Photonic properties of metallic-mean quasiperiodic chains

The light propagation through a stack of two media with different refractive indices, which are aligned according to different quasiperiodic sequences determined by metallic means, is studied using the transfer matrix method. The focus lies on the investigation of the influence of the underlying quasiperiodic sequence as well as the dependence of the transmission on the frequency, the incidence angle of the light wave and different ratios of the refractive indices. In contrast to a periodically aligned stack we find complete transmission for the quasiperiodic systems for a wide range of different refractive indices for small incidence angles. Additional bands of moderate transmission occur for frequencies in the range of the photonic band gaps of the periodic system. Further, for fixed indices of refraction we find a range of almost perfect transmission for angles close to the angle of total reflection, which is caused by the bending of photonic transmission bands towards higher frequencies for increasing incidence angles. Comparing with the results of a periodic stack the quasiperiodicity seems to have only an influence in the region around the midgap frequency of a periodic stack.     

Optical transmission spectra in symmetrical Fibonacci photonic multilayers

We study the transmission properties of light through the symmetric Fibonacci photonic multilayers, i.e, a binary one-dimensional quasiperiodic structure, made up of both positive (SiO₂) and negative refractive index materials with a mirror symmetry. These spectra are calculated by using a theoretical model based on the transfer matrix approach for normal incidence geometry, in which many perfect transmission peaks (the transmission coefficients are equal to the unity) are numerically obtained. Besides, the transmission coefficient exhibits a six-cycle self-similar behavior with respect to the generation number of the Fibonacci sequence.     

Radiative properties of optical board embedded with optical black holes

Unique radiative properties, such as wavelength-selective transmission or absorption, have been intensively studied. Historically, geometries for wavelength-selective of light absorption were developed based on metallic periodical structures, which were only applied in the case of TM wave incidence due to the excitation of surface plasmons. In this paper, we develop an alternative approach to selective wavelength of light absorption (both TE and TM waves), based on an optical board periodical embedded with optical black holes. Numerical work was carried out to study such structure’s radiative properties within the wavelength range of 1-100 μm. The electromagnetic wave transmission through such a structure is predicted by solving Maxwell’s equations using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. Spectral absorptance varies with the period of optical black holes. When the incidence wavelength is much larger than the inner core radius, most of the light energy will be transmitted through the inner core. Otherwise, the energy will be mainly absorbed. Numerical results of the radiative properties of the optical board with different incidence wavelengths are also obtained. The effect of the oblique incidence wave is investigated. This study helps us gain a better understanding of the radiative properties of an optical board embedded with optical black holes and develop an alternative approach to selective light absorption.     

The surface structure of icosahedral Al68Pd23Mn9 measured by STM and LEED

For the first time the surface structure of an icosahedral quasicrystal has been successfully investigated in Ultra-High Vacuum (UHV) by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) and Low-Energy Electron Diffraction (LEED). After cleaning an i-Al₆₈Pd₂₃Mn₉ sample in UHV by cycles of ion-sputtering and annealing at temperatures close to the melting point atomically flat terraces are observed by STM. Successive step heights show quasiperiodic order according to the Fibonacci chain. The normals of these terraces are parallel to a five-fold axis as revealed by highly resolved STM images. On the terraces five-fold stars and pentagonal holes are observed. Their orientation is the same on all terraces investigated. Additionally to this long-range orientational order, a high degree of quasiperiodic order is found for the pentagonal holes. This indicates that the quasiperiodic order of this highly ordered and thermodynamically stable quasicrystal extends even up to the surface. Both the step heights and the distances between the pentagonal holes well agree with the values derived from a structural model of this material. Five-fold symmetric LEED patterns can be analysed by means of the Fourier transform of a Fibonacci pentagrid as suggested by the STM data. The analysis yields the same line separations within the pentagrid as deduced from the STM experiments.     

Complex band structure calculations of the electric field dependence of the transmission of holes through a (100) GaAs/AlGaAs/GaAs barrier structure

A pseudopotential complex band structure approach is used to investigate the transmission of heavy and light holes through a (100) GaAs/AlGaAs/GaAs barrier structure in the presence of an electric field. The results can be significantly different from those obtained using a simple effective mass model. In particular, for an incident light hole there is large barrier induced mixing with the spin-split-off states which reduces the light hole transmission and excites the transmission of spin-split off states. Transmission through a quantum well structure is also considered and significant effects are seen due to the presence of resonances.     

Resonant transmission of acoustic waves through an elastic plate quasiperiodically corrugated on surfaces

In this work, we study the resonant transmission of acoustic waves through a plate with quasiperiodic surface corrugations. The transmission spectrum shows peculiar transmission peaks, which cannot be simply attributed to the coherent diffraction as recognized previously in structured hard plates (without sustaining internal modes), whereas come from the resonant excitation of the coupled Stoneley surface modes in the elastic plate. The excitation frequencies can be determined by the geometrical structure factor of the quasiperiodic lattice, combining with the dispersion relation of the surface modes.     

External-resonance-enhanced transmission of light through sub-wavelength holes

Using plasmonic resonances of metal films, enhanced transmission of light through sub-wavelength holes has been demonstrated. Here we show that external resonances can be employed as well: the transmission of 1.5-μm wavelength light through 600-nm holes is enhanced by a factor of 20 using a Fabry–Pérot arrangement. The maximal enhancement factor is determined by the limited reflectivity of metal surfaces. It seems promising to combine both effects—plasmonic resonances plus tailored photonic-crystal structures on top of the metal film—in order to realize efficient sub-wavelength light sources as they are required for, e.g., advanced spectroscopy and lithography.     

Spectral scattering properties of a nanohole in a noble-metal film in the evanescent waves area

The effect of enhanced optical transmission through subwavelength holes and their arrays is used for multiple practical applications especially in optical antennas and local biosensors design. This effect is usually considered under excitation of plane wave propagating at the normal direction to the screen surface. In this work the effect of extreme transmission through the hole in the evanescent wave's area is in focus. The discrete sources method has been applied to analyse the spectral characteristics of light scattered by a cylindrical nanohole in a noble-metal film on a prism surface. The influence of the wavelength, incident angle, film materials and hole's filling on the scattering characteristics has been investigated. A close correlation between the effect of extreme transmission and the surface plasmon resonances has been detected.     

Surface-plasmon-assisted resonant tunneling of light through a periodically corrugated thin metal film

We present experimental results and a numerical model confirming that surface plasmons can resonantly enhance light transmission through a corrugated metal film. A new interpretation in terms of plasmon-assisted light tunneling is given to recent experiments on light penetration through periodic subwavelength holes in a thin metal film. We designed a narrow-band filter suitable for applications in optical communication by optimizing the film and the grating parameters.     

Optical control over surface-plasmon-polariton-assisted THz transmission through a slit aperture

We demonstrate optical control over the transmission of terahertz (THz) radiation through a single subwavelength slit in an otherwise opaque silicon wafer. The addition of periodic corrugation on each side of the wafer allows coupling to surface plasmon polaritons, so that light not impinging directly on the slit can contribute to the transmission. A significant enhancement of the THz transmission can be achieved through control of the surface wave propagation length by excitation at optical wavelengths. The observed transmission increase is in distinct contrast to the reduction reported for photoexcitation of arrays of holes in semiconductors.     

From Multi-Site to On-Site Transfer Matrix Models for Self-Similar Chains

We show how transfer matrix models on chains that are self-similar (renormalizable) with respect to a substitution rule can be transformed from multi-site models in which transfer matrices depend on the nature of a finite number of neighboring sites, to on-site models in which transfer matrices depend on the nature of one site only. We present sufficient conditions and show that these conditions are satisfied in the case of quasiperiodic chains of two symbols that are renormalizable with respect to an invertible substitution rule. We illustrate the application of our results to tight-binding Schrödinger equations modeling the electronic behavior of self-similar chains of atoms and to models describing the transmission of light through self-similarly stacked multilayers.     

Origin of superenhanced light transmission through two-dimensional subwavelength rectangular hole arrays

Superenhanced light transmission through subwavelength rectangular hole arrays have been reported and some investigations have been made into the physical origin of this phenomenon [K.J. Klein Koerkamp et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 183901 (2004)]. In our current work, by performing FDTD (finite difference in the time domain) numerical simulations, we demonstrate that mechanism that is different from surface plasmon polaritons set up by the periodicity at the in-plane metal surfaces may account for this superenhanced light transmission. We suggest that for arrays of rectangular holes with small enough width in comparison to the wavelength of the incident light, standing electromagnetic fields can be set up inside the cavity by the surface plasmons on the hole walls with its intensity being substantially enhanced inside the cavity. So resonant cavity-enhanced light transmission is predominant and responsible for its superenhanced light transmission. Rectangular holes behave as Fabry-Pérot resonance cavities except that the frequency of their fundamental modes is restricted by their TM cutoff frequency. However we believe that both localized surface plasmon modes and surface plasmon polaritons set up by the periodicity at the in-plane metal surfaces have their shares in extraordinary optical transmission of rectangular hole arrays especially when the width of the rectangular hole is not small enough and the metal film is not thick enough.     

Experimental studies of extraordinary light transmission through periodic arrays of subwavelength square and rectangular holes in metal films

We fabricate a series of periodic arrays of subwavelength square and rectangular air holes on gold films, and measure the transmission spectra of these metallic nanostructures. By changing some geometrical and physical parameters, such as array period, air hole size and shape, and the incident light polarization, we verify that both global surface plasmon resonance and localized waveguide mode resonance are influential on enhancing the transmission of light through nanostructured metal films. These two resonances induce different behaviours of transmission peak shift. The transmission through the rectangular air-hole structures exhibits an obvious polarization effect dependent on the morphology. Numerical simulations are also made by a plane-wave transfer-matrix method and in good consistency with the experimental results.     

Enhanced soliton transport in quasiperiodic lattices with introduced aperiodicity

We study linear transmission and nonlinear soliton transport through quasiperiodic structures, where the lattice profiles are described by multiple modulation frequencies. We show that resonant scattering at mixed-frequency resonances limits transmission efficiency of localized wave packets, leading to radiation and possible trapping of solitons. We obtain an explicit analytical expression for optimal quasiperiodic lattice profiles, where additional aperiodic modulations suppress mixed-frequency resonances, resulting in dramatic enhancement of soliton mobility. Our results can be applied to the design of photonic waveguide structures, and arrays of magnetic micro-traps for atomic Bose-Einstein condensates.     

Enhanced millimeter-wave transmission through subwavelength hole arrays

We explore, both experimentally and theoretically, the existence in the millimeter-wave range of the phenomenon of extraordinary light transmission through arrays of subwavelength holes. We have measured the transmission spectra of several samples made on aluminum wafers by use of an AB Millimetre quasi-optical vector network analyzer in the wavelength range 4.2-6.5 mm. Clear signals of the existence of resonant light transmission at wavelengths close to the period of the array appear in the spectra.     

Multiple coupling of surface plasmons in quasiperiodic gratings

Whereas periodic gratings enable us to couple light into a surface plasmon polariton only at a specific angle and wavelength, we show here that quasiperiodic gratings enable the coupling of light at multiple wavelengths and angles. The quasiperiodic grating can be designed in a systematic manner using the dual-grid method, thereby enabling us to control the coupling strength and grating dimensions. We verified the method experimentally by efficiently coupling light into a surface plasmon from several different illumination angles using a single quasiperiodic grating.     

Evanescently coupled resonance in surface plasmon enhanced transmission

The optical transmission through subwavelength holes in metal films can be enhanced by several orders of magnitude by enabling interaction of the incident light with independent surface plasmon (SP) modes on either side of the film. Here, we show that this transmission is boosted by an additional factor of 10 when the energies of the SP modes on both sides are matched. These results, confirmed by a three-dimensional theoretical analysis, give a totally new understanding of the phenomenon of SP enhanced transmission. It is found that the holes behave like subwavelength cavities for the evanescent waves coupling the SPs on either side of the film. In this unusual device, the reflection at either end of the cavity is provided by the SP modes which act as frequency dependent mirrors.     

Near-field distribution of optical transmission of periodic subwavelength holes in a metal film

Optical transmission of a two-dimensional array of subwavelength holes in a metal film has been numerically studied using a differential method. Transmission spectra have been calculated showing a significant increase of the transmission in certain spectral ranges corresponding to the excitation of the surface polariton Bloch waves on a metal surface with a periodic hole structure. Under the enhanced transmission conditions, the near-field distribution of the transmitted light reveals an intensity enhancement greater than 2 orders of magnitude in localized ( approximately 40 nm) spots resulting from the interference of the surface polaritons Bragg scattered by the holes in an array.     

Surface plasmon-polaritons wave fields in the vicinity of a metallic nanohole

It is shown that metal surface with a nanohole can support surface plasmon-polaritons (SPP), whose wave fields are described by Hankel functions. These plasmons can be excited by an electromagnetic wave incident at the metal surface. The optical transmission through subwavelength holes in metal films can essentially be enhanced by interaction of the incident light with surface plasmons. Dependence of excitation of the wave field of SPP on the incidence angle and on the wavelength of incident light is considered.     

用偏光织构及透射光谱分析液晶器件的老化

对一组台式计算器液晶显示器进行了光辐照,研究了光辐照对液晶显示器件显示品质的影响。采用偏光显微镜观察到了辐照后液晶的偏光织构的变化,液晶中出现了平行的条纹状织构和失去消光作用的黑洞,随着接受光辐照时间的增加,黑洞数量越来越多,面积越来越大。通过由计算机控制的双光束紫外-可见分光光度计测试了透射光谱的变化,发现其透射率随着接受光辐照时间的增加而降低。分析结果表明,条纹状织构和黑洞的出现是由于液晶分子结构在紫外线的照射下发生了变化所致,失去消光作用的黑洞是导致液晶器件透射率持续下降的主要原因。