Cécile Delacour

Giant coupling effect between metal nanoparticle chain and optical waveguide.

We demonstrate that the optical energy carried by a TE dielectric waveguide mode can be totally transferred into a transverse plasmon mode of a coupled metal nanoparticle chain. Experiments are performed at 1.5 μm. Mode coupling occurs through the evanescent field of the dielectric waveguide mode. Giant coupling effects are evidenced from record coupling lengths as short as ~560 nm. This result opens the way to nanometer scale devices based on localized plasmons in photonic integrated circuits.

Large and flat graphene flakes produced by epoxy bonding and reverse exfoliation of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite.

We present a fabrication method producing large and flat graphene flakes that have a few layers down to a single layer based on substrate bonding of a thick sample of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG), followed by its controlled exfoliation down to the few to single graphene atomic layers. As the graphite underlayer is intimately bonded to the substrate during the exfoliation process, the obtained graphene flakes are remarkably large and flat and present very few folds and pleats. The high occurrence of single-layered graphene sheets being tens of microns wide in lateral dimensions is assessed by complementary probes including spatially resolved micro-Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy and electrostatic force microscopy. This versatile method opens the way for deposition of graphene on any substrates, including flexible ones.

Impact of crystalline quality on neuronal affinity of pristine graphene

Due to its outstanding mechanical and electrical properties as well as chemical inertness, graphene has attracted a growing interest in the field of bioelectric interfacing. Herein, we investigate the suitability of pristine, i.e. without a cell adhesive coating, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) grown monolayer graphene to act as a platform for neuronal growth. We study the development of primary hippocampal neurons grown on bare graphene (transferred on glass coverslip) for up to 5 days and show that pristine graphene significantly improves the neurons adhesion and outgrowth at the early stage of culture (1-2 days in vitro). At the later development stage, neurons grown on coating free graphene (untreated with poly-L-lysine) show remarkably well developed neuritic architecture similar to those cultured on conventional poly-L-lysine coated glass coverslips. This exceptional possibility to bypass the adhesive coating allows a direct electrical contact of graphene to the cells and reveals its great potential for chronic medical implants and tissue engineering. Moreover, regarding the controversial results obtained on the neuronal affinity of pristine graphene and its ability to support neuronal growth without the need of polymer or protein coating, we found that the crystallinity of CVD grown graphene plays an important role in neuronal attachment, outgrowth and axonal specification. In particular, we show that the decreasing crystalline quality of graphene tunes the neuronal affinity from highly adhesive to fully repellent.

Efficient coupler between silicon photonic and metal-insulator-silicon-metal plasmonic waveguides

We report the experimental realization of a compact, efficient coupler between silicon waveguides and vertical metal-insulator-silicon-metal (MISM) plasmonic waveguides. Devices were fabricated using complementary metal-oxide-silicon technology processes, with copper layers that support low-loss plasmonic modes in the MISM structures at a wavelength of 1550 nm. By implementing a short (0.5 μm) optimized metal-insulator-silicon-insulator structure inserted between the photonic and plasmonic waveguide sections, we demonstrate experimental coupling loss of 2.5 dB, despite the high optical confinement of the MISM mode and mismatch with the silicon waveguide mode.

Quantum and Thermal Phase Slips in Superconducting Niobium Nitride (NbN) Ultrathin Crystalline Nanowire: Application to Single Photon Detection

We present low-temperature electronic transport properties of superconducting nanowires obtained by nanolithography of 4-nm-thick niobium nitride (NbN) films epitaxially grown on sapphire substrate. Below 6 K, clear evidence of phase slippages is observed in the transport measurements. Upon lowering the temperature, we observe the signatures of a crossover between a thermal and a quantum behavior in the phase slip regimes. We find that phase slips are stable even at the lowest temperatures and that no hotspot is formed. The photoresponse of these nanowires is measured as a function of the light irradiation wavelength and temperature and exhibits a behavior comparable with previous results obtained on thicker films.

Superconducting single photon detectors made by local oxidation with an atomic force microscope

The authors present a fabrication technique of superconducting single photon detectors made by local oxidation of niobium nitride ultrathin films. Narrow superconducting meander lines are obtained by direct writing of insulating niobium oxynitride lines through the films using voltage-biased tip of an atomic force microscope. Due to the 30nm resolution of the lithographic technique, the filling factor of the meander line can be made substantially higher than detector of similar geometry made by electron beam lithography, thus leading to increased quantum efficiency. Single photon detection regime of these devices is demonstrated at 4.2K.

Persistence of superconductivity in niobium ultrathin films grown on R-plane sapphire

We report on a combined structural and electronic analysis of niobium ultrathin films (from 2 to 10 nm) deposited in ultra-high vacuum on atomically flat R-plane sapphire wafers. A textured polycrystalline morphology is observed for the thinnest films showing that hetero-epitaxy is not achieved under a thickness of 3.3nm, which almost coincides with the first measurement of a superconducting state. The superconducting critical temperature rise takes place on a very narrow thickness range, of the order of a single monolayer (ML). The thinnest superconducting sample (3 nm/9ML) has an offset critical temperature above 4.2K and can be processed by standard nanofabrication techniques to generate air- and time-stable superconducting nanostructures, useful for quantum devices.

Recording Spikes Activity in Cultured Hippocampal Neurons Using Flexible or Transparent Graphene Transistors

The emergence of nanoelectronics applied to neural interfaces has started few decades ago, and aims to provide new tools for replacing or restoring disabled functions of the nervous systems as well as further understanding the evolution of such complex organization. As the same time, graphene and other 2D materials have offered new possibilities for integrating micro and nano-devices on flexible, transparent, and biocompatible substrates, promising for bio and neuro-electronics. In addition to many bio-suitable features of graphene interface, such as, chemical inertness and anti-corrosive properties, its optical transparency enables multimodal approach of neuronal based systems, the electrical layer being compatible with additional microfluidics and optical manipulation ports. The convergence of these fields will provide a next generation of neural interfaces for the reliable detection of single spike and record with high fidelity activity patterns of neural networks. Here, we report on the fabrication of graphene field effect transistors (G-FETs) on various substrates (silicon, sapphire, glass coverslips, and polyimide deposited onto Si/SiO2 substrates), exhibiting high sensitivity (4 mS/V, close to the Dirac point at VLG < VD) and low noise level (10−22 A2/Hz, at VLG = 0 V). We demonstrate the in vitro detection of the spontaneous activity of hippocampal neurons in-situ-grown on top of the graphene sensors during several weeks in a millimeter size PDMS fluidics chamber (8 mm wide). These results provide an advance toward the realization of biocompatible devices for reliable and high spatio-temporal sensing of neuronal activity for both in vitro and in vivo applications.

Fabrication of high-speed single photon detectors in NbN for quantum information processing

Abstract. We describe the collective fabrication and characterization of superconducting single photon detectors (SSPD) made of a superconducting NbN meander, suitable for near-infrared applications. The NbN layer acting as the photon absorber is deposited epitaxially on a three inch diameter R-plane Sapphire heated substrate by DC-Magnetron sputtering from a Nb target in a reactive mixture of nitrogen and argon gas. Very thin NbN (~4 nm) films superconducting up to 12 K with a rather large critical current density are in-situ covered by a 1.4 nm thick room temperature sputtered AlN layer protecting NbN from oxidation. Two reliable patterning processes has been developed successfully, one based on electron beam lithography, the second based on selective NbN film anodization under an AFM tip. The filling factor obtained with 150 nm wide stripes in the meander pixel is about 0.5 with e-beam lithography and improved up to 0.8 with AFM patterning. In order to achieve an improved optical coupling of the SSPD by using wafers integrating ion implanted IR waveguides, growth studies of NbN layers have been focused on R-plane Sapphire and silicon substrates. We present optical and superconducting properties of NbN layers by FTIR, ellipsometry and STM.

Combined magnetic and chemical patterning for neural architectures

In vitro investigation of neural architectures requires cell positioning. For that purpose, micro-magnets have been developed on silicon substrates and combined with chemical patterning to attract cells to adhesive sites and keep them there during incubation. We have shown that the use of micro-magnets allows to achieve a high filling factor (~90%) of defined adhesive sites in neural networks and prevents migration of cells during growth. This approach has great potential for neural interfacing by providing accurate and time-stable coupling with integrated nanodevices.