10-million-elements-per-second printing of infrared-resonant plasmonic arrays by multiplexed laser pulses.

We report on high-quality infrared (IR)-resonant plasmonic nanoantenna arrays fabricated on a thin gold film by tightly focused femtosecond (fs) laser pulses coming at submegahertz repetition rates at a printing rate of 10 million elements per second. To achieve this, the laser pulses were spatially multiplexed by fused silica diffractive optical elements into 51 identical submicrometer-sized laser spots arranged into a linear array at periodicity down to 1 µm. The demonstrated high-throughput nanopatterning modality indicates fs laser maskless microablation as an emerging robust, flexible, and competitive lithographic tool for advanced fabrication of IR-range plasmonic sensors for environmental sensing, chemosensing, and biosensing.

Multi-beam pulsed-laser patterning of plasmonic films using broadband diffractive optical elements.

Multi-sector broadband diffractive optical elements (DOEs) were designed and fabricated from fused silica for high-efficiency multiplexing of femtosecond and nanosecond Gaussian laser beams into multiple (up to one 100) optically tunable microbeams with increased high-numerical aperture (NA) focal depths. Various DOE-related issues, such as high-NA laser focusing, laser pulsewidth, and DOE symmetry-dependent heat conduction effects, as well as the corresponding spatial resolution, were discussed in the context of high-throughput laser patterning. The increased focal depths provided by such DOEs, their high multiplexing efficiency and damage threshold, as well as easy-to-implement optical shaping of output microbeams provide advanced opportunities for direct, mask-free, and vacuum-free high-throughput subtractive (ablative) and displacive pulsed-laser patterning of various nanoplasmonic films for surface-enhanced spectroscopy, sensing, and light control.

Modeling of surface plasmon resonance in metalized optical waveguides with low V number by eigenmode expansion method.

The paper reports on the numerical study of surface plasmon resonance excitation in a bent metal-coated single mode optical fiber with a low V-number. It was shown that by choosing a proper combination of normalized frequency, bend radius, and metal film thickness one can achieve strong coupling between the fundamental mode guided by the fiber core, and symmetric surface plasmon mode supported by the metal layer applied to the fiber cladding. The effect is demonstrated to allow precision refractive index measurement, with spectral sensitivity and resolution estimated at 70 µm/refractive index unit and 3⋅10(-7), respectively.

Flash-imprinting of intense femtosecond surface plasmons for advanced nanoantenna fabrication.

In this work, we demonstrate an all-laser method of fabrication of optical nanoantennas (ONAs) with an additional coupling/focusing diffractive element. This method is based on double-shot femtosecond laser nanoablation of a thin supported metallic film, inducing a sequence of electrodynamic (surface plasmon-polariton [SPP] excitation and interference), thermal (melting, ablation and ultrafast cooling), and hydrodynamic processes. In particular, the thermal and hydrodynamic processes are important for ONA formation after the first laser shot, while second spatially shifted laser shot via an induced SPP wave results in a radial surface grating near the nanoantenna. Such gratings provide efficient coupling between incident laser radiation and SPP waves, thus significantly improving the ONA efficiency.

Analysis of surface plasmon resonance in bent single-mode waveguides with metal-coated cladding by eigenmode expansion method.

A numerical study is presented of surface plasmon waves excitation in a metal film applied to the cladding of a standard bent single-mode optical fiber. It was shown that by adjusting the bend radius and metal film thickness one can achieve effective coupling between the fiber fundamental mode and symmetric surface plasmon mode through the intermediary of whispering gallery modes supported by the cladding of the bent fiber. This effect is demonstrated to allow for refractometric measurement both in the wavelength and intensity-modulated regimes with a resolution of up to 10⁻8 RIU. Usage of standard noise reduction techniques for intensity-modulated optical signals promises further increase in accuracy.

Formation of crownlike and related nanostructures on thin supported gold films irradiated by single diffraction-limited nanosecond laser pulses.

A type of laser-induced surface relief nanostructure-the nanocrown-on thin metallic films was studied both experimentally and theoretically. The nanocrowns, representing a thin corrugated rim of resolidified melt and resembling well-known impact-induced water-crown splashes, were produced by single diffraction-limited nanosecond laser pulses on thin gold films of variable thickness on low-melting copper and high-melting tungsten substrates, providing different transient melting and adhesion conditions for these films. The proposed model of the nanocrown formation, based on a hydrodynamical (thermocapillary Marangoni) surface instability and described by a Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation, envisions key steps of the nanocrown appearance and gives qualitative predictions of the acquired nanocrown parameters.

Through nanohole formation in thin metallic film by single nanosecond laser pulses using optical dielectric apertureless probe.

Separate nanoholes with the minimum size down to 35 nm (~λ/15) and nanohole arrays with the hole size about 100 nm (~λ/5) were fabricated in a 50 nm optically "thick" Au/Pd film, using single 532 nm pump nanosecond laser pulses focused to diffraction-limited spots by a specially designed apertureless dielectric fiber probe. Nanohole fabrication in the metallic film was found to result from lateral heat diffusion and center-symmetrical lateral expulsion of the melt by its vapor recoil pressure. The optimized apertureless dielectric microprobe was demonstrated to enable laser fabrication of deep through nanoholes.

Cavity-based Fabry-Perot probe with protruding subwavelength aperture.

We investigate numerically and experimentally the possibility of development of a cavity-based probe for near-field optical microscopy systems based on a fiber Fabry-Perot interferometer with a subwavelength protruding aperture. It was shown that the probe provides a spatial resolution of no worse than λ/37 for λ=1550 nm.