Ultrathin plasmonic metamaterial for spoof localized surface plasmons

The multipolar spoof localized surface plasmons (LSPs) on a planar textured metallic disk are proposed and experimentally demonstrated at microwave frequencies. Based on ultrathin metal film printed on a thin dielectric substrate, the designed plasmonic metamaterial clearly shows multipolar plasmonic resonances, including the dipole, quadrupole, hexapole, octopole, decapole, dodecapole, and quattuordecpole modes. Both numerical simulations and experiments are in good agreement. It is shown that the spoof LSP resonances are sensitive to the disk's geometry and local dielectric environments. Hence, the ultrathin textured metallic disk may be used as plasmonic sensors and find potential applications in the microwave and terahertz frequencies.     

Spoof surface plasmon-based bandpass filter with extremely wide upper stopband

We investigate the guiding modes of spoof surface plasmon polaritons(SPPs) on a symmetric ultra-thin plasmonic structure. From the analysis, we deduce the operating frequency region of the single-mode propagation. Based on this property, a spoof SPPs lowpass filter is then constituted in the microwave frequency. By introducing a transmission zero at the lower frequency band using a pair of stepped-impedance stubs, a wide passband filter is further realized. The proposed filter is fed by a transducer composed of a microstrip line with a flaring ground. The simulated results show that the presented filter has an extremely wide upper stopband in addition to excellent passband filtering characteristics such as low loss, wide band, and high square ratio. A prototype passband filter is also fabricated to validate the predicted performances.The proposed spoof-SPPs filter is believed to be very promising for other surface waveguide components in microwave and terahertz bands.     

Broadband amplification of spoof surface plasmon polaritons at microwave frequencies

Efficient amplification of spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) is proposed at microwave frequencies by using a subwavelength‐scale amplifier. For this purpose, a special plasmonic waveguide composed of two ultrathin corrugated metallic strips on top and bottom surfaces of a dielectric substrate with mirror symmetry is presented, which is easy to integrate with the amplifier. It is shown that spoof SPPs are able to propagate on the plasmonic waveguide in broadband with low loss and strong subwavelength effect. By loading a low‐noise amplifier chip produced by the semiconductor technology, the first experiment is demonstrated to amplify spoof SPPs at microwave frequencies (from 6 to 20GHz) with high gain (around 20dB), which can be directly used as a SPP amplifier device. The features of strong field confinement, high efficiency, broadband operation, and significant amplification of the spoof SPPs may advance a big step towards other active SPP components and integrated circuits.

     

基于高阻抗表面的多频带Salisbury屏设计

为进一步提高传统Salisbury屏的吸波性能, 本文提出了利用高阻抗表面在特定频率同相反射的特性, 替代原有结构中的金属平板设计多频带Salisbury屏的方法. 通过分析不同频率电磁波经高阻抗表面反射后空间电磁场的场强分布, 说明可以通过共用Salisbury屏的损耗层, 在高阻抗表面同相反射的特征频率附近引入新的吸收带. 以不同尺寸方形周期结构的单频和双频高阻抗表面为例, 从仿真和实验两个方面验证了多频带Salisbury屏设计的可行性, 且实验和仿真结果十分符合. 结果表明, 多频带Salisbury屏基本保留了原有的吸波性能, 同时又引入了新的吸收峰, 吸收峰的位置和数量与高阻抗表面同相反射的频带位置和数目有关. 与传统的Salisbury屏相比, 在材料增加厚度不足1 mm 的情况下, 多频带Salisbury屏的设计使反射率小于-10 dB的吸波带宽由8.5 GHz增加到10.1 GHz, 且实现了向长波方向的拓展, 最低频率由7.5 GHz拓展到5.98 GHz.     

Electrooptic reflection with surface plasmons

Electrooptic reflection with surface plasmons is studied both experimentally and theoretically. An attenuated total reflection (ATR) geometry is used in which a quartz electrooptic crystal onto which a thin Ag film has been evaporated is contacted to the hypotenuse face of a high-index prism. Modulation in the ATR of an He–Ne beam near the angle for surface plasmon excitation is observed when a low-frequency electric field is applied to the quartz crystal. Experiments have been done with both single and multiple boundary surface waves. The angular spectra show phase reversal structure due to the interference of the modulated reflected wave with the ATR wave. The modulated reflectance is calculated directly from a well-known solution to the boundary value problem in nonlinear optics. Good quantitative agreement with the observations is obtained.     

Waveguided spoof surface plasmons with deep-subwavelength lateral confinement

We present a new type of waveguide scheme for terahertz circuitry based on the concept of spoof surface plasmons. This structure is composed of a one-dimensional array of L-shaped metallic elements horizontally attached to a metal surface. The dispersion relation of the surface electromagnetic modes supported by this system presents a very weak dependence with the lateral dimension and the modes are very deep-subwavelength confined with a long-enough propagation length.     

光声方法研究表面等离子激元衰减

本文用衰减全反射(ATR)和光声(PA)方法研究表而等离子激元(surface plasmons)的衰减,分别对Ag-空气界面和CaF_2-Ag-空气界面进行衰减全反射谱和光声光谱测定.测量结果确定两种衰减方式,辐射和无辐射定量结果,并且发现表面粗糙度对衰减方式有影响.     

Theory of spoof plasmons in real metals

In this Letter we develop a theory of spoof plasmons propagating on real metals perforated with planar periodic grooves. Deviation from the spoof plasmons on perfect conductor due to finite skin depth has been analytically described. This allowed us to investigate important propagation characteristics of spoof plasmons such as quality factor and propagation length as the function of the geometrical parameters of the structure. We have also considered THz field confinement by adiabatic increase of the depth of the grooves. It is shown that the finite skin depth limits the propagation length of spoof plasmons as well as a possibility to localize THz field. Geometrical parameters of the structure are found which provide optimal guiding and localization of THz energy.     

Highly confined hybrid spoof surface plasmons in ultrathin metal-dielectric heterostructures

Highly confined "spoof" surface plasmons (SSPs) are theoretically predicted to exist in a perforated metal film coated with a thin dielectric layer. Strong modes confinement results from the additional waveguiding by the layer. Spectral characteristics, field distribution, and lifetime of these SSPs are tunable by the holes' size and shape. SSPs exist both above and below the light line, offering two classes of applications: "perfect" far-field absorption and efficient emission into guided modes. It is experimentally shown that these plasmonlike modes can turn thin, weakly absorbing semiconductor films into perfect absorbers.     

Al纳米颗粒表面等离激元对ZnO光致发光增强的研究

基于聚苯乙烯球自组装法,在P型氮化镓(P-GaN)衬底上制备了有序致密的掩模板;采用热蒸发法在该模板上沉积金属Al薄膜,通过甲苯溶液去除聚苯乙烯球,得到了金属Al纳米颗粒阵列;采用原子层沉积法,在Al纳米颗粒阵列表面依次沉积氧化铝(Al_2O_3)和氧化锌(ZnO).通过测试Al纳米颗粒阵列的消光谱以及ZnO薄膜的光致发光谱,研究了Al纳米颗粒表面等离激元与ZnO薄膜激子之间的耦合效应.实验结果表明:引入Al纳米颗粒后,在约380 nm位置附近的ZnO近带边发光峰积分强度增强了1.91倍.对Al纳米颗粒表面等离激元增强ZnO光致发光的机理进行探讨.     

Polarization-insensitive unidirectional spoof surface plasmon polaritons coupling by gradient metasurface

A polarization-insensitive unidirectional spoof surface plasmon polariton(SPP) coupler mediated by a gradient metasurface is proposed. The field distributions and average Poynting vector of the coupled spoof SPPs are analyzed. The simulated and experimental results support the theoretical analysis and indicate that the designed gradient metasurface can couple both the parallel-polarized and normally-polarized incident waves to the spoof SPPs propagating in the same direction at about 5 GHz.     

High-confinement ultra-wideband bandpass filter using compact folded slotline spoof surface plasmon polaritons

A novel bandpass filter(BPF)based on spoof surface plasmon polaritons(SSPPs)using a compact folded slotline structure is proposed and experimentally demonstrated.The proposed novel SSPPs structure compared with a conventional plasmonic waveguide with slot line SSPPs unit structure at the same size,the considerable advantages in much lower asymptotic frequency with tight field confinement,which enable the proposed filter to be more miniaturization.A high-efficient mode conversion structure is designed to transition from TE-mode to SSPPs-mode by gradient slotline lengths.The low-frequency stop-band can be committed with microstrip to slotline evolution on both sides of the dielectric,while the high-frequency cutoff band is realized by the proposed SSPPs structure.The influence of dispersion relation,electric field distribution,surface current,and structural parameters on the transmission characteristics of the proposed BPF are analyzed by finite difference time domain(FDTD).To validate the design concept,the prototype of the miniaturized SSPPs BPF has been manufactured and measured.The experimental results show high performance of the fabricated sample,in which the working in a range of 0.9 GHz-5.2 GHz with the relative bandwidth is 142%,the insertion loss less than 0.5 dB,the reflection coefficient less than-10 dB,and the group delay is less than one ns.This works provides a mirror for realizing the miniaturization of waveguides,and the application and development of high-confinement SSPPs functional devices in the microwave and THz regimes.     

基于导模共振效应提高石墨烯表面等离子体的局域特性

本文构建了一种包含石墨烯和亚波长光栅的复合结构, 借助衍射光栅的导模共振效应, 在石墨烯表面激发高局域性表面等离子体激元, 研究了石墨烯与光栅结构对表面等离子体激元局域特性的影响规律, 并借助基于有限元法的COMSOL软件, 分析了缓冲层厚度、光栅周期、载流子迁移率和费米能级对石墨烯的表面电场、品质因子Q和有效模式面积S_eff的影响. 结果表明, 石墨烯表面等离子体激元的局域性在特定的参数点获得显著提高: 当μ = 0.7 m²/(V·s)时, 品质因子达到最大值Q_max = 1793; 当p = 235 nm或E_F = 0.72 eV时, 表面电场达到了入射光的3000倍以上. 强烈的局域性导致强烈 的光-物质相互作用, 因而本文提出的复合结构可实现高灵敏度传感器和高效率的非线性光学设备, 极大地扩展了石墨烯在纳米光学领域中的应用.     

从光子晶体效应到表面等离子波的实时演变

文章报道了激光诱导太赫兹表面等离子谐振效应。采用激光抽运-太赫兹波探测技术，实时改变单晶硅中的载流子浓度，使其介电特性从类绝缘体演变为类金属导体，以支持表面等离子谐振效应，进而实现太赫兹波在周期性亚波长单晶硅孔阵列中的实时可控制谐振增强传输。同时还通过实验观测到太赫兹波从光子晶体效应到表面等离子波的实时演变。文章作者采用Fano模型对实验结果进行模拟分析，获得了与实验数据一致的理论拟合。     

Refractive and reflective behavior of polymer prisms used for surface plasmon guidance

Two-dimensional optics with surface plasmons was realized by the use of topographically structured dielectric polymer coatings. Triangles of polymethylmetacrylate (PMMA) with lateral dimensions of some tens of micrometers on top of a silver layer act as two-dimensional prisms for surface plasmons. Refraction and internal reflection of plasmons were investigated by scanning near-field optical microscopy. The change in propagation direction can be explained by Snell's law when taking an effective refractive index for plasmons into account. Furthermore, intensity modulations in the PMMA elements and in the transmitted plasmon beam were observed.     

Effect of surface plasmons at the Al/alumina interface on the formation of nanopores in Al anodization

We investigated the formation mechanism of nanoporous alumina in the electrochemical reaction of aluminium with oxalic acid solution in terms of the pinning effect of Fermi level at the metal–oxide interface. On the Al metal surface, the image potential state pins the standing mode of collectively excited surface electrons and the evanescent wave forms the plasmon mode, which can be reflected in oxide barrier formation. A nanoporous alumina thin film with an amorphous phase oxide layer on the Al surface can enhance light absorption at a shorter wavelength than 382 nm and provide strong Fabry–Perot oscillation in photoreflectance. The cathodoluminescence spectra show the surface plasmon mode as a consequence of the self-ordered oxide nanopores. The Kretschmann configuration of an attenuated total reflection set-up for prism/oxalic solution/Al interface, which also provides a prism-coupled surface plasmon and forms oxide nanopores on the Al surface via a laser-enhanced anodization process.     

Photoluminescence enhancement by localized surface plasmons in AlGaN/GaN/AlGaN double heterostructures

Double heterostructures AlGaN/GaN/AlGaN grown by hydride vapor phase epitaxy and designed for use as light emitting diodes for 360 nm wavelength were patterned by shallow nanoholes and injected with Ag/SiO₂ or Al nanoparticles. A 1.8 times increase in the photoluminescence and microcathodoluminescence signal from the GaN active region was observed for 100 nm diameter Al nanoparticles, the efficiency decreased compared to the reference planar samples for small Al nanoparticles of 30–40 nm diameter, and a moderate increase of 1.2 times was detected for Ag/SiO₂ nanoparticles. The observed phenomena are explained by the GaN emitter coupling with localized surface plasmons produced by metallic nanoparticles. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The observation of the localized surface plasmons and its coupling

The surface plasmons properties on gold film composed of inverted square pyramidal pits were investigated. The near‐field scanning optical microscopy image showed that the surface plasmons were mainly located in the cavity of the pits; this is consistent with the mapping image obtained using the Raman scattering intensity of Rhodamine 6G. The calculation results obtained by using the finite element method showed that the electric field mainly located in the pyramidal pits and the field distribution was not affected by the adjacent pits around it. Compared with the single pyramidal pit, the localized electric field intensity increased in the condition of the structure array because of the surface plasmons coupling effect. The surface‐enhanced Raman scattering spectra intensity decreased as the incident angle of the excited laser increased except that there are two peaks at around 5° and 17.5°, which can be attributed to the Bragg scattering of the surface plasmons. The reflectance spectra collected by a microscope at different magnifications were different. The intensity variation between surface‐enhanced Raman scattering spectra obtained using ×20 and ×50 objective illustrated that the adsorption peak in the reflectance spectra corresponded to the surface plasmons coupling effect. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Making metals transparent for white light by spoof surface plasmons

From first-principles computations we reveal that metallic gratings consisting of narrow slits may become transparent for extremely broad bandwidths under oblique incidence. This phenomenon can be explained by a concrete picture in which the incident wave drives free electrons on the conducting surfaces and part of the slit walls to form spoof surface plasmons (SSPs). The SSPs then propagate on the slit walls but are abruptly discontinued by the bottom edges to form oscillating charges that emit the transmitted wave. This picture explicitly demonstrates the conversion between light and SSPs and indicates clear guidelines for enhancing SSP excitation and propagation. Making structured metals transparent may lead to a variety of applications.     

Effect of surface roughness on surface plasmon resonance absorption

The absorption of light by surface plasmons has been studied using the method of attenuated total reflection. The reflectance from a quartz-Ag interface has been measured as a function of angle and surface structure for the wavelength region from 3600 to 6000 . It is shown that the reflectance minimum for a smooth Ag film is changed in both angular position and spectral half-width by roughening the Ag surface with CaF₂ underlayers. Dispersion curves are presented which show that the wave vector of a surface plasmon propagating on an irregular surface is greater than that of an equally energetic surface plasmon propagating on a planar surface.