Optimized Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors to Maximize Absorptance

Dispersion characteristics of four types of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors, nano-cavity-array- (NCA-), nano-cavity-deflector-array- (NCDA-), nano-cavity-double-deflector-array- (NCDDA-) and nano-cavity-trench-array- (NCTA-) integrated (I-A-SNSPDs) devices was optimized in three periodicity intervals commensurate with half-, three-quarter- and one SPP wavelength. The optimal configurations capable of maximizing NbN absorptance correspond to periodicity dependent tilting in S-orientation (90{\deg} azimuthal orientation). In NCAI-A-SNSPDs absorptance maxima are reached at the plasmonic Brewster angle (PBA) due to light tunneling. The absorptance maximum is attained in a wide plasmonic-pass-band in NCDAI_1/2*lambda-A, inside a flat-plasmonic-pass-band in NCDAI_3/4*lambda-A and inside a narrow plasmonic-band in NCDAI_lambda-A. In NCDDAI_1/2*lambda-A bands of strongly-coupled cavity and plasmonic modes cross, in NCDDAI_3/4*lambda-A an inverted-plasmonic-band-gap develops, while in NCDDAI_lambda-A a narrow plasmonic-pass-band appears inside an inverted-minigap. The absorptance maximum is achieved in NCTAI_1/2*lambda-A inside a plasmonic-pass-band, in NCTAI_3/4*lambda-A at inverted-plasmonic-band-gap center, while in NCTAI_lambda-A inside an inverted-minigap. The highest 95.05% absorptance is attained at perpendicular incidence onto NCTAI_lambda-A. Quarter-wavelength type cavity modes contribute to the near-field enhancement around NbN segments except in NCDAI_lambda-A and NCDDAI_3/4*lambda-A. The polarization contrast is moderate in NCAI-A-SNSPDs (~10^2), NCDAI- and NCDDAI-A-SNSPDs make possible to attain considerably large polarization contrast (~10^2-10^3 and ~10^3-10^4), while NCTAI-A-SNSPDs exhibit a weak polarization selectivity (~10-10^2).Comment: 26 pages, 8 figure

Hydrogen Fluoride Capture by Imidazolium Acetate Ionic Liquid

Extraction of hydrofluoric acid (HF) from oils is a drastically important problem in petroleum industry, since HF causes quick corrosion of pipe lines and brings severe health problems to humanity. Some ionic liquids (ILs) constitute promising scavenger agents thanks to strong binding to polar compounds and tunability. PM7-MD simulations and hybrid density functional theory are employed here to consider HF capture ability of ILs. Discussing the effects and impacts of the cation and the anion separately and together, I will evaluate performance of imidazolium acetate and outline systematic search guidelines for efficient adsorption and extraction of HF

Maximizing the quality factor to mode volume ratio for ultra-small photonic crystal cavities

Small manufacturing-tolerant photonic crystal cavities are systematically designed using topology optimization to enhance the ratio between quality factor and mode volume, Q/V. For relaxed manufacturing tolerance, a cavity with bow-tie shape is obtained which confines light beyond the diffraction limit into a deep-subwavelength volume. Imposition of a small manufacturing tolerance still results in efficient designs, however, with diffraction-limited confinement. Inspired by numerical results, an elliptic ring grating cavity concept is extracted via geometric fitting. Numerical evaluations demonstrate that for small sizes, topology-optimized cavities enhance the Q/V-ratio by up to two orders of magnitude relative to standard L1 cavities and more than one order of magnitude relative to shape-optimized L1 cavities. An increase in cavity size can enhance the Q/V-ratio by an increase of the Q-factor without significant increase of V. Comparison between optimized and reference cavities illustrates that significant reduction of V requires big topological changes in the cavity