A. Di Falco

Chemical sensing in slotted photonic crystal heterostructure cavities

We fabricated slotted photonic crystal waveguides and cavities supporting resonant modes in air. Their peculiar geometry enables the detection of refractive index changes in a given analyte with high sensitivity because of the large overlap between the optical mode and the analyte. This yields a high figure of merit for the sensitivity of the device and we are able to report values of S=Δλ/Δn over 1500. By applying a photonic crystal heterostructure to the slotted geometry, we are able to create high quality-factor cavities essential for realizing low detection limits up to Q=50 000.

Slotted photonic crystal cavities with integrated microfluidics for biosensing applications

We demonstrate the detection of dissolved avidin concentrations as low as 15 nM or 1 μg/ml using functionalized slotted photonic crystal cavities with integrated microfluidics. With a cavity sensing surface area of approximately 2.2 μm(2), we are able to detect surface mass densities of order 60 pg/mm(2) corresponding to a bound mass of approximately 100 ag. The ultra-compact size of the sensors makes them attractive for lab-on-a-chip applications where high densities of independent sensing elements are desired within a small area. The high sensitivity over an extremely small area is due to the strong modal overlap with the analyte enabled by the slotted waveguide cavity geometry that we employ. This strong overlap results in larger shifts in the cavity peak wavelength when compared to competing approaches.

Dispersion control and slow light in slotted photonic crystal waveguides

Slotted photonic crystal waveguides combine the ability to confine light in air with the dispersion control available from photonic crystals. Here, we study the dependence of their dispersion properties on geometry, especially the slot width, and demonstrate slow light operation with group indices in excess of 100.

Bidirectional Optical Sorting of Gold Nanoparticles

We present a generic technique allowing size-based all-optical sorting of gold nanoparticles. Optical forces acting on metallic nanoparticles are substantially enhanced when they are illuminated at a wavelength near the plasmon resonance, as determined by the particles geometry. Exploiting these resonances, we realize sorting in a system of two counter-propagating evanescent waves, each at different wavelengths that selectively guide nanoparticles of different sizes in opposite directions. We validate this concept by demonstrating bidirectional sorting of gold nanoparticles of either 150 or 130 nm in diameter from those of 100 nm in diameter within a mixture.

High Efficiency Interface for Coupling Into Slotted Photonic Crystal Waveguides

We investigate the mechanism of coupling light into slotted photonic crystal waveguides. We identify two alternative approaches for improving the coupling efficiency, based on engineered mode dispersion and on resonant mechanisms. For the optimized geometry, we calculate a loss figure of 0.3 dB over 100-nm bandwidth per interface and demonstrate a corresponding experimental value of 1.5 dB over 78-nm bandwidth per interface.

Terahertz pulse generation via optical rectification in photonic crystal microcavities

Using a three-dimensional fully vectorial nonlinear time-domain analysis, we numerically investigate generation of terahertz radiation by pumping a photonic crystal microcavity out of resonance. High quality factors and a quadratic susceptibility lead to few-cycle terahertz pulses via optical rectification. Material dispersion as well as linear and nonlinear anisotropy is fully accounted for.

Lifetime statistics of quantum chaos studied by a multiscale analysis

In a series of pump and probe experiments, we study the lifetime statistics of a quantum chaotic resonator when the number of open channels is greater than one. Our design embeds a stadium billiard into a two dimensional photonic crystal realized on a silicon-on-insulator substrate. We calculate resonances through a multiscale procedure that combines energy landscape analysis and wavelet transforms. Experimental data is found to follow the universal predictions arising from random matrix theory with an excellent level of agreement.

Optically induced metal-to-dielectric transition in Epsilon-Near-Zero metamaterials.

Epsilon-Near-Zero materials exhibit a transition in the real part of the dielectric permittivity from positive to negative value as a function of wavelength. Here we study metal-dielectric layered metamaterials in the homogenised regime (each layer has strongly subwavelength thickness) with zero real part of the permittivity in the near-infrared region. By optically pumping the metamaterial we experimentally show that close to the Epsilon-Near-Zero (ENZ) wavelength the permittivity exhibits a marked transition from metallic (negative permittivity) to dielectric (positive permittivity) as a function of the optical power. Remarkably, this transition is linear as a function of pump power and occurs on time scales of the order of the 100 fs pump pulse that need not be tuned to a specific wavelength. The linearity of the permittivity increase allows us to express the response of the metamaterial in terms of a standard third order optical nonlinearity: this shows a clear inversion of the roles of the real and imaginary parts in crossing the ENZ wavelength, further supporting an optically induced change in the physical behaviour of the metamaterial.

Optical shock waves in silica aerogel.

Silica aerogels are materials well suited for high power nonlinear optical applications. In such regime, the non-trivial thermal properties may give rise to the generation of optical shock waves, which are also affected by the structural disorder due to the porous solid-state gel. Here we report on an experimental investigation in terms of beam waist and input power, and identify various regimes of the generation of wave-breaking phenomena in silica aerogels.

Low loss dispersion engineered photonic crystal waveguides for optical delay lines

We demonstrate slow light photonic crystal waveguides with low dispersion and propagation loss. We then use this to create a distortion-less 1 byte delay for 25ps pulses.