683 research outputs found
The song of the death of Somerled and the destruction of Glasgow in 1153
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Absolute Position Total Internal Reflection Microscopy with an Optical Tweezer
A non-invasive, in-situ calibration method for Total Internal Reflection
Microscopy (TIRM) based on optical tweezing is presented which greatly expands
the capabilities of this technique. We show that by making only simple
modifications to the basic TIRM sensing setup and procedure, a probe particle's
absolute position relative to a dielectric interface may be known with better
than 10 nm precision out to a distance greater than 1 m from the surface.
This represents an approximate 10x improvement in error and 3x improvement in
measurement range over conventional TIRM methods. The technique's advantage is
in the direct measurement of the probe particle's scattering intensity vs.
height profile in-situ, rather than relying on calculations or inexact system
analogs for calibration. To demonstrate the improved versatility of the TIRM
method in terms of tunability, precision, and range, we show our results for
the hindered near-wall diffusion coefficient for a spherical dielectric
particle.Comment: 10 pages. Submitted for peer review 8/20/201
Achieving a Strongly Temperature-Dependent Casimir Effect
We propose a method of achieving large temperature sensitivity in the Casimir
force that involves measuring the stable separation between dielectric objects
immersed in fluid. We study the Casimir force between slabs and spheres using
realistic material models, and find large > 2nm/K variations in their stable
separations (hundreds of nanometers) near room temperature. In addition, we
analyze the effects of Brownian motion on suspended objects, and show that the
average separation is also sensitive to changes in temperature . Finally, this
approach also leads to rich qualitative phenomena, such as irreversible
transitions, from suspension to stiction, as the temperature is varied
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Low-Threshold Indium Gallium Nitride Quantum Dot Microcavity Lasers
Gallium nitride (GaN) microcavities with embedded optical emitters have long been sought after as visible light sources as well as platforms for cavity quantum electrodynamics (cavity QED) experiments. Specifically, materials containing indium gallium nitride (InGaN) quantum dots (QDs) offer an outstanding platform to study light matter interactions and realize practical devices, such as on-chip light emitting diodes and nanolasers. Inherent advantages of nitride-based microcavities include low surface recombination velocities, enhanced room-temperature performance (due to their high exciton binding energy, as high as 67 meV for InGaN QDs), and emission wavelengths in the blue region of the visible spectrum. In spite of these advantages, several challenges
must be overcome in order to capitalize on the potential of this material system. Such diffculties include the processing of GaN into high-quality devices due to the chemical inertness of the material, low material quality as a result of strain-induced defects, reduced
carrier recombination effciencies due to internal fields, and a lack of characterization of the InGaN QDs themselves due to the diffculty of their growth and therefore lack of development relative to other semiconductor QDs. In this thesis we seek to understand and address such issues by investigating the interaction of light coupled to InGaN QDs via a GaN microcavity resonator. Such coupling led us to the demonstration of the first
InGaN QD microcavity laser, whose performance offers insights into the properties and current limitations of the nitride materials and their emitters.
This work is organized into three main sections. Part I outlines the key advantages and challenges regarding indium gallium nitride (InGaN) emitters embedded within gallium nitride (GaN) optical microcavities. Previous work is also discussed which establishes
context for the work presented here. Part II includes the fundamentals related
to laser operation, including the derivation and analysis of the laser rate equations. A thorough examination of the rate equations serves as a natural motivation for QDs and high-quality factor low-modal volume resonators as an optimal laser gain medium and
cavity, respectively. The combination of the two theoretically yields the most efficient semiconductor laser device possible. Part III describes in detail the design, growth, fabrication and characterization of the first InGaN QD microcavity laser. Additional experiments are also conducted in order to conclusively prove that the InGaN QDs serve as the gain medium and facilitate laser oscillation within the microdisk cavities. Part III continues with work related towards the development of the next generation of nitride light emitting devices. This includes the realization of photonic crystal cavity (PCC) fragmented quantum well (FQW) lasers that exhibit record low lasing thresholds of 9.1 uJ/cm2, comparable to the best devices in other III-V material systems. Part III also discusses cavity QED experiments on InGaN QDs embedded within GaN PCCs in order to quantify the degree of light-matter interaction. The lack of experimental evidence for weak or strong coupling, in the form of the Purcell Effect or cavity-mode anti-crossing respectively, naturally motivates the question of what mechanism is limiting the device
performance. Part III concludes with cathodoluminesence and tapered fiber measurements in order to identify the limiting factor towards achieving strong coupling between InGaN QDs and GaN microcavities
Designing evanescent optical interactions to control the expression of Casimir forces in optomechanical structures
We propose an optomechanical structure consisting of a photonic-crystal
(holey) membrane suspended above a layered silicon-on-insulator substrate in
which resonant bonding/antibonding optical forces created by externally
incident light from above enable all-optical control and actuation of stiction
effects induced by the Casimir force. In this way, one can control how the
Casimir force is expressed in the mechanical dynamics of the membrane, not by
changing the Casimir force directly but by optically modifying the geometry and
counteracting the mechanical spring constant to bring the system in or out of
regimes where Casimir physics dominate. The same optical response (reflection
spectrum) of the membrane to the incident light can be exploited to accurately
measure the effects of the Casimir force on the equilibrium separation of the
membrane
Controlled tuning of whispering gallery modes of GaN/InGaN microdisk cavities
Controlled tuning of the whispering gallery modes of GaN/InGaN {\mu}-disk
cavities is demonstrated. The whispering gallery mode (WGM) tuning is achieved
at room temperature by immersing the {\mu}-disks in water and irradiating with
ultraviolet (UV) laser. The tuning rate can be controlled by varying the laser
excitation power, with a nanometer precision accessible at low excitation power
(~ several {\mu}W). The selective oxidation mechanism is proposed to explain
the results and supported by theoretical analysis. The tuning of WGMs in
GaN/InGaN {\mu}-disk cavities may have important implication in cavity quantum
electrodynamics and the development of efficient light emitting devices
A full free spectral range tuning of p-i-n doped Gallium Nitride microdisk cavity
Effective, permanent tuning of the whispering gallery modes (WGMs) of p-i-n
doped GaN microdisk cavity with embedded InGaN quantum dots over one free
spectral range is successfully demonstrated by irradiating the microdisks with
a ultraviolet laser (380nm) in DI water. For incident laser powers between 150
and 960 nW, the tuning rate varies linearly. Etching of the top surface of the
cavity is proposed as the driving force for the observed shift in WGMs, and is
supported by experiments. The tuning for GaN/InGaN microdisk cavities is an
important step for deterministically realizing novel nanophotonic devices for
studying cavity quantum electrodynamics
Distinctive signature of indium gallium nitride quantum dot lasing in microdisk cavities.
Low-threshold lasers realized within compact, high-quality optical cavities enable a variety of nanophotonics applications. Gallium nitride materials containing indium gallium nitride (InGaN) quantum dots and quantum wells offer an outstanding platform to study light-matter interactions and realize practical devices such as efficient light-emitting diodes and nanolasers. Despite progress in the growth and characterization of InGaN quantum dots, their advantages as the gain medium in low-threshold lasers have not been clearly demonstrated. This work seeks to better understand the reasons for these limitations by focusing on the simpler, limited-mode microdisk cavities, and by carrying out comparisons of lasing dynamics in those cavities using varying gain media including InGaN quantum wells, fragmented quantum wells, and a combination of fragmented quantum wells with quantum dots. For each gain medium, we use the distinctive, high-quality (Q ∼ 5,500) modes of the cavities, and the change in the highest-intensity mode as a function of pump power to better understand the dominant radiative processes. The variations of threshold power and lasing wavelength as a function of gain medium help us identify the possible limitations to lower-threshold lasing with quantum dot active medium. In addition, we have identified a distinctive lasing signature for quantum dot materials, which consistently lase at wavelengths shorter than the peak of the room temperature gain emission. These findings not only provide better understanding of lasing in nitride-based quantum dot cavity systems but also shed insight into the more fundamental issues of light-matter coupling in such systems.This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final version is available from PNAS at http://www.pnas.org/content/111/39/14042.abstract
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Low threshold, room-temperature microdisk lasers in the blue spectral range
InGaN-based active layers within microcavity resonators offer the potential of low threshold lasers in the blue spectral range. Here, we demonstrate optically pumped, room temperature lasing in high quality factor GaN microdisk cavities, containing InGaN quantum dots (QDs) with thresholds as low as . The demonstration of lasing action from GaN microdisk cavities with QDs in the active layer, provides a critical step for the nitrides in realizing low threshold photonic devices with efficient coupling between QDs and an optical cavity.Engineering and Applied Science
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