and tunability of films should be related to the $\mathrm{Mg}''_{\mathrm{Ti}}$ – $\mathrm{V}_{\mathrm{O}}^{\bullet\bullet}$ defect dipoles pinning the domain wall motion of residual polar clusters in PST.     

Dielectric tunability and conduction mechanisms of?nanostructured (Pb1?xSrx)TiO3 thin films

The effect of nanosize grains to enhance dielectric tunability in chemically prepared (Pb_1−x Sr _x )TiO₃ (PST) (x=0.1 to 0.5) thin films has been observed. The grain size is evaluated from X-ray diffraction patterns and atomic force microscopy. The average grain size lies in the range of 80–23 nm with varying Sr content. The nanosize grains in the PST films control the dielectric behavior up to the higher frequency region and exhibit large tunability with low loss factor at room temperature. The current–voltage characteristics show a large tunability as electron transport takes place within a highly resistive Fermi gap.     

Electric field induced phase transitions in polymers: a novel mechanism for high speed energy storage

Using first-principles simulations, we identify the microscopic origin of the nonlinear dielectric response and high energy density of polyvinylidene-fluoride-based polymers as a cooperative transition path that connects nonpolar and polar phases of the system. This path explores a complex torsional and rotational manifold and is thermodynamically and kinetically accessible at relatively low temperatures. Furthermore, the introduction of suitable copolymers significantly alters the energy barriers between phases providing tunability of both the energy density and the critical fields.     

Spin-lattice interactions mediated by magnetic field

Application of a magnetic field offers an incisive opportunity to tune competing interactions in complex materials. Here we probe field-induced changes in the local structure of DyMn2O5 by using magnetoinfrared spectroscopy. The high tunability of the dielectric constant and ferroelectric polarization with field is well documented in the literature, but the lattice response on the microscopic level remains unknown. In this work, we reveal the dynamic nature of the local structural response to field and analyze it in terms of calculated mode displacements and local lattice distortions.     

Anticrossing of Whispering Gallery Modes in microdisk resonators embedded in an anisotropic environment

We numerically investigate the behavior of Whispering Gallery Modes (WGMs) in circularly shaped resonators like microdisks, with diameters in the range of optical vacuum wavelengths. The microdisk is embedded in an uniaxial anisotropic dielectric environment. By changing the optical anisotropy, one obtains spectral tunability of the optical modes. The degree of tunability strongly depends on the radial (azimuthal) mode order M (N). As the modes approach each other spectrally, anticrossing is observed, leading to a rearrangement of the optical states.     

Effect of external electric field on crystalline structure and dielectric properties of Bi_(1.5)MgNb_(1.5)O_7 thin films

Bismuth-based cubic pyrochlore materials have attractive dielectric properties, especially dielectric tunability. The Bi_(1.5)MgNb_(1.5)O_7 ceramic samples were prepared by solid state reaction. The XRD results and SEM pictures prove the raw material are well mixed and co-fired and the BMN cubic pyrochlore is well crystallized, no second phase was found in the result. BMN thin film were fabricated by depositing BMN ceramic nanoparticles on the sapphire. The BMN thin film has a high dielectric tunability of 43% at a bias voltage of 1.5 MV/cm, with loss tangent lower than 0.009. A Raman study of BMN cubic pyrochlore reveals O′–A–O′and O–A–O bending modes contribute to 80% of dielectric permittivity,obstructing these modes such as applying external electric field can have apparent influence on dielectric constant. Berry Phase calculation results shows that A_2 O′tetrahedrons are more easy to distort under an external field. The A-site Mg have the highest displacement(0.765028 ?), followed by A-site Bi cations(0.346317 ?). Compared to zero-bias thin film,the biased one with A–O and A–O′bonds being stretched and external coulomb force applied on cations and anions, the dielectric constant under bias field dramatically decreased.     

Tunable properties of microwire composites at microwave frequency

Tunable electromagnetic properties (permeability and permittivity) of composites filled with glass-coated microwires under external magnetic field were investigated experimentally. The microwire composites have been measured with 7 mm coaxial airline fixture and vector network analyzer from 0.01 to 18 GHz. The ferromagnetic resonance may contribute to the tunability of permeability of microwire composites. The tunability of effective dielectric permittivity may be attributed to the magneto-impedance effect. The microwire composites are promising candidates for smart or tunable applications at microwave frequency.     

Low dielectric loss Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3/MgTiO3 composite thin films prepared by a sol–gel process

The dielectric properties of Ba_0.6Sr_0.4TiO₃ (BST)/MgTiO₃ (MT) composite thin films deposited on Pt(1 1 1)/Ti/SiO₂/Si(1 0 0) substrates by the sol–gel method were investigated. The X-ray pattern analysis indicates that the thin films exhibit good crystalline quality with perovskite phase and that insertion of MT layer does not obviously affect the phase structure of BST thin films. The characterization of dielectric properties demonstrates that configuration of BST/MT/BST thin films is an effective approach to obtain low dielectric loss and dielectric tunability of BST thin films. At room temperature, the tunability of pure BST60 films and BST/MT (15 nm)/BST composite thin films is 47% and 36%, respectively, at the frequency of 1 MHz with an applied electric field of 400 kV/cm. For BST/MT/BST composite thin films, considerable reduction in the dielectric loss values is observed, which renders them attractive for tunable microwave device applications.     

Thermally tunable optical constants of vanadium dioxide thin films measured by spectroscopic ellipsometry

Smart materials with reversible tunable optical constants from visible to near-infrared wavelengths could enable excellent control over the resonant response in metamaterials, tunable plasmonic nanostructures, optical memory based on phase transition and thermally tunable optical devices. Vanadium dioxide (VO₂) is a promising candidate that exhibits a dramatic change in its complex refraction index or complex dielectric function arising from a structural phase transition from semiconductor to metal at a critical temperature of 70 °C. We demonstrated the thermal controllable reversible tunability of optical constants of VO₂ thin films. The optical/dielectric constants showed an abrupt thermal hysteresis which confirms clearly the electronic structural changes. Temperature dependence of dielectric constants as well as optical conductivity of sputtered VO₂ thin films was also reported and compared to previous theoretical and experimental reports.     

Optical and spectral tunability of multilayer spherical and cylindrical nanoshells

This theoretical work presents a comparative study of the optical properties and spectral tunability of hybrid multilayer spherical and cylindrical nanoshells based on the quasi-static approximation of classical electrodynamics. The interband transitions have been considered using the Drude–Lorentz model for the complex dielectric function of metallic layers because the optical properties of metals arise from both the optical excitation of interband transitions and the free-electron response. A general formula for N-ayer concentric nanoshells is arranged, and numerical calculations are performed for the four-layer nanoshells as an example. We have analyzed in detail different configurations of nanoshells such as dielectric-metal-dielectric-metal with dielectric core, metal-dielectric-metal-dielectric with metal core and semiconductor-metal-dielectric-metal with semiconductor core because composition of nanoshells have dramatic influence on their optical properties. The absorbance spectrum behavior of the shell thicknesses, surrounding medium, shape and composition of each layer of the nanoshell is numerically investigated.     

Thickness-dependent tunable characteristics of (Ba0.5Sr0.5)0.925K0.075TiO3 thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition

The thickness-dependent dielectric properties and tunability of pulsed laser deposited (Ba_0.5Sr_0.5)_0.925K_0.075TiO₃ (BSKT) thin films with different thickness ranging from 80 to 300 nm has been investigated. Dielectric properties of the BSKT thin films are substantially improved as the BSKT film thickness increases, which can be explained by the model of a low-permittivity dead layer that is connected in series with the bulk region of the film. The estimated values of thickness and the average dielectric constant for the dead layer are 2.4 nm and 23.5, respectively, in a Pt/BSKT/Pt capacitor structure. The tunability and figure of merit increased with increasing film thickness, which are attributed to the change in lattice parameter and the dead layer effect.     

Effect of dispersion degree of orientation on dielectric properties of (100)-oriented PST thin film

(100) Oriented (Pb_xSr_1−x)TiO₃ (PST) thin films were prepared on indium tin oxide coated glass substrates by sol–gel technique with rapid thermal processing. The dielectric permittivity and tunability of the thin films with different dispersion degrees of orientation were investigated in detail by characterizing the full width at half maximum of their (100) peak based on rocking curves at different annealing temperatures. Influence of orientation dispersion on dielectric properties was exhibited in the tunable dielectric thin films. It shows that the dielectric constant and hence the tunability of the sol–gel derived PST thin films are improved with the decrease in the dispersion degree of orientation of the perovskite phase other than the increase in the content of crystalline phase in the thin films. The dielectric constant (capacitance) and figure of merit of the oriented thin films are 3–6 times and 1 times higher than that of randomly oriented thin film respectively.