77,033 research outputs found
Boosting the Figure Of Merit of LSPR-based refractive index sensing by phase-sensitive measurements
Localized surface plasmon resonances possess very interesting properties for
a wide variety of sensing applications. In many of the existing applications
only the intensity of the reflected or transmitted signals is taken into
account, while the phase information is ignored. At the center frequency of a
(localized) surface plasmon resonance, the electron cloud makes the transition
between in- and out-of-phase oscillation with respect to the incident wave.
Here we show that this information can experimentally be extracted by
performing phase-sensitive measurements, which result in linewidths that are
almost one order of magnitude smaller than those for intensity based
measurements. As this phase transition is an intrinsic property of a plasmon
resonance, this opens up many possibilities for boosting the figure of merit
(FOM) of refractive index sensing by taking into account the phase of the
plasmon resonance. We experimentally investigated this for two model systems:
randomly distributed gold nanodisks and gold nanorings on top of a continuous
gold layer and a dielectric spacer and observed FOM values up to 8.3 and 16.5
for the respective nanoparticles
Nonradiating Photonics with Resonant Dielectric Nanostructures
Nonradiating sources of energy have traditionally been studied in quantum
mechanics and astrophysics, while receiving a very little attention in the
photonics community. This situation has changed recently due to a number of
pioneering theoretical studies and remarkable experimental demonstrations of
the exotic states of light in dielectric resonant photonic structures and
metasurfaces, with the possibility to localize efficiently the electromagnetic
fields of high intensities within small volumes of matter. These recent
advances underpin novel concepts in nanophotonics, and provide a promising
pathway to overcome the problem of losses usually associated with metals and
plasmonic materials for the efficient control of the light-matter interaction
at the nanoscale. This review paper provides the general background and several
snapshots of the recent results in this young yet prominent research field,
focusing on two types of nonradiating states of light that both have been
recently at the center of many studies in all-dielectric resonant meta-optics
and metasurfaces: optical {\em anapoles} and photonic {\em bound states in the
continuum}. We discuss a brief history of these states in optics, their
underlying physics and manifestations, and also emphasize their differences and
similarities. We also review some applications of such novel photonic states in
both linear and nonlinear optics for the nanoscale field enhancement, a design
of novel dielectric structures with high- resonances, nonlinear wave mixing
and enhanced harmonic generation, as well as advanced concepts for lasing and
optical neural networks.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures, review articl
Optical Yagi-Uda nanoantennas
Conventional antennas, which are widely employed to transmit radio and TV
signals, can be used at optical frequencies as long as they are shrunk to
nanometer-size dimensions. Optical nanoantennas made of metallic or
high-permittivity dielectric nanoparticles allow for enhancing and manipulating
light on the scale much smaller than wavelength of light. Based on this
ability, optical nanoantennas offer unique opportunities regarding key
applications such as optical communications, photovoltaics, non-classical light
emission, and sensing. From a multitude of suggested nanoantenna concepts the
Yagi-Uda nanoantenna, an optical analogue of the well-established
radio-frequency Yagi-Uda antenna, stands out by its efficient unidirectional
light emission and enhancement. Following a brief introduction to the emerging
field of optical nanoantennas, here we review recent theoretical and
experimental activities on optical Yagi-Uda nanoantennas, including their
design, fabrication, and applications. We also discuss several extensions of
the conventional Yagi-Uda antenna design for broadband and tunable operation,
for applications in nanophotonic circuits and photovoltaic devices
Integrated collinear refractive index sensor with Ge PIN photodiodes
Refractive index sensing is a highly sensitive and label-free detection
method for molecular binding events. Commercial implementations of biosensing
concepts based on plasmon resonances typically require significant external
instrumentation such as microscopes and spectrometers. Few concepts exist that
are based on direct integration of plasmonic nanostructures with optoelectronic
devices for on-chip integration. Here, we present a CMOS-compatible refractive
index sensor consisting of a Ge heterostructure PIN diode in combination with a
plasmonic nanohole array structured directly into the diode Al contact
metallization. In our devices, the photocurrent can be used to detect surface
refractive index changes under simple top illumination and without the aid of
signal amplification circuitry. Our devices exhibit large sensitivities > 1000
nm per refractive index unit in bulk refractive index sensing and could serve
as prototypes to leverage the cost-effectiveness of the CMOS platform for
ultra-compact, low-cost biosensors.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures, supporting information with 11 pages and 11
figures attache
First observation of electric-quadrupole infrared transitions in water vapour
Molecular absorption of infrared radiation is generally due to ro-vibrational
electric-dipole transitions. Electric-quadrupole transitions may still occur,
but they are typically a million times weaker than electric-dipole transitions,
rendering their observation extremely challenging. In polyatomic or polar
diatomic molecules, ro-vibrational quadrupole transitions have never been
observed. Here, we report the first direct detection of quadrupole transitions
in water vapor. The detected quadrupole lines have intensity largely above the
standard dipole intensity cut-off of spectroscopic databases and thus are
important for accurate atmospheric and astronomical remote sensing
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