18,405 research outputs found
Substrate influence on the plasmonic response of clusters of spherical nanoparticles
The plasmonic response of nanoparticles is exploited in many subfields of
science and engineering to enhance optical signals associated with probes of
nanoscale and subnanoscale entities. We develop a numerical algorithm based on
previous theoretical work that addresses the influence of a substrate on the
plasmonic response of collections of nanoparticles of spherical shape. Our
method is a real space approach within the quasi-static limit that can be
applied to a wide range of structures. We illustrate the role of the substrate
through numerical calculations that explore single nanospheres and nanosphere
dimers fabricated from either a Drude model metal or from silver on dielectric
substrates, and from dielectric spheres on silver substrates.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figure
Optical Excitations and Field Enhancement in Short Graphene Nanoribbons
The optical excitations of elongated graphene nanoflakes of finite length are
investigated theoretically through quantum chemistry semi-empirical approaches.
The spectra and the resulting dipole fields are analyzed, accounting in full
atomistic details for quantum confinement effects, which are crucial in the
nanoscale regime. We find that the optical spectra of these nanostructures are
dominated at low energy by excitations with strong intensity, comprised of
characteristic coherent combinations of a few single-particle transitions with
comparable weight. They give rise to stationary collective oscillations of the
photoexcited carrier density extending throughout the flake, and to a strong
dipole and field enhancement. This behavior is robust with respect to width and
length variations, thus ensuring tunability in a large frequency range. The
implications for nanoantennas and other nanoplasmonic applications are
discussed for realistic geometries
Magneto-optical response enhanced by Mie resonances in nanoantennas
Control of light by an external magnetic field is one of the important
methods for modulation of its intensity and polarisation. Magneto-optical
effects at the nanoscale are usually observed in magnetophotonic crystals,
nanostructured hybrid materials or magnetoplasmonic crystals. An indirect
action of an external magnetic field (e.g. through the Faraday effect) is
explained by the fact that natural materials exhibit negligible magnetism at
optical frequencies. However, the concept of metamaterials overcome this
limitation imposed by nature by designing artificial subwavelength meta-atoms
that support a strong magnetic response, usually termed as optical magnetism,
even when they are made of nonmagnetic materials. The fundamental question is
what would be the effect of the interaction between an external magnetic field
and an optically-induced magnetic response of metamaterial structures. Here we
make the first step toward answering this fundamental question and demonstrate
the multifold enhancement of the magneto-optical response of nanoantenna
lattices due to the optical magnetism.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure
Nanoscale magnetophotonics
This Perspective surveys the state-of-the-art and future prospects of science
and technology employing the nanoconfined light (nanophotonics and
nanoplasmonics) in combination with magnetism. We denote this field broadly as
nanoscale magnetophotonics. We include a general introduction to the field and
describe the emerging magneto-optical effects in magnetoplasmonic and
magnetophotonic nanostructures supporting localized and propagating plasmons.
Special attention is given to magnetoplasmonic crystals with transverse
magnetization and the associated nanophotonic non-reciprocal effects, and to
magneto-optical effects in periodic arrays of nanostructures. We give also an
overview of the applications of these systems in biological and chemical
sensing, as well as in light polarization and phase control. We further review
the area of nonlinear magnetophotonics, the semiconductor spin-plasmonics, and
the general principles and applications of opto-magnetism and nano-optical
ultrafast control of magnetism and spintronics
Surface plasmon-mediated nanoscale localization of laser-driven sub-THz spin dynamics in magnetic dielectrics
Ultrafast all-optical control of spins with femtosecond laser pulses is one
of the hot topics at the crossroads of photonics and magnetism with a direct
impact on future magnetic recording. Unveiling light-assisted recording
mechanisms for an increase of the bit density beyond the diffraction limit
without excessive heating of the recording medium is an open challenge. Here we
show that surface plasmon-polaritons in hybrid metal-dielectric structures can
provide spatial confinement of the inverse Faraday effect, mediating the
excitation of localized coherent spin precession with 0.41 THz frequency. We
demonstrate a two orders of magnitude enhancement of the excitation efficiency
at the surface plasmon resonance within the 100 nm layer in dielectric garnet.
Our findings broaden the horizons of ultrafast spin-plasmonics and open
pathways towards non-thermal opto-magnetic recording at the nano-scale
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