Band gap engineering in simultaneous phononic and photonic crystal slabs

We discuss the simultaneous existence of phononic and photonic band gaps in two types of phononic crystals slabs, namely periodic arrays of nanoholes in a Si membrane and of Si nanodots on a SiO2 membrane. In the former geometry, we investigate in detail both the boron nitride lattice and the square lattice with two atoms per unit cell (these include the square, triangular and honeycomb lattices as particular cases). In the latter geometry, some preliminary results are reported for a square lattice

Phonon-Plasmon Interaction in Metal-Insulator-Metal Localized Surface Plasmon Systems

We investigate theoretically and numerically the coupling between elastic and localized surface plasmon modes in a system of gold nanocylinders separated from a thin gold film by a dielectric spacer of few nanometers thickness. That system supports plasmon modes confined in between the bottom of the nanocylinder and the top of the gold film, which arise from the formation of interference patterns by short-wavelength metal-insulator-metal propagating plasmon. First we present the plasmonic properties of the system though computer-simulated extinction spectra and field maps associated to the different optical modes. Next a simple analytical model is introduced, which allows to correctly reproduce the shape and wavelengths of the plasmon modes. This model is used to investigate the efficiency of the coupling between an elastic deformation and the plasmonic modes. In the last part of the paper, we present the full numerical simulations of the phononic properties of the system, and then compute the acousto-plasmonic coupling between the different plasmon modes and five acoustic modes of very different shape. The efficiency of the coupling is assessed first by evaluating the modulation of the resonance wavelength, which allows comparison with the analytical model, and finally in term of time-modulation of the transmission spectra on the full visible range, computed for realistic values of the deformation of the nanoparticle.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure

Equilibria of large random Lotka-Volterra systems with vanishing species: a mathematical approach

Ecosystems that consist in a large number of species are often modelled as Lotka-Volterra dynamical systems built around a large random interaction matrix. Under some known conditions, global equilibria exist for such dynamical systems. This paper is devoted towards studying rigorously the asymptotic behavior of the distribution of the elements of a global equilibrium vector in the regime of large dimensions. Such a vector is known to be the solution of a so-called Linear Complementarity Problem. It is shown here that the large dimensional distribution of such a solution can be estimated with the help of an Approximate Message Passing (AMP) approach, a technique that has recently aroused an intense research effort in the fields of statistical physics, Machine Learning, or communication theory. Interaction matrices taken from the Gaussian Orthogonal Ensemble, or following a Wishart distribution are considered. Beyond these models, the AMP approach developed in this paper has the potential to address more involved interaction matrix models for solving the problem of the asymptotic distribution of the equilibria

Dual phononic and photonic band gaps in a periodic array of pillars deposited on a thin plate

We study theoretically the simultaneous existence of phononic and photonic band gaps in a periodic array of silicon pillars deposited on a homogeneous thin silica plate. Several lattices, namely, square, triangular, and honeycomb are investigated for a wide range of geometrical parameters. We discuss the most suitable cases for dual phononic-photonic band gaps, especially in comparison to the more conventional structures constituted by a periodic array of holes in a membrane

Wave propagation in a quasi-periodic waveguide network

We investigate the transport properties of a classical wave propagating through a quasi-periodic Fibonacci array of waveguide segments in the form of loops. The formulation is general, and applicable for electromagnetic or acoustic waves through such structures. We examine the conditions for resonant transmission in a Fibonacci waveguide structure. The local positional correlation between the loops are found to be responsible for the resonance. We also show that, depending on the number of segments attached to a particular loop, the intensity at the nodes displays a perfectly periodic or a self-similar pattern. The former pattern corresponds to a perfectly extended mode of propagation, which is to be contrasted to the electron or phonon characteristics of a pure one dimensional Fibonacci quasi-crystal.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure

Unusual modes and photonic gaps in a Vicsek waveguide network

We propose a simple model of a waveguide network designed following the growth rule of a Vicsek fractal. We show, within the framework of real space renormalization group (RSRG) method, that such a design may lead to the appearance of unusual electromagnetic modes. Such modes exhibit an extended character in RSRG sense. However, they lead to a power law decay in the end-to-end transmission of light across such a network model as the size of the network increases. This, to our mind, may lead to an observation of power law localization of light in a fractal waveguide network. The general occurence of photonic band gaps and their change as a function of the parameters of the system are also discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure

Angular plasmon response of gold nanoparticles arrays: approaching the Rayleigh limit

AbstractThe regular arrangement of metal nanoparticles influences their plasmonic behavior. It has been previously demonstrated that the coupling between diffracted waves and plasmon modes can give rise to extremely narrow plasmon resonances. This is the case when the single-particle localized surface plasmon resonance (λLSP) is very close in value to the Rayleigh anomaly wavelength (λRA) of the nanoparticles array. In this paper, we performed angle-resolved extinction measurements on a 2D array of gold nano-cylinders designed to fulfil the condition λRA<λLSP. Varying the angle of excitation offers a unique possibility to finely modify the value of λRA, thus gradually approaching the condition of coupling between diffracted waves and plasmon modes. The experimental observation of a collective dipolar resonance has been interpreted by exploiting a simplified model based on the coupling of evanescent diffracted waves with plasmon modes. Among other plasmon modes, the measurement technique has also evidenced and allowed the study of a vertical plasmon mode, only visible in TM polarization at off-normal excitation incidence. The results of numerical simulations, based on the periodic Green's tensor formalism, match well with the experimental transmission spectra and show fine details that could go unnoticed by considering only experimental data