Askin Kocabas

Tunable surface plasmon resonance on an elastomeric substrate

In this study, we demonstrate that periods of metallic gratings on elastomeric substrates can be tuned with external strain and hence are found to control the resonance condition of surface plasmon polaritons. We have excited the plasmon resonance on the elastomeric grating coated with gold and silver. The grating period is increased up to 25% by applying an external mechanical strain. The tunability of the elastomeric substrate provides the opportunity to use such gratings as efficient surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy substrates. Its been demonstrated that the Raman signal can be maximized by applying an external mechanical strain to the elastomeric grating.

Prism coupling technique investigation of elasto-optical properties of thin polymer films

The use of thin polymer films in optical planar integrated optical circuits is rapidly increasing. Much interest, therefore, has been devoted to characterizing the optical and mechanical properties of thin polymer films. This study focuses on measuring the elasto-optical properties of three different polymers; polystyrene, polymethyl-methacrylate, and benzocyclobutane. The out-of-plane elastic modulus, refractive index, film thickness, and birefringence of thin polymer films were determined by means of the prism coupling technique. The effect of the applied stress on the refractive index and birefringence of the films was investigated. Three-dimensional finite element method analysis was used so as to obtain the principal stresses for each polymer system, and combining them with the stress dependent refractive index measurements, the elasto-optic coefficients of the polymer films were determined. It was found that the applied stress in the out-of-plane direction of the thin films investigated leads to negative elasto-optic coefficients, as observed for all the three thin polymer films.

Plasmonic band gap structures for surface-enhanced Raman scattering

Surface-enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) of rhodamine 6G (R6G) adsorbed on biharmonic metallic grating structures was studied. Biharmonic metallic gratings include two different grating components, one acting as a coupler to excite surface plasmon polaritons (SPP), and the other forming a plasmonic band gap for the propagating SPPs. In the vicinity of the band edges, localized surface plasmons are formed. These localized plasmons strongly enhance the scattering efficiency of the Raman signal emitted on the metallic grating surfaces. It was shown that reproducible Raman scattering enhancement factors of over 10(5) can be achieved by fabricating biharmonic SERS templates using soft nano-imprint technique. We have shown that the SERS activities from these templates are tunable as a function of plasmonic resonance conditions. Similar enhancement factors were also measured for directional emission of photoluminescence. At the wavelengths of the plasmonic absorption peak, directional enhancement by a factor of 30 was deduced for photoluminescence measurements.

Polymeric waveguide Bragg grating filter using soft lithography

We use the soft lithography technique to fabricate a polymeric waveguide Bragg grating filter. Master grating structure is patterned by e-beam lithography. Using an elastomeric stamp and capillary action, uniform grating structures with very thin residual layers are transferred to the UV curable polymer without the use of an imprint machine. The waveguide layer based on BCB optical polymer is fabricated by conventional optical lithography. This approach provides processing simplicity to fabricate Bragg grating filters.

Slowing surface plasmon polaritons on plasmonic coupled cavities by tuning grating grooves

We investigate slow surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) in plasmonic waveguiding bands formed by coupled plasmonic cavities on Moire surfaces. We demonstrate controlling the group velocity and dispersion of the SPPs by varying the depth of the plasmonic Bragg grating groove. Changing the grating depth results in modification of coupling coefficients between the cavities and hence the SPPs group velocity is altered. Variation in the group velocity and dispersion of SPPs can be measured with polarization dependent spectroscopic reflection measurements. Dispersion of SPPs has been calculated by finite-difference time-domain method in agreement with the experimental data.

Excitation of a surface plasmon with an elastomeric grating

We report on a new method to excite surface plasmon polaritons on a thin metal slab surface using an elastomeric grating which is fabricated by replica molding technique. The grating is placed on the metal surface which creates a periodic perturbation on the surface matching the momentum of the incident light to that of the surface plasmon. The conformal contact between the metal surface and the elastomeric grating changes the dielectric medium periodically and allows the observation of an effective surface plasmon polariton at the metal-air and metal-polymer interfaces of the grating. To clarify the nature of the observed plasmon, comparison of the elastomeric grating with elastomeric slabs was performed with the attenuated total reflection method.

Localization of surface plasmon polaritons in hexagonal arrays of Moiré cavities

In view of the progress on the confinement of light, we report on the dispersion characteristics of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) on two-dimensional Moire surfaces in the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Polarization dependent spectroscopic reflection measurements show omnidirectional confinement of SPPs. The resonance wavelength of SPP cavity modes can be adjusted by tuning the propagation direction of SPPs. The results may have an impact on the control of spontaneous emission and absorption with applications in light emitting diodes and solar cells, as well as in quantum electrodynamics experiments.

An elastomeric grating coupler

We report on a novel nondestructive and reversible method for coupling free space light to planar optical waveguides. In this method, an elastomeric grating is used to produce an effective refractive index modulation on the surface of the optical waveguide. The external elastomeric grating binds to the surface of the waveguide with van der Waals forces and makes conformal contact without any applied pressure. As a demonstration of the feasibility of the approach, we use it to measure the refractive index of a silicon oxynitride film. This technique is nondestructive, reversible, low cost and can easily be applied to the characterization of optical materials for integrated optics.

Grating based plasmonic band gap cavities

We report on a comparative study of grating based plasmonic band gap cavities. Numerically, we calculate the quality factors of the cavities based on three types of grating surfaces; uniform, biharmonic and Moiré surfaces. We show that for biharmonic band gap cavities, the radiation loss can be suppressed by removing the additional grating component in the cavity region. Due to the gradual change of the surface profile in the cavity region, Moiré type surfaces support cavity modes with higher quality factors. Experimentally, we demonstrate the existence of plasmonic cavities based on uniform gratings. Effective index perturbation and cavity geometries are obtained by additional dielectric loading. Quality factor of 85 is obtained from the measured band structure of the cavity.

High-refractive-index measurement with an elastomeric grating coupler

An elastomeric grating coupler fabricated by the replica molding technique is used to measure the modal indices of a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) planar waveguide structure. Because of the van der Waals interaction between the grating mold and the waveguide, the elastomeric stamp makes conformal contact with the waveguide surface, inducing a periodic index perturbation at the contact region. The phase of the incident light is changed to match the guided modes of the waveguide. The modal and bulk indices are obtained by measuring the coupling angles. This technique serves to measure the high refractive index with a precision better than 10(-3) and allows the elastomeric stamp to be removed without damaging the surface of the waveguide.