Terahertz-pulse emission through laser excitation of surface plasmons in a metal grating

The second-order processes of optical-rectification and photoconduction are well known and widely used to produce ultrafast electromagnetic pulses in the terahertz frequency domain. We present a new form of rectification that relies on the excitation of surface plasmons in metal films deposited on a shallow grating. Multiphoton ionization and ponderomotive acceleration of electrons in the enhanced evanescent field of the surface plasmons results in a femtosecond current surge and emission of terahertz electromagnetic radiation. Using gold, this rectification process is third or higher-order in the incident field.     

Electrical excitation of surface plasmons

We exploit a plasmon mediated two-step momentum down-conversion scheme to convert low-energy tunneling electrons into propagating photons. Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) propagating along an extended gold nanowire are excited on one end by low-energy electron tunneling and are then converted to free-propagating photons at the other end. The separation of excitation and outcoupling proves that tunneling electrons excite gap plasmons that subsequently couple to propagating plasmons. Our work shows that electron tunneling provides a nonoptical, voltage-controlled, and low-energy pathway for launching SPPs in nanostructures, such as plasmonic waveguides.     

Optical excitation spectra of rare-gas atoms physisorbed on metal surfaces

Numerical computations are presented for the optical excitation spectra of neutral rare-gas atoms physisorbed on various metal surfaces. At low coverage and when the damping of the surface plasmons is much greater than the effective radiative damping, the occasional disappearance of the spectral lines of the optical absorption is due to a cancellation process, which occurs between the frequency profiles arising from two nearby excited states of the adsorbed atom. The red (blue) shifted peak of the symmetric mode of the higher (lower) excited state and the blue (red) shifted peak of the antisymmetric mode of the lower (higher) excited state of the atom cancel each other out provided that the frequency profiles of their lineshapes nearly coincide. Results of numerical calculations indicate that at low coverage the peaks of excited Xe on Ti and Au and excited Kr on Mg, in addition to those of Xe on Al and Kr on Au, vanish; this is compatible with the experimental observations. Predictions have been made for the adsorption spectra as a function of the distance from the atom to the surface of excited Xe and Kr, which are physisorbed on the surfaces of W, Ni, and Rh, respectively.Issued as NRCC No. 29204     

Combined classical theory for excitation of alkali metal atoms by electron-impact

Combined classical theory with free-fall model for the ground state is used to calculate the direct as well as exchange excitation cross-sections for several transitions in Na, K., and Rb. The effect of attraction by the nucleus and interference effects are also discussed. In most cases, the results are found in better agreement with the available experimental results than those of the first Born approximation and binary encounter theory.     

Resonance excitation of polaritons and plasmons at the interface between a uniaxial crystal and a metal

A resonance is theoretically predicted in which a plane electromagnetic wave in a transparent optically uniaxial crystal, reflected from its metallized surface, creates a wave field at the interface whose intensity is considerably higher than the intensity of the incident wave. In the crystal, a high-intensity (bulk or surface) polariton is excited, whereas, in the metal, a large-amplitude localized plasmon is excited. The structure of the fields created in the crystal is close to that of the fields of bulk polaritons at the boundary with a perfectly conducting surface. The nonideality of the metal is taken into account in the Leontovich impedance approximation. Conditions are found under which the resonance is accompanied by a full transformation of the incident wave into a polariton-plasmon localized near the interface. This coupled wave can be considered as a pumped eigenmode. The intensity of the wave field localized at the boundary can amount to 10–15 times the intensity of the incident wave in the visible range. The resonance half-width with respect to the angles of incidence amounts to a few degrees. In the infrared range, the excitation factor can be an order of magnitude higher, while the resonance half-width sharply decreases down to about 0.1° for a wavelength of 5 μm. Conditions are obtained for the resonance excitation of high-intensity bulk polaritons that arise as reflected modes propagating at a small angle to the boundary. The phenomena investigated are completely attributed to the anisotropy of the crystal.     

Efficient excitation and amplification of the surface plasmons

One dimensional (1D) grating has been fabricated (using focused ion beam) on 50 nm gold (Au) film deposited on higher refractive index Gallium phosphate (GaP) substrate. The sub-wavelength periodic metal nano structuring enable to couple photon to couple with the surface plasmons (SPs) excited by them. These grating devices provide the efficient control on the SPs which propagate on the interface of noble metal and dielectric whose frequency is dependent on the bulk electron plasma frequency of the metal. For a fixed periodicity (Λ = 700 nm) and slit width (w = 100 nm) in the grating device, the efficiency of SPP excitation is about 40% compared to the transmission in the near-field. Efficient coupling of SPs with photon in dielectric provide field localisation on sub-wavelength scale which is needed in Heat Assisted Magnetic recording (HAMR) systems. The GaP is also used to emulate Vertical Cavity Surface emitting laser (VCSEL) in order to provide cheaper alternative of light source being used in HAMR technology. In order to understand the underlying physics, far-and near-field results has been compared with the modelling results which are obtained using COMSOL RF module.Apart from this, grating devices of smaller periodicity (Λ = 280 nm) and slit width (w = 22 nm) has been fabricated on GaP substrate which is photoluminescence material to observe amplified spontaneous emission of the SPs at wavelength of 805 nm when the grating device was excited with 532 nm laser light. This observation is unique and can have direct application in light emitting diodes (LEDs).     

Resonant surface plasmons of a metal nanosphere treated as propagating surface plasmons

On the assumption that the resonant surface plasmons on a spherical nanoparticle are formed by standing waves of two counter-propagating surface plasmon waves along the surface, by using Mie theory simulation, we find that the dispersions of surface plasmon resonant modes supported by silver nanospheres match with those of the surface plasmons on a semiinfinite medium-silver interface very well. This suggests that the resonant surface plasmons of a metal nanosphere can be treated as a propagating surface plasmon wave.     

Dynamical modulating the directional excitation of surface plasmons sources

We demonstrate two methods to dynamically modulate the directional excitation of surface plasmons (SPs) in subwavelength slits structure by embedding nonlinear media or introducing oblique incidence. Finite-difference time-domain method simulation shows that the electromagnetic field intensity, patterned by the interference of two SPs waves along the exit interface, can be arbitrarily tailored by adjusting the phase difference between the two slits. The modulation of SPs has the potential application for all-optical SPs switch.     

Pulsed differential excitation of atoms

It is shown that differential excitation of similar atoms can be achieved by means of a spaced double π/2-pulse sequence in a shorter time than with a single π-pulse, with smaller relaxation degradation.     

Surface diffusion upon oxygen isotopic exchange on oxide-supported metal nanoclusters

A newly developed real-time kinetic model is presented. The model was used for the characterization of supported metal catalysts' properties in the oxygen isotopic exchange reaction. This model is based on rate equations and includes several elementary processes: adsorption on the metal nanoclusters, reactions on the metal nanoclusters, desorption from the metal nanoclusters, surface and bulk diffusion on/in the oxide support and direct exchange with the gas phase. On the basis of this model, a computer code was developed to determine the kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of the oxygen isotopic exchange reactions. The characteristics of a Rh/CeO₂ catalyst were examined in the temperature range between 200 and 450 °C.     

Inner-shell excitation of alkali-metal atoms

Inner-shell excitation of alkali-metal atoms, which leads to auto-ionization, is investigated. Comparison is made with other available data. Basic difficulties in making accurate calculations for inner-shell excitation process are discussed. Suggestions are made for further study of inner-shell process in atoms and ions.     

Collisional excitation of Na-Rydberg atoms

The scattering of heavy ion with a multilevel Rydberg atom in the presence of an electromagnetic field is studied. The interaction of Rydberg atom and the e.m field is explored using non-perturbative quasi-energy technique. Although the results are presented for selected excitations but in actual calculations we have included many levels of the atom. The effect of various parameters are shown on collisional excitation process. As an illustration detailed calculations are performed for the inelastic proton-Na Rydberg atom collision accompanied by the transfer of photons and the effects of dressing due to the field are considered. The emphasis of the present work is on collision induced transitions especially the case that involves change of orbital as well as principal quantum number. Received 26 December 2001 / Received in final form 8 April 2002 Published online 19 July 2002     

倒装芯片上金属布线/凸点互连结构中原子的定向扩散

采用倒装芯片互连凸点串联回路研究了高温、高电流密度条件下倒装芯片上金属布线/凸点互连结构中原子的定向扩散现象,分析了互连结构中受电应力和化学势梯度作用的各相金属原子的扩散行为.在电迁移主导作用下,Ni(V)镀层中的Ni原子的快速扩散导致原本较为稳定的Ni(V)扩散阻挡层发生快速的界面反应,造成Al互连金属与焊料的直接接触.Al原子在电子风力作用下沿电子流方向向下迁移造成窗口附近焊料中Al原子含量逐步上升,同时,空位的反向迁移、聚集形成过饱和,导致Al互连中形成大面积空洞.焊料中的Sn,Pb原子在化学势梯度 关键词： 倒装芯片 凸点 电迁移 扩散     

General properties of local plasmons in metal nanostructures

Under the quasistatic approximation, the characteristics of a local plasmon resonance of a metal nanostructure exhibit several general properties. The resonance frequency depends on the fraction of plasmon energy residing in the metal through the real dielectric function of the metal. For a given resonant frequency, the Q factor of the resonance is determined only by the complex dielectric function of the metal material, independent of the nanostructure form or the dielectric environment. A simple result describing the effect of optical gain on the Q factor is also obtained.     

Electron impact excitation of rubidium atoms

We have carried out distorted wave calculations for electron impact 5 ²P, 6 ²S and 4 ²D excitations of rubidium atom at incident electron energies in the range of 10-200 eV. Results are presented for differential and total cross-sections of these excitations, Stokes parameters of the excitation of the fine-structure resolved and unresolved 5 ²P and 4 ²D states, complete experiment parameters for the excitation of 5 ²P state and the STU spin parameters of its fine structure states. Good agreement is found on comparison of our results with the available experimental data and the earlier theoretical calculations. Except for the resonance 5 ²P transition no earlier calculations were reported for the excitation of the higher 6 ²S and 4 ²D states.Received: 25 February 2004, Published online: 22 June 2004PACS: 34.80.Dp Atomic excitation and ionization by electron impact - 34.80.Nz Spin dependence of cross-sections; polarized electron beam experiments     

Life-time of surface plasmons in small metal particles

Existing theories concerning the life-time of surface plasmons in small metal particles fail to explain recent experimental data for silver. Therefore, two of these theories were critically re-examined, and some numerical errors were found. The semi-classical approach by Lozovik et al. yields, after correction, physically reasonable results, which are nearly identical with theoretical results by Kreibig. The corrected RPA-result by Lushnikov et al. is in quantitative agreement with recent experimental data for silver.     

Modified method of surface plasmons in metal superlattices

We present a modified method to solve the surface plasmons(SPs) of semi-infinite metal/dielectric superlattices and predicted new SP modes in physics. We find that four dispersion-equation sets and all possible SP modes are determined by them. Our analysis and numerical calculations indicate that besides the SP mode obtained in the original theory, the other two SP modes are predicted, which have either a positive group velocity or a negative group velocity. We also point out the possible defect in the previous theoretical method in accordance to the linear algebra principle.