Transmission enhancement properties of double-layered metallic hole arrays

We report experimental results on enhanced light transmission through double-layered (Ag/Au) metallic hole arrays within a skin-depth. Zero-order transmission spectrums are characterized as a function of Ag film's thickness, which extends from δ/15, δ/6 to approximately δ, where δ is a skin-depth. In contrast with other reported results (Refs. [11 -13]) in single-layered metallic hole arrays, our experimental results show much more dramatic properties of transmission process dependent on sub-δ thickness. It is shown that there is no negligible transmission enhancement at δ/15. At δ/6, much higher transmission efficiency can be achieved. With film's thickness being close to δ, the transmission efficiency declines contrarily. Simultaneously, the corresponding resonant peak also slightly moves toward the shorter wavelength. It is proposed that the coupling of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) at Ag/Au interface within δ is involved in the process.     

UV plasmonic-based sensing properties of aluminum nanoconcave arrays

For several decades the plasmonic behavior of materials has been almost exclusively studied in visible region. Emerging applications require, however, the development of efficient materials operating in UV range. In UV nanoplasmonics aluminum (Al) can play a leading role due to its advantageous electronic properties. Yet, there is still lack of reproducible method to obtain Al nanostructures with desired parameters. Al nanoconcaves can provide a way to overcome these limitations. Here, two different periodicities of the Al nanoconcaves arrays were analyzed. It was observed that the Al concaves can dramatically reduce the optical reflectivity as compared to flat, unstructured Al. At the same time pronounced reflectivity dips were discernible, which were ascribed to (0,1) plasmonic mode. The positions of the dips were at around 250 nm and 350 nm for Al concaves with interpores distance (D_c) of 246.3 nm and 456.7 nm, respectively. The refractive index sensitivity (RIS) was: ∼191 nm/RIU for the Al concaves with D_c = 246.3 nm, and ∼291 nm/RIU for the Al nanoconcaves arrays with D_c = 456.7 nm.     

Metamaterials and plasmonics: From nanoparticles to nanoantenna arrays,metasurfaces, and metamaterials

The rise of plasmonic metamaterials in recent years has unveiled the possibility of revolutionizing the entire field of optics and photonics, challenging well-established technological limitations and paving the way to innovations at an unprecedented level To capitalize the disruptive potential of this rising field of science and technology, it is important to be able to combine the richness of optical phenomena enabled by nanoplasmonics in order to realize metamaterial components, devices, and systems of increasing complexity. Here, we review a few recent research directions in the field of plasmonic metamaterials, which may foster further advancements in this research area. We will discuss the anomalous scattering features enabled by plasmonic nanoparticles and nanoclusters, and show how they may represent the fundamental building blocks of complex nanophotonic architectures. Building on these concepts, advanced components can be designed and operated, such as optical nanoantennas and nanoantenna arrays, which, in turn, may be at the basis of metasurface devices and complex systems. Following this path, from basic phenomena to advanced functionalities, the field of plasmonic metamaterials offers the promise of an important scientific and technological impact, with applications spanning from medical diagnostics to clean energy and information processing.     

Near field properties of nanoparticle arrays fabricated by laser annealing of thin Au and Ag films

In this work we show the properties of the electromagnetic field in the vicinity of a monolayer nanoparticle array on SiO₂ substrate. The nanoparticle array is produced by a simple experimental procedure, where thin gold and silver films are deposited on a substrate by pulsed laser deposition technique and they are annealed by nanosecond laser pulses. At certain conditions the laser annealing leads to a homogeneous decomposition of the film into nanoparticles with diameters in the range of few tens of nanometers. Using FDTD simulations the near field distribution in array structures taken from SEM images are obtained. The distribution shows presence on “hot spots” where the near field intensity is enhanced more than two orders of magnitude compared to the incident one. The existence of enhanced field intensity is assumed to be the main reason on enhancement of the Raman scattering signal obtained experimentally using the produced structures as active substrates.     

Investigation of Euler spiral nanoantenna and its application in absorption enhancement of thin film solar cell

A theoretical study on nanoantenna and its application in enhancing the performance of the thin film solar cell (TFSC) is presented. In this work, a novel design of nanoantenna i.e. Euler spiral nanoantenna (ESNA) is introduced, which has evolved after bending the conventional dipole nanoantenna in the manner of Euler spiral. The bending is performed up to an optimum length so that the antenna can equally respond to the two orthogonally polarized waves. Then the proposed nanoantenna in turnstile manner is examined for the intended application of enhancing the absorption in TFSCs. The antenna is placed on the absorber layer (Si amorphous) of the TFSC with a coating of Zinc Oxide. The simulation results show that the proposed ESNA can significantly increase the absorption in the absorber layer of the TFSC. The performance in terms of absorption and quantum efficiency of the solar cell incorporated with ESNA has been studied. ESNA confines the electric field in a larger area which results in absorption increase. The simulation results show that proposed ESNA can enhance the absorption up to 97.6% in the absorber layer and the photocurrent is enhanced by a factor of 1.39. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on Euler spiral nanoantenna and so as in its application with solar cells.     

Large-area aligned CuO nanowires arrays: Synthesis,anomalous ferromagnetic and CO gas sensing properties

Thermal evaporation was carried out in a horizontal quartz tube under an oxygen flow of about 50 ml/min and the influence of reaction time and temperature on the microstructure of the CuO nanowires (CNWs) is examined. The magnetic susceptibilities of the as-synthesized CNWs in the 5–300 K range were studied. It is interesting to note that the CNWs with a much larger diameter than 10 nm exhibit anomalous ferromagnetic behavior which has never been reported previously, demonstrating the effect of their peculiar morphology. The saturation magnetization (MS) and coercive field (Hc) of CNWs grown at 700 °C are 2.39 × 10^?4 emu and 48 Oe, respectively. We fabricated gas sensors based on p-type single CNWs and demonstrate that CuO nanowires could be a promising candidate for a gas sensor with good performance. The reaction between the reducing gas and O^? leads to a decrease of the hole density in the surface charge layer and an increase of the CuO resistance.     

Manipulation of optical properties of Ag/Cu alloy nanowire arrays embedded in anodic alumina membranes

Arrays of Ag/Cu alloy nanowires embedded in anodic alumina membranes (AAMs) were synthesized by directly electrodepositing from a mixing electrolyte solution containing Ag⁺ and Cu²⁺ ions. Manipulations of optical properties of the resulting samples were successfully achieved by tuning the molar ratio of Ag⁺ and Cu²⁺ ions in the starting materials. When the ratio is less than 2:20, two surface plasma resonance (SPR) peaks corresponding to Ag and Cu appear, respectively. After annealing treatment, the SPR peak corresponding to Cu disappears, and that of Ag presents a red shift. Furthermore, this red shift can be up to 85 nm when the molar ratio of Ag⁺ and Cu²⁺ reduce to 1:20, which is attributed to the transferable electrons from Cu atoms.     

Synthesis of reduced graphene oxide and enhancement of its electrical and optical properties by attaching Ag nanoparticles

Graphene has attracted the attention of the scientists and researchers because of its peculiar properties. Because of various unique properties, graphene can be used in sensing device applications, solar cells and liquid crystal display devices etc. In this research paper, we present a chemical route towards bulk production of r-GO (reduced graphene oxide). We have employed a modified method to achieve better results which is often termed as modified Hummer's and Offeman method. It is modified in terms of filtration technique. We have also attached silver nanoparticles (Ag-NP) to as synthesised r-GO. After successful growth, silver nanoparticles have been attached to r-GO by suitable treatment with AgNO₃ (aq.) N/50 solution. The as grown samples were characterised by FESEM, Raman Spectroscopy and EDS to make sure that r-GO and r-GO–Ag-NP have been successfully synthesised. The electrical and optical studies of the as grown samples were performed by dc conductivity measurements and UV visible spectroscopy. The conductivity was found to have increased with attachment of Ag-NP. The optical transmittance also improved to 90% as against 70% before Ag-NP attachment. The reduced graphene oxide attached with silver nanoparticles could find promising applications in synthesis of transparent electrode materials and optoelectronic devices.     

Fabrication of diamond nanorods for gas sensing applications

Diamond nanorods were fabricated for a sensing device by utilizing reactive ion etching in CF₄/O₂ radio frequency plasma. The length of the nanorods has been controlled by the ion etching time. The obtained morphologies were investigated by scanning electron microscopy. The gas sensing properties of the H-terminated diamond-based sensor structures are indicating that we have achieved high sensitivity to detect phosgene gas. Also, our sensor exhibited good selectivity between humid air and phosgene gas if the measurement is conducted at elevated temperatures, such as 140 °C. Furthermore, such sensor response rating could reach as high value as 4344 for the phosgene gas, which was evaluated for the sample consisting of the longest nanorods (up to 200 nm).     

Large enhancement and uniform distribution of optical near field through combining periodic bowtie nanoantenna with rectangular nanoaperture array

We present a novel (to the best of our knowledge) composite nanostructure composed of bowtie nanoantennas (BNAs) and rectangular nanoapertures, which provides a new way to improve the ability of the nanostructure to enhance the optical near field and obtain uniform near-field distribution in the z direction. It is specifically engineered to not only confine the incident light in the nanoscale but also to generate large localized near-field enhancement about 25 times larger than that of solitary BNAs. It also shows a more uniform near-field distribution in the z direction than that of solitary BNAs. The mechanisms of the large enhancement and the uniform near field are also discussed.     

Chemical synthesis of high density and long polypyrrole nanowire arrays using alumina membrane and their hydrogen sensing properties

Polypyrrole nanowire arrays were synthesized through chemical polymerization inside the nanochannels of alumina membrane. By optimizing the polymerization time and applying appropriate oxidant:monomer molar ratio with proper concentrations, the pores filling and also the continuity of the obtained polypyrrole inside the nanochannels improved and therefore after dissolution of the host membrane, high density and long nanowire arrays appeared. The obtained nanostructures were characterized by SEM, FTIR and BET techniques. The synthesized nanostructures had high surface areas of 75.66–172.90 m²/g. Since nanowires are attractive for gas sensing applications owing to their high surface areas, their hydrogen gas sensing was investigated at room temperature. The results show that the electrical resistance of the polypyrrole nanostructure arrays reduced upon exposure to hydrogen gas.     

Local field enhancement of pair arrays of silver nanospheres

Local field surface plasmon excitation of pair arrays of silver nanospheres was studied using three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method. The near-field enhancement was associated with the radius of nanosphere and the incident wavelength, the highest of which always appeared in the penultimate gaps, regardless of the number of the pairs. The surface plasmon resonance could be controlled and tuned by radius of nanosphere and incident wavelength.     

Ground-state properties of boron-doped diamond

Boron-doped diamond undergoes an insulator-metal or even a superconducting transition at some critical value of the dopant concentration. We study the equilibrium lattice parameter and bulk modulus of boron-doped diamond experimentally and in the framework of the density functional method for different levels of boron doping. We theoretically consider the possibility for the boron atoms to occupy both substitutional and interstitial positions and investigate their influence on the electronic structure of the material. The data suggest that boron softens the lattice, but softening due to substitutions of carbon with boron is much weaker than due to incorporation of boron into interstitial positions. Theoretical results obtained for substitution of carbon are in very good agreement with our experiment. We present a concentration dependence of the lattice parameter in boron-doped diamond, which can be used for to identify the levels of boron doping in future experiments. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Absorption losses in periodic arrays of thin metallic wires

We analyze the transmission and reflection of electromagnetic waves calculated from transfer matrix simulations of periodic arrangements of thin metallic wires. The effective permittivity and the absorption of the arrangements of wires are determined. Their dependence on the wire thickness and the conductance of the metallic wires is studied. The cutoff frequency, or effective plasma frequency, is obtained and compared with analytical predictions. It is shown that the periodic arrangement of wires exhibits a frequency region in which the real part of the permittivity is negative while its imaginary part is very small. This behavior is seen for wires with thickness as small as 17 microm with a lattice constant of 3.33 mm.     

Light transmission and local field enhancement in arrays of silver nanocylinders

Vertical silver nanocylinders have been fabricated by two-photon microfabrication technique. The three-dimensional propagation of visible light along and between the nanocylinders has been characterized by wide-field transmission microscopy. Transmission spectra were collected with a fiber coupled spectrometer and optical images were taken with a camera using an inverted microscope. Intensity enhancements occur along the nanocylinders surfaces for wavelengths in the visible range. Finite-difference time domain (FDTD) simulations are in good agreement with the experimental results. The electromagnetic field enhancement was evaluated, in order to analyze the suitability of the studied structures for sensing applications.     

Transmission enhancement of Ag nanoparticle aggregates in azo-polymer films

Ag nanoparticle aggregates in azo-polymer films were investigated by using scanning near-field optical microscopy. The near-field optical images show that transmission enhancement happened for these metal aggregates. Far-field experiment results show that the photo-induced isomeration speed of the azo-polymer molecules was enhanced when doped with Ag nanoparticle aggregates. The mechanism of the transmittance enhancement and speed enhancement was discussed from the viewpoint of the excitation of the surface plasmon of Ag nanoparticle aggregates. PACS 68.37.Uv; 42.70.Jk; 78.67.Bf; 71.36.+c     

ESR and Optical Absorption of Ag in a N2 Matrix

Ag atoms isolated in N₂ matrices were studied by simultaneous observation of optical absorption and electron spin resonance (ESR). In matrices with low Ag/N₂ ratios two ESR signals were observed, both of which could be correlated to the well known absorption triplet corresponding to the 5s ²S → 5p ²P resonance transition. One of the two ESR signals disappeared irreversably upon annealing up to 20 K. The stable species is attributed to Ag atoms in a nanocrystalline environment whereas the unstable species corresponds to atoms in the non-crystalline regions between the crystallites. In higher doped matrices a new Ag spectrum showed up, both in the optical absorption and in the ESR. It is assigned to Ag atoms with near-by complexes, possibly Ag clusters.     

Optical properties of femtosecond laser-treated diamond

Coupling effect in spiral-shaped metamaterials composed of four half rings at different sizes is investigated to achieve tunability in THz range. This novel spiral-shaped structure was fabricated on flexible substrate with laser micro-lens array (MLA) lithography and measured by THz time domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS). The experimental results suggest that mutual capacitance and inductance coupling in the spiral-shaped structure would result in frequency shifts of the four resonances. The observed shifting trends of the four resonant frequencies are in good agreement with simulation and are further explained by the electric field distribution. By varying the gap sizes among the half rings, four resonant frequencies can be tuned flexibly. Such a spiral-shaped design has potential applications in multi-band tunable THz MEMS devices.