Normal incidence narrowband transmission filtering capabilities using symmetry-protected modes of a subwavelength, dielectric grating.

We computationally study a normal incidence narrowband transmission filter based on a subwavelength dielectric grating that operates through Fano interference between supported guided leaky modes of the system. We characterize the filtering capabilities as the cross section of the grating is manipulated and suggest techniques for experimental demonstration. Using group theory, we study the plane wave coupling to the supported modes that leads to broadband reflectance and narrowband transmittance responses for rectangular, pentagonal, rhomboidal, and right trapezoidal cross-sectional geometries.

Broadband long-wavelength infrared Si/SiO2 subwavelength grating reflector.

A long-wavelength IR broadband reflector is demonstrated using a high-index-contrast subwavelength grating based on a Si/SiO2 system. The field response has been computationally and experimentally verified to exhibit broadband reflectance in the spectral range of 13-16 µm with Δλ/λ=18.5% for reflectance >70%. The gratings exhibit incident field polarization dependence with an average extinction ratio of 1:1.6.

Benchtop electrochemical liquid-liquid-solid growth of nanostructured crystalline germanium.

An electrochemical liquid-liquid-solid (ec-LLS) process that produces large amounts of crystalline semiconductors with tunable nanostructured shapes without any physical or chemical templating agent is presented. Electrodeposition of Ge from GeO(2)(aq) solutions followed by dissolution into a liquid Hg electrode, saturation of the liquid alloy, and precipitation can yield polycrystalline Ge(s) under ambient conditions. A unique advantage of ec-LLS is that it involves precipitation under electrochemical control, where the applied bias precisely defines the flux of Ge into the liquid electrode. Fidelity of the saturation and precipitation of Ge from liquid electrodes affords a variety of material morphologies, including dense films of oriented nanostructured filaments with large aspect ratios (>10(3)). Electrodeposition involving a liquid electrolyte, a liquid electrode, and a solid deposit under ambient conditions represents a conceptually unexplored direct wet-chemical route for the preparation of bulk quantities of crystalline group-IV semiconductors without the time- and energy-intensive processing steps required in traditional preparations of semiconductor materials.