Anastasia Rusina

Metallization of Nanofilms in Strong Adiabatic Electric Fields

We introduce an effect of metallization of dielectric nanofilms by strong, adiabatically varying electric fields. The metallization causes optical properties of a dielectric film to become similar to those of a plasmonic metal (strong absorption and negative permittivity at low optical frequencies). This is a quantum effect, which is exponentially size-dependent, occurring at fields on the order of 0.1 V/Å and pulse durations ranging from ∼1 fs to ∼10 ns for a film thickness of 3-10 nm.

Predicted Ultrafast Dynamic Metallization of Dielectric Nanofilms by Strong Single-Cycle Optical Fields

We predict a dynamic metallization effect where an ultrafast (single-cycle) optical pulse with a ≲1 V/Å field causes plasmonic metal-like behavior of a dielectric film with a few-nm thickness. This manifests itself in plasmonic oscillations of polarization and a significant population of the conduction band evolving on a ~1 fs time scale. These phenomena are due to a combination of both adiabatic (reversible) and diabatic (for practical purposes irreversible) pathways.

Generation of isolated attosecond extreme ultraviolet pulses employing nanoplasmonic field enhancement: optimization of coupled ellipsoids

The production of extreme ultraviolet (XUV) radiation via nanoplasmonic field-enhanced high-harmonic generation (HHG) in gold nanostructures at MHz repetition rates is investigated theoretically in this paper. Analytical and numerical calculations are employed and compared in order to determine the plasmonic fields in gold ellipsoidal nanoparticles. The comparison indicates that numerical calculations can accurately predict the field enhancement and plasmonic decay, but may encounter difficulties when attempting to predict the oscillatory behavior of the plasmonic field. Numerical calculations for coupled symmetric and asymmetric ellipsoids for different carrier-envelope phases (CEPs) of the driving laser field are combined with time-dependent Schrodinger equation simulations to predict the resulting HHG spectra. The studies reveal that the plasmonic field oscillations, which are controlled by the CEP of the driving laser field, play a more important role than the nanostructure configuration in finding the optimal conditions for the generation of isolated attosecond XUV pulses via nanoplasmonic field enhancement.

Theory of spoof plasmons in real metals

In this Letter we develop a theory of spoof plasmons propagating on real metals perforated with planar periodic grooves. Deviation from the spoof plasmons on perfect conductor due to finite skin depth has been analytically described. This allowed us to investigate important propagation characteristics of spoof plasmons such as quality factor and propagation length as the function of the geometrical parameters of the structure. We have also considered THz field confinement by adiabatic increase of the depth of the grooves. It is shown that the finite skin depth limits the propagation length of spoof plasmons as well as a possibility to localize THz field. Geometrical parameters of the structure are found which provide optimal guiding and localization of THz energy.

Nanoplasmonic renormalization and enhancement of Coulomb interactions

In this paper we propose a general and powerful theory of the plasmonic enhancement of the many-body phenomena resulting in a closed expression for the surface plasmon-dressed Coulomb interaction. We illustrate this theory by computing dressed interaction explicitly for an important example of metal-dielectric nanoshells which exhibits a rich resonant behavior in magnitude and phase. This interaction is used to describe the nanoplasmonic-enhanced F¨orster resonant energy transfer (FRET) between nanocrystal quantum dots near a nanoshell.

Nanoconcentration of Terahertz Radiation in Plasmonic Waveguides

Here, we establish the principal limits for the nanoconcentration of the THz radiation in metal/dielectric waveguides and determine their optimum shapes required for this nanoconcentration. We predict that the adiabatic compression of THz radiation from the initial spot size of R0 ~ λ0 to the final size of R = 100 - 250 nm can be achieved with the THz radiation intensity increased by a factor of ×10 to ×250. This THz energy nanoconcentration will not only improve the spatial resolution and increase the signal/noise ratio for the THz imaging and spectroscopy, but in combination with the recently developed sources of powerful THz pulses will allow the observation of nonlinear THz effects and a carrying out a variety of nonlinear spectroscopies (such as two-dimensional spectroscopy), which are highly informative. This will find a wide spectrum of applications in science, engineering, biomedical research, environmental monitoring.

Giant surface plasmon induced drag effect (SPIDEr) in metal nanowires

Here, for the first time we predict a giant surface plasmon-induced drag effect (SPIDEr), which exists under conditions of the extreme nanoplasmonic confinement. Under realistic conditions, in nanowires, this giant SPIDEr generates rectified THz potential differences up to 10 V and extremely strong electric fields up to ~ 105 ~ 106 V/cm. The SPIDEr is an ultrafast effect whose bandwidth for nanometric wires is ~ 20 THz. The giant SPIDEr opens up a new field of ultraintense THz nanooptics with wide potential applications in nanotechnology and nanoscience, including microelectronics, nanoplasmonics, and biomedicine.