All-optical switching of the transmission of electromagnetic radiation through subwavelength apertures

Unprecedented optical control of the surface plasmon polariton assisted transmission of terahertz radiation through subwavelength apertures is rendered possible by carrier-induced changes to the dielectric properties of a semiconductor grating. Although the study presented is static, the extension of our approach to dynamic switching and tuning is deemed straightforward, opening the way for the realization of ultrafast surface plasmon based devices.     

Thermal switching of the enhanced transmission of terahertz radiation through subwavelength apertures

We demonstrate that the extraordinary transmission of terahertz radiation through semiconductor gratings of subwavelength apertures can be switched completely by varying the temperature. The enhanced transmission, which is due to the resonant tunneling of surface plasmon polaritons that can be excited in semiconductors at terahertz frequencies, is controlled by thermally modifying the density of free carriers. The transmission through metal gratings cannot be switched in the same way since the carrier density is temperature independent. Thus semiconductors offer an interesting alternative to metals in enhancing the transmission of electromagnetic radiation.     

Localization of Surface Plasmon Waves in Hybrid Photodetectors with Subwavelength Metallic Arrays

The spectral characteristics of the hole photocurrent in plasmon photodetectors based on Ge/Si heterostructures with Ge quantum dots combined with regular arrays of subwavelength apertures of various shapes in a gold film on the semiconductor surface are investigated. Dispersion relations characterizing the propagation of surface plasmon waves along the metal–semiconductor interface are determined from the dependences of the photocurrent on the angle of incidence of light. It is established that the plasmonic enhancement of the photocurrent in rectangular aperture array is suppressed as compared to that in circular and square aperture arrays. It is found that, in hybrid structures with rectangular apertures, there exists a range of wave vectors where the energy of surface plasmons is independent of the wave vector of incident radiation. The results are explained by the excitation of dipole modes localized at rectangular apertures with a large aspect ratio by light waves.     

Extraordinary terahertz transmission through subwavelength spindle-like apertures in NbN film

We studied numerically the temperature dependent extraordinary terahertz transmission through niobium nitride(NbN) film perforated with subwavelength spindle-like apertures. Both the resonant frequency and intensity of extraordinary terahertz transmission peaks can be greatly modified by the transition of NbN film from the normal state to the superconducting state. An enhancement of the(±1, 0) NbN/magnesium oxide(MgO) peak intensity as high as 200% is demonstrated due to the combined contribution of both the superconducting transition and the excitation of localized surface plasmons(LSPs) around the apertures. The extraordinary terahertz transmission through spindle-like hole arrays patterned on the NbN film can pave the way for us to explore novel active tuning devices.     

Localized surface plasmons-based transmission enhancement of terahertz radiation through metal aperture arrays

The extraordinary transmission spectrum of a copper film pierced by a periodic array of subwavelength rectangular holes is measured by the terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. The transmission coefficient is strongly dependent on the angle between the polarization of terahertz electric field and the latitudinal direction of the periodic apertures. When the angle increases from 0^o to 90^o, a peak becomes stronger and another peak reduces. The transmission is proposed to be the contributions of localized surface plasmons inside the apertures. The finite-difference-time-domain (FDTD) simulation results are in good agreement with experimental observations.     

Design of terahertz beam splitter based on surface plasmon resonance transition

According to the resonance transition between propagating surface plasmon and localized surface plasmon, we demonstrate a design of beam splitter that can split terahertz wave beams in a relatively broad frequency range. The transmission properties of the beam splitter are analyzed utilizing the finite element method. The resonance transition between two kinds of plasmons can be explained by a model of coherent electron cloud displacement.     

Percolation-enhanced generation of terahertz pulses by optical rectification on ultrathin gold films

Emission of pulses of electromagnetic radiation in the terahertz range is observed when ultrathin gold films on glass are illuminated with femtosecond near-IR laser pulses. A distinct maximum is observed in the emitted terahertz amplitude from films of average thickness just above the percolation threshold. Our measurements suggest that the emission is through a second-order nonlinear optical rectification process, enhanced by the excitation of localized surface plasmon hot spots on the percolated metal film.     

二维电子气等离激元太赫兹波器件

固态等离激元太赫兹波器件正成为微波毫米波电子器件技术和半导体激光器技术向太赫兹波段发展和融合的重要方向之一。本综述介绍AlGaN/GaN异质结高浓度和高迁移率二维电子气中的等离激元调控、激发及其在太赫兹波探测器、调制器和光源中应用的近期研究进展。通过光栅和太赫兹天线实现自由空间太赫兹波与二维电子气等离激元的耦合,通过太赫兹法布里-珀罗谐振腔进一步调制太赫兹波模式,增强太赫兹波与等离激元的耦合强度。在光栅-谐振腔耦合的二维电子气中验证了场效应栅控的等离激元色散关系,实现了等离激元模式与太赫兹波腔模强耦合产生的等离极化激元模式,演示了太赫兹波的调制和发射。在太赫兹天线耦合二维电子气中实现了等离激元共振与非共振的太赫兹波探测,建立了太赫兹场效应混频探测的物理模型,指导了室温高灵敏度自混频探测器的设计与优化。研究表明,基于非共振等离激元激发可发展形成室温高速高灵敏度的太赫兹探测器及其焦平面阵列技术。然而,固态等离激元的高损耗特性仍是制约基于等离激元共振的高效太赫兹光源和调制器的主要瓶颈。未来的研究重点将围绕高品质因子等离激元谐振腔的构筑,包括固态等离激元物理、等离激元谐振腔边界的调控、新型室温高迁移率二维电子材料的运用和高品质太赫兹谐振腔与等离激元器件的集成等。     

Light transmission properties of double-overlapped annular apertures

We investigate the light transmission properties of double-overlapped annular apertures in a silver film with the three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method. It has been found that the transmission peaks are attributed to the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of nanocavities and the surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) of the nanoparticles. The peaks of the LSPR are blueshifted when the overlapping distance is increased. Moreover, a Fano-type resonance appears in the transmitted spectral response with an appropriate overlapping distance, which is elucidated as the hybridization results of the SPPs of the nanoparticles. The number and position of the Fano resonance can be tuned through varying the overlapping distance and other geometric parameters.     

Terahertz surface plasmon-polariton propagation and focusing on periodically corrugated metal wires

In this Letter, we show how the dispersion relation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) propagating along a perfectly conducting wire can be tailored by corrugating its surface with a periodic array of radial grooves. In this way, highly localized SPPs can be sustained in the terahertz region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Importantly, the propagation characteristics of these spoof SPPs can be controlled by the surface geometry, opening the way to important applications such as energy concentration on cylindrical wires and superfocusing using conical structures.     

Terahertz superconducting plasmonic hole array

We demonstrate a superconductor array of subwavelength holes with active thermal control over the resonant transmission induced by surface plasmon polaritons. The array was lithographically fabricated on a high-temperature yttrium barium copper oxide superconductor and characterized by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. We observe a clear transition from a virtual excitation of the surface plasmon mode to a real surface plasmon mode. The highly controllable superconducting plasmonic crystals may find promising applications in the design of low-loss, large- dynamic-range amplitude modulation and surface-plasmon-based terahertz devices.     

Role of localised surface plasmon polaritons coupling in optical transmission through double-layer metal apertures

In this paper, we investigate the optical properties of the double-layer metal films perforated with single apertures by analysing the coupling of localized surface plasmon polaritons (LSPPs). It is found that the amplitude and the wavelength of transmission peak in such a structure can be adjusted by changing the longitudinal interval D between two films and the lateral displacements d_{x} and d_{y} which are parallel and perpendicular to the polarization direction of incident light, respectively. The variation of longitudinal interval D results in the redshift of transmission peak due to the change of coupling strength of LSPPs near the single apertures. The amplitude of transmission peak decreases with the increase of d_{y} and is less than that in the case of d_{x}, which originates from the difference in coupling manner between LSPPs and the localized natures of LSPPs.     

Propagation of THz plasmon pulse on corrugated and flat metal surface

We report here experiments on surface plasmon excitation and propagation along corrugated and smooth aluminum surface in the terahertz frequency range. Narrowband plasmon excitation by a subpicosecond terahertz pulse is shown to be a transient process and plasmon propagation sufficiently changes its measured time profile. Plasmon propagation during its excitation and detection changes measured signal. We suggest to use parameters T (plasmon duration) and τ (plasmon lifetime) to describe the narrowband THz plasmon pulse. Plasmon duration and lifetime were defined and plasmon propagation lengths on smooth and corrugated surface were measured. Plasmon propagation length on flat surface turned out to be much smaller than it is predicted by the Drude model.     

Dual resonance mechanisms facilitating enhanced optical transmission in coaxial waveguide arrays

We experimentally and computationally demonstrate high transmission through arrays of coaxial apertures with different geometries and arrangements in silver films. By studying both periodic and random arrangements of apertures, we were able to isolate transmission enhancement phenomena owing to surface plasmon effects from those owing to the excitation of cylindrical surface plasmons within the apertures themselves.     

光电导天线辐射阻抗特性模拟分析(英文)

针对连续太赫兹光电导天线辐射功率较低的缺点,利用有限积分方法对三种常用的光电导天线,包括偶极天线、蝶形天线和螺旋天线,进行数值模拟并分析比较其辐射阻抗特性.仿真结果表明,偶极天线的辐射阻抗与偶极长度、宽度、电极间隙以及传输线宽度有关,且在其谐振频率存在峰值阻抗,适用于特定频率的太赫兹波辐射.蝶形天线和螺旋天线在所研究的太赫兹波段具有近似稳定的辐射阻抗,广泛应用于宽带领域.对带有交叉电极的电极间隙进行计算,结果表明由交叉电极引入的附加电容降低了天线的高频阻抗.     

Surface plasmon THz waves on gratings

Because of their long propagation length at a metal surface in the far infrared, surface plasmons make potentially feasible the design and realization of 2D integrated terahertz systems over a metallic substrate. The coupling of a terahertz beam to the surface plasmon wave is very efficiently achieved by diffraction gratings engraved at the metal surface. In this article, we present a review of some recent works we performed in view of characterizing this coupling phenomenon. The analysis of the experimental data supplied by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy allows us to point out the main parameters that govern this diffraction process and the propagation of a surface plasmon over a flat or corrugated metal surface. To cite this article: M. Nazarov et al., C. R. Physique 9 (2008).     

等离子体辅助平板波导的传输特性及应用研究

如何灵活地控制和操纵太赫波是目前研究的热点. 根据电磁波传输理论, 导出了等离子体辅助平板波导的场分布和色散关系表达式, 计算了其传输特性, 并通过全波仿真进行了证实. 结果表明, 等离子体辅助平板波导具有带阻特性, 上边带截止频率等于等离子体频率, 等离子体层越薄, 下边带截止频率越高, 带宽越窄; 阻带内存在两种不同的物理机理, 一种与等离子体和中间媒质的谐振耦合有关, 另一种与表面波的形成有关. 此外, 本文还研究了等离子体频率及碰撞频率对传输特性的影响, 提出了通过改变等离子体频率调谐平板波导滤波器特性的方法. 同时, 采用褶皱金属结构实现了等离子体层, 设计了平板波导传感模型, 通过改变凹槽内的材料的介电常数仿真了其传感特性, 结果表明当材料的介电常数变化0.1%时, 平均截止频率变化1.8 GHz; 通过检测截止频率的变化, 传感器能明显分辨氮、汽油、液态石蜡、甘油和水, 证实了其优良的太赫传感特性. 这项工作对研究太赫波的传输及太赫器件的设计和制备具有指导意义.     

Similarities and differences for light-induced surface plasmons in one- and two-dimensional symmetrical metallic nanostructures

Two types of double-sided nanostructure, one possessing a slit aperture with parallel grooves and the other possessing a circular aperture with concentric grooves, were fabricated to examine the similarities and differences of their diffraction behavior in one-dimensional (1-D) and two-dimensional (2-D) nanostructures. Based on the projection-slice theory, we conjecture that the surface plasmons in these two different nano-scale grooves possess similar modes. A localized surface plasmon (LSP) was used to examine the transmission characteristics induced by the apertures. The transmission characteristics of the slitted nanostructure and the circular nanostructure aperture were then measured. We coupled the transmission spectra measured from these two apertures with a 1-D parallel groove transmission curve simulated by a 1-D rigorous coupled wave analysis. Measured spectra results show reasonable agreement with the simulated data. We propose that the apparent blueshift observed in the peak frequency of a 2-D nanostructure is due to the difference in the shape of the aperture and the spot transmission characteristics of 1-D and 2-D systems as induced by a LSP.     

Thermal radiation control in the terahertz region using the spoof surface plasmon mode

In this Letter, the enhancement of thermal radiation in the terahertz region is presented theoretically by using the spoof surface plasmon mode on the microcavity array. We found that the terahertz wave is radiated selectively in a vertical direction. As a result, a quasi-monochromatic terahertz source can be created.     

太赫兹表面等离激元共振传感器

对通过棱镜耦合的太赫兹表面等离激元共振传感器的工作特性进行了理论分析.此类器件在可见光波段工作时,在由样品折射率、金属膜层性质和厚度决定的共振角度下会出现一个反射极小峰;但工作在太赫兹频率时,表面等离激元共振现象表现为一个反射增强的尖峰,而且这一共振角度与棱镜和样品的折射率之间存在一个简单的对应关系,并不依赖于棱镜所镀...