815 research outputs found
Shaping plasmon beams via the controlled illumination of finite-size plasmonic crystals
Plasmonic crystals provide many passive and active optical functionalities, including enhanced sensing, optical nonlinearities, light extraction from LEDs and coupling to and from subwavelength waveguides. Here we study, both experimentally and numerically, the coherent control of SPP beam excitation in finite size plasmonic crystals under focussed illumination. The correct combination of the illuminating spot size, its position relative to the plasmonic crystal, wavelength and polarisation enables the efficient shaping and directionality of SPP beam launching. We show that under strongly focussed illumination, the illuminated part of the crystal acts as an antenna, launching surface plasmon waves which are subsequently filtered by the surrounding periodic lattice. Changing the illumination conditions provides rich opportunities to engineer the SPP emission pattern. This offers an alternative technique to actively modulate and control plasmonic signals, either via micro- and nano-electromechanical switches or with electro- and all-optical beam steering which have direct implications for the development of new integrated nanophotonic devices, such as plasmonic couplers and switches and on-chip signal demultiplexing. This approach can be generalised to all kinds of surface waves, either for the coupling and discrimination of light in planar dielectric waveguides or the generation and control of non-diffractive SPP beams
Broadband and broadangle SPP antennas based on plasmonic crystals with linear chirp
Plasmonic technology relies on the coupling of light to surface electromagnetic modes on smooth or structured metal surfaces. While some applications utilise the resonant nature of surface polaritons, others require broadband characteristics. We demonstrate unidirectional and broadband plasmonic antennas with large acceptance angles based on chirped plasmonic gratings. Near-field optical measurements have been used to visualise the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons by such aperiodic structures. These weakly aperiodic plasmonic crystals allow the formation of a trapped rainbow-type effect in a two-dimensional geometry as surface polaritons of different frequencies are coherently excited in different locations over the plasmonic structure. Both the crystal's finite size and the finite lifetime of plasmonic states are crucial for the generation of broadband surface plasmon polaritons. This approach presents new opportunities for building unidirectional, broadband and broad-angle plasmonic couplers for sensing purposes, information processing, photovoltaic applications and shaping and manipulating ultrashort optical pulses. © 2012 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved
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The Underground Test Area Project of the Nevada Test Site: Building Confidence in Groundwater Flow and Transport Models at Pahute Mesa Through Focused Characterization Studies
Pahute Mesa at the Nevada Test Site contains about 8.0E+07 curies of radioactivity caused by underground nuclear testing. The Underground Test Area Subproject has entered Phase II of data acquisition, analysis, and modeling to determine the risk to receptors from radioactivity in the groundwater, establish a groundwater monitoring network, and provide regulatory closure. Evaluation of radionuclide contamination at Pahute Mesa is particularly difficult due to the complex stratigraphy and structure caused by multiple calderas in the Southwestern Nevada Volcanic Field and overprinting of Basin and Range faulting. Included in overall Phase II goals is the need to reduce the uncertainty and improve confidence in modeling results. New characterization efforts are underway, and results from the first year of a three-year well drilling plan are presented
Experimental investigation of the edge states structure at fractional filling factors
We experimentally study electron transport between edge states in the
fractional quantum Hall effect regime. We find an anomalous increase of the
transport across the 2/3 incompressible fractional stripe in comparison with
theoretical predictions for the smooth edge potential profile. We interpret our
results as a first experimental demonstration of the intrinsic structure of the
incompressible stripes arising at the sample edge in the fractional quantum
Hall effect regime.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures included. Submitted to JETP Letter
Swift XRT and UVOT deep observations of the high energy peaked BL Lac object PKS 0548-322 close to its brightest state
We present the results of a spectral analysis of 5 Swift XRT and UVOT
observations of the BL Lac object PKS 0548-322 carried out over the period
April-June 2005. The X-ray flux of this high energy peaked BL Lac (HBL) source
was found to be approximately constant at a level of F(2-10 keV) ~ 4x10^-11 erg
cm^-2 s^-1, a factor of 2 brighter than when observed by BeppoSAX in 1999 and
close to the maximum intensity reported in the Einstein Slew Survey. The very
good statistics obtained in the 0.3-10 keV Swift X-ray spectrum allowed us to
detect highly significant deviations from a simple power law spectral
distribution. A log-parabolic model describes well the X-ray data and gives a
best fit curvature parameter of 0.18 and peak energy in the Spectral Energy
Distribution of about 2 keV. The UV spectral data from Swift UVOT join well
with a power law extrapolation of the soft X-ray data points suggesting that
the same component is responsible for the observed emission in the two bands.
The combination of synchrotron peak in the X-ray band and high intensity state
confirms PKS 0548-322 as a prime target for TeV observations. X-ray monitoring
and coordinated TeV campaigns are highly advisable.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A (6 pages, 3 figures
Concave Plasmonic Particles: Broad-Band Geometrical Tunability in the Near Infra-Red
Optical resonances spanning the Near and Short Infra-Red spectral regime were
exhibited experimentally by arrays of plasmonic nano-particles with concave
cross-section. The concavity of the particle was shown to be the key ingredient
for enabling the broad band tunability of the resonance frequency, even for
particles with dimensional aspect ratios of order unity. The atypical
flexibility of setting the resonance wavelength is shown to stem from a unique
interplay of local geometry with surface charge distributions
The OPERA experiment Target Tracker
The main task of the Target Tracker detector of the long baseline neutrino
oscillation OPERA experiment is to locate in which of the target elementary
constituents, the lead/emulsion bricks, the neutrino interactions have occurred
and also to give calorimetric information about each event. The technology used
consists in walls of two planes of plastic scintillator strips, one per
transverse direction. Wavelength shifting fibres collect the light signal
emitted by the scintillator strips and guide it to both ends where it is read
by multi-anode photomultiplier tubes. All the elements used in the construction
of this detector and its main characteristics are described.Comment: 25 pages, submitted to Nuclear Instrument and Method
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