Nanoscale conducting oxide PlasMOStor.

We experimentally demonstrate an ultracompact PlasMOStor, a plasmon slot waveguide field-effect modulator based on a transparent conducting oxide active region. By electrically modulating the conducting oxide material deposited into the gaps of highly confined plasmonic slot waveguides, we demonstrate field-effect dynamics giving rise to modulation with high dynamic range (2.71 dB/µm) and low waveguide loss (∼0.45 dB/µm). The large modulation strength is due to the large change in complex dielectric function when the signal wavelength approaches the surface plasmon resonance in the voltage-tuned conducting oxide accumulation layer. The results provide insight about the design of ultracompact, nanoscale modulators for future integrated nanophotonic circuits.

Synthesis and characterization of plasmonic resonant guided wave networks.

Composed of optical waveguides and power-splitting waveguide junctions in a network layout, resonant guided wave networks (RGWNs) split an incident wave into partial waves that resonantly interact within the network. Resonant guided wave networks have been proposed as nanoscale distributed optical networks (Feigenbaum and Atwater, Phys. Rev. Lett. 2010, 104, 147402) that can function as resonators and color routers (Feigenbaum et al. Opt. Express 2010, 18, 25584-25595). Here we experimentally characterize a plasmonic resonant guided wave network by demonstrating that a 90° waveguide junction of two v-groove channel plasmon polariton (CPP) waveguides operates as a compact power-splitting element. Combining these plasmonic power splitters with CPP waveguides in a network layout, we characterize a prototype plasmonic nanocircuit composed of four v-groove waveguides in an evenly spaced 2 × 2 configuration, which functions as a simple, compact optical logic device at telecommunication wavelengths, routing different wavelengths to separate transmission ports due to the resulting network resonances. The resonant guided wave network exhibits the full permutation of Boolean on/off values at two output ports and can be extended to an eight-port configuration, unlike other photonic crystal and plasmonic add/drop filters, in which only two on/off states are accessible.

Phototropic growth control of nanoscale pattern formation in photoelectrodeposited Se-Te films.

Photoresponsive materials that adapt their morphologies, growth directions, and growth rates dynamically in response to the local incident electromagnetic field would provide a remarkable route to the synthesis of complex 3D mesostructures via feedback between illumination and the structure that develops under optical excitation. We report the spontaneous development of ordered, nanoscale lamellar patterns in electrodeposited selenium-tellurium (Se-Te) alloy films grown under noncoherent, uniform illumination on unpatterned substrates in an isotropic electrolyte solution. These inorganic nanostructures exhibited phototropic growth in which lamellar stripes grew toward the incident light source, adopted an orientation parallel to the light polarization direction with a period controlled by the illumination wavelength, and showed an increased growth rate with increasing light intensity. Furthermore, the patterns responded dynamically to changes during growth in the polarization, wavelength, and angle of the incident light, enabling the template-free and pattern-free synthesis, on a variety of substrates, of woodpile, spiral, branched, or zigzag structures, along with dynamically directed growth toward a noncoherent, uniform intensity light source. Full-wave electromagnetic simulations in combination with Monte Carlo growth simulations were used to model light-matter interactions in the Se-Te films and produced a model for the morphological evolution of the lamellar structures under phototropic growth conditions. The experiments and simulations are consistent with a phototropic growth mechanism in which the optical near-field intensity profile selects and reinforces the dominant morphological mode in the emergent nanoscale patterns.

Color imaging via nearest neighbor hole coupling in plasmonic color filters integrated onto a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor image sensor.

State-of-the-art CMOS imagers are composed of very small pixels, so it is critical for plasmonic imaging to understand the optical response of finite-size hole arrays and their coupling efficiency to CMOS image sensor pixels. Here, we demonstrate that the transmission spectra of finite-size hole arrays can be accurately described by only accounting for up to the second nearest-neighbor scattering-absorption interactions of hole pairs, thus making hole arrays appealing for close-packed color filters for imaging applications. Using this model, we find that the peak transmission efficiency of a square-shaped hole array with a triangular lattice reaches ∼90% that of an infinite array at an extent of ∼6 × 6 µm(2), the smallest size array showing near-infinite array transmission properties. Finally, we experimentally validate our findings by investigating the transmission and imaging characteristics of a 360 × 320 pixel plasmonic color filter array composed of 5.6 × 5.6 µm(2) RGB color filters integrated onto a commercial black and white 1/2.8 in. CMOS image sensor, demonstrating full-color high resolution plasmonic imaging. Our results show good color fidelity with a 6-color-averaged color difference metric (ΔE) in the range of 16.6-19.3, after white balancing and color-matrix correcting raw images taken with f-numbers ranging from 1.8 to 16. The integrated peak filter transmission efficiencies are measured to be in the 50% range, with a FWHM of 200 nm for all three RGB filters, in good agreement with the spectral response of isolated unmounted color filters.

Functional plasmonic nanocircuits with low insertion and propagation losses.

We experimentally demonstrate plasmonic nanocircuits operating as subdiffraction directional couplers optically excited with high efficiency from free-space using optical Yagi-Uda style antennas at λ0 = 1550 nm. The optical Yagi-Uda style antennas are designed to feed channel plasmon waveguides with high efficiency (45% in coupling, 60% total emission), narrow angular directivity (<40°), and low insertion loss. SPP channel waveguides exhibit propagation lengths as large as 34 µm with adiabatically tuned confinement and are integrated with ultracompact (5 × 10 µm(2)), highly dispersive directional couplers, which enable 30 dB discrimination over Δλ = 200 nm with only 0.3 dB device loss.

Plasmonic color filters for CMOS image sensor applications.

We report on the optical properties of plasmonic hole arrays as they apply to requirements for plasmonic color filters designed for state-of-the-art Si CMOS image sensors. The hole arrays are composed of hexagonally packed subwavelength sized holes on a 150 nm Al film designed to operate at the primary colors of red, green, and blue. Hole array plasmonic filters show peak transmission in the 40-50% range for large (>5 × 5 µm(2)) size filters and maintain their filtering function for pixel sizes as small as ∼1 × 1 µm(2), albeit at a cost in transmission efficiency. Hole array filters are found to robust with respect to spatial crosstalk between pixel within our detection limit and preserve their filtering function in arrays containing random defects. Analysis of hole array filter transmittance and crosstalk suggests that nearest neighbor hole-hole interactions rather than long-range interactions play the dominant role in the transmission properties of plasmonic hole array filters. We verify this via a simple nearest neighbor model that correctly predicts the hole array transmission efficiency as a function of the number of holes.

Wafer-scale strain engineering of ultrathin semiconductor crystalline layers.

The fabrication of a wafer-scale dislocation-free, fully relaxed single crystalline template for epitaxial growth is demonstrated. Transferring biaxially-strained Inx Ga1-x As ultrathin films from InP substrates to a handle support results in full strain relaxation and the Inx Ga1-x As unit cell assumes its bulk value. Our realization demonstrates the ability to control the lattice parameter and energy band structure of single layer crystalline compound semiconductors in an unprecedented way.

Programming of inhomogeneous resonant guided wave networks.

Photonic functions are programmed by designing the interference of local waves in inhomogeneous resonant guided wave networks composed of power-splitting elements arranged at the nodes of a nonuniform waveguide network. Using a compact, yet comprehensive, scattering matrix representation of the network, the desired photonic function is designed by fitting structural parameters according to an optimization procedure. This design scheme is demonstrated for plasmonic dichroic and trichroic routers in the infrared frequency range.

Efficient coupling between dielectric-loaded plasmonic and silicon photonic waveguides.

The realization of practical on-chip plasmonic devices will require efficient coupling of light into and out of surface plasmon waveguides over short length scales. In this letter, we report on low insertion loss for polymer-on-gold dielectric-loaded plasmonic waveguides end-coupled to silicon-on-insulator waveguides with a coupling efficiency of 79 ± 2% per transition at telecommunication wavelengths. Propagation loss is determined independently of insertion loss by measuring the transmission through plasmonic waveguides of varying length, and we find a characteristic surface-plasmon propagation length of 51 ± 4 µm at a free-space wavelength of λ = 1550 nm. We also demonstrate efficient coupling to whispering-gallery modes in plasmonic ring resonators with an average bending-loss-limited quality factor of 180 ± 8.

Negative refractive index in coaxial plasmon waveguides.

We theoretically show that coaxial waveguides composed of a metallic core, surrounded by a dielectric cylinder and clad by a metal outer layer exhibit negative refractive index modes over a broad spectral range in the visible. For narrow dielectric gaps (10 nm GaP embedded in Ag) a figure-of-merit of 18 can be achieved at lambda(0) = 460 nm. For larger dielectric gaps the negative index spectral range extends well below the surface plasmon resonance frequency. By fine-tuning the coaxial geometry the special case of n = -1 at a figure-of-merit of 5, or n = 0 for a decay length of 500 nm can be achieved.

A single-layer wide-angle negative-index metamaterial at visible frequencies.

Metamaterials are materials with artificial electromagnetic properties defined by their sub-wavelength structure rather than their chemical composition. Negative-index materials (NIMs) are a special class of metamaterials characterized by an effective negative index that gives rise to such unusual wave behaviour as backwards phase propagation and negative refraction. These extraordinary properties lead to many interesting functions such as sub-diffraction imaging and invisibility cloaking. So far, NIMs have been realized through layering of resonant structures, such as split-ring resonators, and have been demonstrated at microwave to infrared frequencies over a narrow range of angles-of-incidence and polarization. However, resonant-element NIM designs suffer from the limitations of not being scalable to operate at visible frequencies because of intrinsic fabrication limitations, require multiple functional layers to achieve strong scattering and have refractive indices that are highly dependent on angle of incidence and polarization. Here we report a metamaterial composed of a single layer of coupled plasmonic coaxial waveguides that exhibits an effective refractive index of -2 in the blue spectral region with a figure-of-merit larger than 8. The resulting NIM refractive index is insensitive to both polarization and angle-of-incidence over a +/-50 degree angular range, yielding a wide-angle NIM at visible frequencies.

Plasmon dispersion in coaxial waveguides from single-cavity optical transmission measurements.

We determine the plasmon dispersion relation in coaxial waveguides composed of a circular channel separating a metallic core and cladding. Optical transmission measurements are performed on isolated coaxial nanoapertures fabricated on a Ag film using focused ion-beam lithography. The dispersion depends strongly on the dielectric material and layer thickness. Our experimental results agree well with an analytical model for plasmon dispersion in coaxial waveguides. We observe large phase shifts at reflection from the end facets of the coaxial cavity, which strongly affect the waveguide resonances and can be tuned by changing the coax geometry, composition, and surrounding dielectric index, enabling coaxial cavities with ultrasmall mode volumes.