Unidirectional emissions from dielectric photonic circuits decorated with plasmonic phased antenna arrays

Thanks to resonant characteristics of metallic nanoparticles, optical waves scattered from plasmonic nanoantennae can be well tailored in both amplitude and phase. We numerically demonstrate that, by varying the lengths and the lateral positions of gold nanorods in vicinity of a silicon waveguide, unidirectional emissions with typical forward-backward contrast ratio of 15 dB and directivity of 12 dB can be acquired in a plasmonic phased antenna array with sub-wavelength device length. The properties, i.e., the emission directionality and the size compactness, can be employed to control the far-field radiation pattern from a dielectric photonic circuit. Moreover, by altering the orientations of the dielectric waveguides decorated with plasmonic phased antenna arrays, we propose wireless light transportations in a layered photonic infrastructure, which may have applications in high-density photonic integrations.     

New progress of plasmonics in complex metal nanostructures

Noble metal nanostructures possess novel optical properties because of their collective electronic oscillations,known as surface plasmons(SPs).The resonance of SPs strongly depends on the material,surrounding environment,as well as the geometry of the nanostructures.Complex metal nanostructures have attracted research interest because of the degree of freedom in tailoring the plasmonic properties for more advanced applications that are unattainable by simple ones.In this review,we discuss the plasmonic properties of several typical types of complex metal nanostructures,that is,electromagnetically coupled nanoparticles(NPs),NPs/metal films,NPs/nanowires(NWs),NWs/NWs,and metal nanostructures supported or coated by dielectrics.The electromagnetic field enhancement and surface-enhanced Raman scattering applications are mainly discussed in the NPs systems where localized SPs have a key role.Propagating surface plasmon polaritons and relevant applications in plasmonic routers and logic gates using NWs network are also reviewed.The effect of dielectric substrates and surroundings of metal nanostructures to the plasmonic properties is also discussed.     

Chiral plasmonics and enhanced chiral light-matter interactions

Chirality, which describes the broken mirror symmetry in geometric structures, exists macroscopically in our daily life as well as microscopically down to molecular levels. Correspondingly, chiral molecules interact differently with circularly polarized light exhibiting opposite handedness(left-handed and right-handed). However, the interaction between chiral molecules and chiral light is very weak. In contrast, artificial chiral plasmonic structures can generate "super-chiral" plasmonic near-field, leading to enhanced chiral light-matter(or chiroptical) interactions. The "super-chiral" near-field presents different amplitude and phase under opposite handedness incidence, which can be utilized to engineer linear and nonlinear chiroptical interactions. Specifically,in the interaction between quantum emitters and chiral plasmonic structures, the chiral hot spots can favour the emission with a specific handedness. This article reviews the state-of-the-art research on the design, fabrication and chiroptical response of different chiral plasmonic nanostructures or metasurfaces. This review also discusses enhanced chiral light-matter interactions that are essential for applications like chirality sensing, chiral selective light emitting and harvesting. In the final part, the review ends with a perspective on future directions of chiral plasmonics.     

Quantum plasmons in the hybrid nanostructures of double vacancy defected graphene and metallic nanoarrays

We study the plasmonic properties of hybrid nanostructures consisting of double vacancy defected graphene(DVDGr)and metallic nanoarrays using the time-dependent density functional theory. It is found that DVDGr with pure and mixed noble/transition-metal nanoarrays can produce a stronger light absorption due to the coherent resonance of plasmons than graphene nanostructures. Comparing with the mixed Au/Pd nanoarrays, pure Au nanoarrays have stronger plasmonic enhancement. Furthermore, harmonics from the hybrid nanostructures exposed to the combination of lasers ranged from ultraviolet to infrared and a controlling pulse are investigated theoretically. The harmonic plateau can be broadened significantly and the energy of harmonic spectra is dramatically extended by the controlling pulse. Thus, it is possible to tune the width and intensity of harmonic spectrum to achieve broadband absorption of radiation. The methodology described here not only improves the understanding of the surface plasmon effect used in a DVDGr-metal optoelectronic device but also may be applicable to different optical technologies.     

Lower Exciton Number Strong Light Matter Interaction in Plasmonic Tweezers

The plasmonic nanocavity is an excellent platform for the study of light matter interaction within a sub-diffraction volume under ambient conditions.We design a structure of plasmonic tweezers,which can trap molecular Jaggregates and also serve as a plasmonic cavity with which to investigate strong light matter interaction.The optical response of the cavity is calculated via finite-difference time-domain methods,and the optical force is evaluated based on the Maxwell stress tensor method.With the help of the coupled oscillator model and virtual exciton theory,we investigate the strong coupling progress at the lower level of excitons,finding that a Rabi splitting of 230 meV can be obtained in a single exciton system.We further analyze the relationship between optical force and model volume in the coupling system.The proposed method offers a way to locate molecular J-aggregates in plasmonic tweezers for investigating optical force performance and strong light matter interaction.     

Tuning of plasmonic behaviours in coupled metallic nanotube arrays

We theoretically investigate the influence of the shape of nanoholes on plasmonic behaviours in coupled elliptical metallic nanotube arrays by the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method.We study the structure in two cases:one for the array aligned along the minor axis and the other for the array aligned along the major axis.It is found that the optical properties and plasmonic effects can be tuned by the effective surface charges as a result of the variation in the minor axis length.Based on the localized nature of electric field distributions,we also clearly show that the presence of localized plasmon resonant modes originates from multipolar plasmon polaritons and a large magnitude of opposing surface charges build up in the gap between adjacent nanotubes.     

Development of new classes of plasmon active nano-structures and their application in bio-sensing and energy guiding

Metal nanostructures exhibit special optical resonance modes originating fronl tile subwavelengt.h confinement of conductive electrons in the material. These resonance modes represent a strong research focus due to their application potential in optics and sensing application, in this short review recent achievements of our group in this field are highlighted. A wet-chemistry approach synthesis of advanced metallic nanostruetures will be introduced and their exact positioning and manipulation by electric field is shown. Next. the application of these nanostructures for a detection of small molecules will be described in several examples. Also, it will be shown that inetal nanostruetures can be used for sub-wavelength light focusing and for efficient energy coupling into polymer chains.     

Oblique angle deposition and its applications in plasmonics

Plasmonics based on localized surface plasmon resonance （LSPR） has found many exciting appli- cations recently. Those applications usually require a good morphological and structural control of metallic nanostructures. Oblique angle deposition （OAD） has been demonstrated as a powerful technique for various plasmonic applications due to its advantages in controlling the size, shape, and composition of metallic nanostructures. In this review, we focus on the fabrication of metallic nanostructures by OAD and their applications in plasmonics. After a brief introduction to OAD technique, recent progress of applying OAD in fabricating noble metallic nanostructures for LSPR sensing, surface-enhanced Raman scattering, surface-enhanced infrared absorption, metal-enhanced fluorescence, and metamaterials, and their corresponding properties are reviewed. The future requirements for OAD plasmonics applications are also discussed.     

Unidirectional plasmonic Bragg reflector based on longitudinally asymmetric nanostructures

Plasmonic Bragg reflectors are essential components in plasmonic circuits.Here we propose a novel type of plasmonic Bragg reflector, which has very high reflectance for the right-side incidence and meanwhile has extremely large absorption for the left-side incidence.This device is composed of longitudinally asymmetric nanostructures in a metal–insulator–metal waveguide.In order to efficiently analyze, design, and optimize the reflection and transmission characteristics of the proposed device, we develop a semi-analytic coupled-mode model.Results show that the reflectance extinction ratio between plasmonic modes incident from the right-side and the left-side reaches 11 dB.We expect this device with such striking unidirectional reflection performance can be used as insulators in nanoplasmonic circuits.     

Amplification mechanism and effects of spontaneously generated coherence on the probe gain in a four-level system

We investigate the amplification mechanism in a four-level system by both the density-matrix and quantum-jump approaches. We show that the asymmetry between three-photon stimulated emission and one-photon absorption process is responsible for the inversionless amplification of the probe field. We also investigate the effects of spontaneously generated coherence (SGC) on the probe gain, and find that due to the SGC, the probe gain can be greatly enhanced and can be modulated by changing the relative phase between the applied fields.     

Light Irradiation through Small Particles and Its Applications for Surface Nanostructuring in Near Field

We investigate the light scattering through small particles and its applications in nanostructuring, such as nanobumping, nanopatterning and dry laser cleaning. The theoretical calculation based on Mie theory provides an exact solution for sphere cavity resonance and plasmon resonance, which are two mechanisms for dielectric and metallic particles assisted surface nanostructuring in near field. The experimental results indicate that nanobumps on glass surface and subwavelength holes array on silicon surface can be formed without cracks with the self-assembly of 1 μm silica particle mask under laser irradiation. It is also found that the scattering wave by 40 nm gold particles can propagate 200 times away in terms of particle radius as recorded by photoresist under the UV light irradiation. Meanwhile, dry laser cleaning of 40nm gold particle on silicon wafer is demonstrated at plasmonic resonance frequency. The total cleaning efficiency is estimated to be 80%.     

Manipulating surface plasmon waves by transformation optics:Design examples of a beam squeezer,bend,and omnidirectional absorber

We present several design examples of how to apply transformation optics and curved space under coordinate transformation to manipulating the surface plasmon waves in a controlled manner.We demonstrate in detail the design procedure of the plasmonic wave squeezer,in-plane bend and omnidirectional absorber.We show that the approximation method of modifying only the dielectric material of a dielectric-metal surface of the plasmonic device could lead to acceptable performance,which facilitates the fabrication of the device.The functionality of the proposed plasmonic device is verified using three-dimensional full-wave electromagnetic simulations.Aiming at practical realization,we also show the design of a plasmonic in-plane bend and omnidirectional absorber by an alternative transformation scheme,which results in a simple device structure with a tapered isotropic dielectric cladding layer on the top of the metal surface that can be fabricated with existing nanotechnology.     

Directional Nanoslit-Bump Coupler for Surface Plasmon Polaritons

We investigate a p-polarized plane wave transmitted through a metallic slit-bump nanostructure using the finite difference time domain simulation. It is found that narrow bumps with suitable separation can diffract surface plasmons into highly directional collimating beams. The number and directionality of the beams can be controlled by adjusting the geometry parameters of the nanostructure. The structure with optimized parameters may be interesting for practical applications as directional nanoslit SPP-light coupler in integrated photonic devices.     

Controllable growth of low-dimensional nanostructures on well-defined surfaces

The controllable growth of nanostructures with desired geometric order and well-defined shapes has stimulated great interest due to its applicability in the development of microelectronic devices. Self-assembly is an efficient and versatile way to guide the atoms or molecules into low-dimensional nanostructures as a consequence of balancing complex interplay between adsorbate-adsorbate and adsorbate-substrate interfacial interactions. The tailoring of low-dimensional nanostruc- tures by control of inter-adsorbate and adsorbate-substrate interfacial interactions is reviewed. Such inherent interactions greatly influence not only the size and shape of the growing nanostructures, but also their chemical identity. The degree of interaction between adsorbates can be controlled via preparation procedures, opening up the study of the influence of this phenomenon with respect to reactivity and catalytic behavior. The formation of well-defined molecular layers can be controlled not only by repulsive molecule-molecule interaction but also by symmetry matching or charge transfer be- tween adsorbed molecules and the substrate. It has become obvious that inter-adsorbate and adsorbate-substrate interfacial interactions can be tuned to fabricate diverse surface nanostructures from semiconductor, metallic, and molecular materials.     

Control of light scattering by nanoparticles with optically-induced magnetic responses

Conventional approaches to control and shape the scattering pattems of light generated by different nanostructures are mostly based on engineering of their electric response due to the fact that most metallic nanostructures support only electric resonances in the optical frequency range. Recently, fuelled by the fast development in the fields of metamaterials and plasmonics, artificial optically-induced magnetic responses have been demonstrated for various nanostructures. This kind of response can be employed to provide an extra degree of freedom for the efficient control and shaping of the scattering patterns of nanoparticles and nanoantennas. Here we review the recent progress in this research direction of nanoparticle scattering shaping and control through the interference of both electric and optically-induced magnetic responses. We discuss the magnetic resonances supported by various structures in different spectral regimes, and then summarize the original results on the scattering shaping involving both electric and magnetic responses, based on the interference of both spectrally separated （with different resonant wavelengths） and overlapped dipoles （with the same resonant wavelength）, and also other higher-order modes. Finally, we discuss the scattering control utilizing Fano resonances associated with the magnetic responses.     

Charge and Heat Transport in Polycrystalline Metallic Nanostructures

Metals are typically good conductors in which the abilities to transport charge and to transport heat can be related through the Wiedemann-Franz law. Here we report on an abnormal charge and heat transport in polycrystalline metallic nanostructures in which the ability to transport charge is weakened more obviously than that to transport heat. We attribute it to the influence of the internal grain boundaries and have formulated a novel relation to predict the thermal conductivity. The Wiedemann-Franz law is then modified to account for the influence of the grain boundaries on the charge and heat transport with the predictions now agreeing well with the measured results.     

Manipulating surface plasmon waves by transformation optics: Design examples of beam squeezer, bend, and omnidirectional absorber

We present several design examples of how to apply the transformation optics and curved space under coordinate transformation to manipulating the surface plasmon waves in a controlled manner. We demonstrate in detail the design procedure of the plasmonic wave squeezer, in-plane bend and omnidirectional absorber. We show that the approximation method of modifying only the dielectric material of a dielectric-metal surface of the plasmonic device could lead to acceptable performance, which facilitates the fabrication of the device. The functionality of the proposed plasmonic device is verified using three-dimensional full-wave electromagnetic simulations. Aiming at practical realization, we also show the design of plasmonic in-plane bend and omnidirectional absorber by an alternative transformation scheme, which results in simple device structure with a tapered isotropic dielectric cladding layer on the top of the metal surface that can be fabricated with the existing nanotechnology.     

Metal-dielectric-metal plasmonic waveguide devices for manipulating light at the nanoscale

We review some of the recent advances in the development of subwavelength plasmonic devices for manipulating light at the nanoseale, drawing examples from our own work in metal-dielectric-metal （MDM） plasmonic waveguide devices. We introduce bends, splitters, and mode converters for MDM waveguides with no additional loss. We also demonstrate that optical gain provides a mechanism for on/off switching in MDM plasmonic waveguides. Highly efficient compact couplers between dielectric waveguides and MDM waveguides are also introduced.     

Atomic Interaction Effects on Electromagnetically Induced Transparency and Slow Light in Ultracold Bose Gas

We investigate electromagnetically induced transparency and slow group velocity of light in ultracold bose gas with a two-photon Raman process,The properties of electromagnetically induced transparency and light speed can be changed by controlling the atomic interaction.Atomic interaction can be used as a knob to control the optical properties of atomic media.This can be realized in experiment by using the Feshbach resonance technique.     

Metallic nanowires for subwavelength waveguiding and nanophotonic devices

Plasmonics is a rapidly developing field concerning light manipulation at the nanoscale with many potential applications, of which plasmonic circuits are promising for future information technology. Plasmonic waveguides are fundamental elements for constructing plasmonic integrated circuits. Among the proposed different plasmonic waveguides, metallic nanowires have drawn much attention due to the highly confined electromagnetic waves and relatively low propagation loss. Here we review the recent research progress in the waveguiding characteristics of metallic nanowires and nanowire-based nanophotonic devices. Plasmon modes of both cylindrical and pentagonal metallic nanowires with and without substrate are discussed. Typical methods for exciting and detecting the plasmons in metallic nanowires are briefly summarized. Because of the multimode characteristic, the plasmon propagation and emission in the nanowire have many unique properties, benefiting the design of plasmonic devices. A few nanowire-based devices are highlighted, including quarter-wave plate, Fabry-Prot resonator, router and logic gates.