Magnetic Control of the Chiroptical Plasmonic Surfaces

A major challenge facing plasmon nanophotonics is the poor dynamic tunability. A functional nanophotonic element would feature the real-time sizable tunability of transmission, reflection of light’s intensity or polarization over a broad range of wavelengths, and would be robust and easy to integrate. Several approaches have been explored so far including mechanical deformation, thermal, or refractive index effects, and all-optical switching. Here we devise an ultrathin chiroptical surface, built on two-dimensional nanoantennas, where the chiral light transmission is controlled by the externally applied magnetic field. The magnetic field-induced modulation of the far-field chiroptical response with this surface exceeds 100% in the visible and near-infrared spectral ranges, opening the route for nanometer-thin magnetoplasmonic light-modulating surfaces tuned in real time and featuring a broad spectral response

Scanning Probe Photonic Nanojet Lithography

The use of nano/microspheres or beads for optical nanolithography is a consolidated technique for achieving subwavelength structures using a cost-effective approach; this method exploits the capability of the beads to focus electromagnetic waves into subwavelength beams called photonic nanojets, which are used to expose the photoresist on which the beads are placed. However, this technique has only been used to produce regular patterns based on the spatial arrangement of the beads on the substrate, thus considerably limiting the pool of applications. Here, we present a novel microsphere-based optical lithography technique that offers high subwavelength resolution and the possibility of generating any arbitrary pattern. The presented method consists of a single microsphere embedded in an AFM cantilever, which can be controlled using the AFM motors to write arbitrary patterns with subwavelength resolution (down to 290 nm with a 405 nm laser). The performance of the proposed technique can compete with those of commercial high-resolution standard instruments, with the advantage of a one-order-of-magnitude reduction in costs. This approach paves the way for direct integration of cost-effective, high-resolution optical lithography capabilities into several existing AFM systems

Anisotropic Nanoantenna-Based Magnetoplasmonic Crystals for Highly Enhanced and Tunable Magneto-Optical Activity

We present a novel concept of a magnetically tunable plasmonic crystal based on the excitation of Fano lattice surface modes in periodic arrays of magnetic and optically anisotropic nanoantennas. We show how coherent diffractive far-field coupling between elliptical nickel nanoantennas is governed by the two in-plane, orthogonal and spectrally detuned plasmonic responses of the individual building block, one directly induced by the incident radiation and the other induced by the application of an external magnetic field. The consequent excitation of magnetic field-induced Fano lattice surface modes leads to highly tunable and amplified magneto-optical effects as compared to a continuous film or metasurfaces made of disordered noninteracting magnetoplasmonic anisotropic nanoantennas. The concepts presented here can be exploited to design novel magnetoplasmonic sensors based on coupled localized plasmonic resonances, and nanoscale metamaterials for precise control and magnetically driven tunability of light polarization states