Ultra-broadband Light Absorption by a Sawtooth Anisotropic Metamaterial Slab

We present an ultra broadband thin-film infrared absorber made of saw-toothed anisotropic metamaterial. Absorbtivity of higher than 95% at normal incidence is supported in a wide range of frequencies, where the full absorption width at half maximum is about 86%. Such property is retained well at a very wide range of incident angles too. Light of shorter wavelengths are harvested at upper parts of the sawteeth of smaller widths, while light of longer wavelengths are trapped at lower parts of larger tooth widths. This phenomenon is explained by the slowlight modes in anisotropic metamaterial waveguide. Our study can be applied in the field of designing photovoltaic devices and thermal emitters.Comment: 12 pages, 4 picture

Temperature-ramped 129Xe spin-exchange optical pumping

We describe temperature-ramped spin-exchange optical pumping (TR-SEOP) in an automated high-throughput batch-mode 129Xe hyperpolarizer utilizing three key temperature regimes: (i) “hot”where the 129Xe hyperpolarization rate is maximal, (ii) “warm”-where the 129Xe hyperpolarization approaches unity, and (iii) “cool” where hyperpolarized 129Xe gas is transferred into a Tedlar bag with low Rb content (<5 ng per ∼1 L dose) suitable for human imaging applications. Unlike with the conventional approach of batch-mode SEOP, here all three temperature regimes may be operated under continuous high-power (170 W) laser irradiation, and hyperpolarized 129Xe gas is delivered without the need for a cryocollection step. The variable-temperature approach increased the SEOP rate by more than 2-fold compared to the constant-temperature polarization rate (e.g., giving effective values for the exponential buildup constant γSEOP of 62.5 ± 3.7 × 10−3 min−1 vs 29.9 ± 1.2 × 10−3 min−1) while achieving nearly the same maximum %PXe value (88.0 ± 0.8% vs 90.1% ± 0.8%, for a 500 Torr (67 kPa) Xe cell loadingcorresponding to nuclear magnetic resonance/magnetic resonance imaging (NMR/MRI) enhancements of ∼3.1 × 105 and ∼2.32 × 108 at the relevant fields for clinical imaging and HP 129Xe production of 3 T and 4 mT, respectively); moreover, the intercycle “dead” time was also significantly decreased. The higher-throughput TR-SEOP approach can be implemented without sacrificing the level of 129Xe hyperpolarization or the experimental stability for automation-making this approach beneficial for improving the overall 129Xe production rate in clinical settings

Emission properties of an oscillating point dipole from a gold Yagi-Uda nanoantenna array

We investigate numerically the interaction of an oscillating point dipole with a periodic array of optical Yagi-Uda nanoantennas in the weak coupling limit. A very strong near-field enhancement of the dipole emission by the resonant plasmon mode in the feed element is predicted in this structure. It is shown that the enhancement strength depends strongly on the dipole position, the direction of the dipole moment, and the oscillation frequency. The radiative intensity of the point dipole from appropriate places next to one feed element may exceed the radiative intensity of an equivalent dipole in free-space by a factor of hundred. In spite of only one director used in each nanoantenna of the array, the far-field emission pattern is highly directed. The radiative efficiency (the ratio of the radiative to the full emission) appears to be around 20%.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

XeNA: an automated ‘open-source’ 129Xe hyperpolarizer for clinical use

Here we provide a full report on the construction, components, and capabilities of our consortium’s “open-source” large-scale (~ 1 L/h) 129Xe hyperpolarizer for clinical, pre-clinical, and materials NMR/MRI (Nikolaou et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 110, 14150 (2013)). The ‘hyperpolarizer’ is automated and built mostly of off-the-shelf components; moreover, it is designed to be cost-effective and installed in both research laboratories and clinical settings with materials costing less than $125,000. The device runs in the xenon-rich regime (up to 1800 Torr Xe in 0.5 L) in either stopped-flow or single-batch mode—making cryo-collection of the hyperpolarized gas unnecessary for many applications. In-cell 129Xe nuclear spin polarization values of ~ 30%–90% have been measured for Xe loadings of ~ 300–1600 Torr. Typical 129Xe polarization build-up and T1 relaxation time constants were ~ 8.5 min and ~ 1.9 h respectively under our spin-exchange optical pumping conditions; such ratios, combined with near-unity Rb electron spin polarizations enabled by the high resonant laser power (up to ~ 200 W), permit such high PXe values to be achieved despite the high in-cell Xe densities. Importantly, most of the polarization is maintained during efficient HP gas transfer to other containers, and ultra-long 129Xe relaxation times (up to nearly 6 h) were observed in Tedlar bags following transport to a clinical 3 T scanner for MR spectroscopy and imaging as a prelude to in vivo experiments. The device has received FDA IND approval for a clinical study of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease subjects. The primary focus of this paper is on the technical/engineering development of the polarizer, with the explicit goals of facilitating the adaptation of design features and operative modes into other laboratories, and of spurring the further advancement of HP-gas MR applications in biomedicine

Excitation and Tuning of Higher-Order Fano Resonances in Plasmonic Oligomer Clusters

Plasmonic oligomer dusters are assemblies of closely packed metallic nanoparticles. They provide a rich set of spectral features such as Fano lineshapes and a simultaneous tunability of the supported resonances in the optical wavelength regime. In this study, we investigate numerically and experimentally clusters of plasmonic nanoparticles that exhibit multiple Fano resonances due to the interference of one broad superradiant mode and multiple narrow subradiant modes. In particular we investigate oligomers with multiple ring modes and elongated chains of nanoparticles surrounded by one ring of nanoparticles. We show that the number of nanoparticles and their respective arrangement In the cluster strongly influence the spectral position and modulation depth of the spectral signature of the supported modes. Our study opens up the pathway to "plasmonic super molecules" that show unprecedented tunability, which renders them highly suitable for applications such as multiwavelength surface-enhanced Raman scattering

Plasmonic Oligomers: The Role of Individual Particles in Collective Behavior

We present a comprehensive experimental study of the optical properties of plasmonic oligomers. We show that both the constitution and configuration of plasmonic oligomers have a large influence on their resonant behavior, which draws a compelling analogy to molecular theory in chemistry. To elucidate the constitution influence, we vary the size of individual nanoparticles and identify the role of the target nanoparticle from the spectral change. To illustrate the configuration influence, we vary the positions and numbers of nanoparticles in a plasmonic oligomer. Additionally, we demonstrate experimentally a large spectral redshift at the transition from displaced nanoparticles to touching ones. The oligomeric design strategy opens up a rich pathway for the implementation of optimized optical properties into complex plasmonic nanostructures for specific applications

Tunable and switchable polarization rotation with non-reciprocal plasmonic thin films at designated wavelengths

We experimentally demonstrate an ultra-thin plasmonic optical rotator in the visible regime that induces a polarization rotation that is continuously tunable and switchable by an external magnetic field. The rotator is a magneto-plasmonic hybrid structure consisting of a magneto-optical EuSe slab and a one-dimensional plasmonic gold grating. At low temperatures, EuSe possesses a large Verdet constant and exhibits Faraday rotation, which does not saturate over a regime of several Tesla. By combining these properties with plasmonic Faraday rotation enhancement, a large tuning range of the polarization rotation of up to 8.4 degrees for a film thickness of 220 nm is achieved. Furthermore, through experiments and simulations, we demonstrate that the unique dispersion properties of the structure enable us to tailor the wavelengths of the tunable polarization rotation to arbitrary spectral positions within the transparency window of the magneto-optical slab. The demonstrated concept might lead to important, highly integrated, non-reciprocal, photonic devices for light modulation, optical isolation, and magnetic field optical sensing. The simple fabrication of EuSe nanostructures by physical vapor deposition opens the way for many potentially interesting magneto-plasmonic systems and three-dimensional magneto-optical metamaterials