Chuanpu Liu

Tailoring Exciton Dynamics by Elastic Strain‐Gradient in Semiconductors

In purely bent ZnO microwires, the excitons can be effectively driven and concentrated by the elastic strain-gradient towards the tensile outer side of the purely bent wire. Experimental and theoretical approaches are combined to investigate the dynamics of excitons in an inhomogeneous strain field with a uniform elastic strain-gradient. Cathodoluminescence spectroscopy analysis on purely bent ZnO microwires verifies that excitons can be effectively driven and concentrated along the elastic strain-gradient.

Short-Wavelength Spin Waves in Yttrium Iron Garnet Micro-Channels on Silicon

Yttrium iron garnet (YIG) has been widely used in spin wave studies thanks to its low Gilbert damping constant. However, most high-quality YIG films are grown on gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG) substrate, which makes it difficult to integrate with existing semiconductor technology. We show spin wave excitation in a nanometer-thick YIG micro-channel on silicon substrate. The YIG is grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) in high-purity oxygen followed by rapid thermal annealing at 800°C after deposition. Using meander coplanar waveguides at submicrometer scale, spin waves with wavelength down to 1 μm are excited. By measuring the linewidth of the spin wave reflection spectra, a Gilbert damping constant α = 1.9×10-3 was obtained.

Anomalous Nernst effect in Ir22Mn78/Co20Fe60B20/MgO layers with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy

The anomalous Nernst effect in a perpendicularly magnetized Ir22Mn78/Co20Fe60B20/MgO thin film is measured using well-defined in-plane temperature gradients. The anomalous Nernst coefficient reaches 1.8 μV/K at room temperature, which is almost 50 times larger than that of a Ta/Co20Fe60B20/MgO thin film with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. The anomalous Nernst and anomalous Hall results in different sample structures revealing that the large Nernst coefficient of the Ir22Mn78/Co20Fe60B20/MgO thin film is related to the interface between CoFeB and IrMn.

Energy Levels of Coupled Plasmonic Cavities

We demonstrate the hybridization of the plasmonic modes in directly coupled whispering gallery cavities fabricated on silver films and present the mode patterns and energy levels using cathodoluminescence spectroscopy. Although the energy of the most antisymmetrically coupled modes is higher than that of the corresponding symmetrically coupled ones, the contrary cases happen for small quantum number modes. We attribute the phenomenon to the different surface plasmon polariton paths between the symmetrically and antisymmetrically coupled modes. These results provide an understanding of the resonant properties in coupled plasmonic cavities, which have potential applications in nanophotonic devices.

“Seeing” the Resonant SPP Modes Confined in Metal Nanocavity via Cathodoluminescne Spectroscopy

Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), which are coupled excitations of electrons bound to a metal-dielectric interface, show great potential for application in future nanoscale photonic systems due to the strong field confinement at the nanoscale, intensive local field enhancement, and interplay between strongly localized and propagating SPPs. The fabrication of sufficiently smooth metal surface with nanoscale feature size is crucial for SPPs to have practical applications. A template stripping (ST) method combined with PMMA as a template was successfully developed to create extraordinarily smooth metal nanostructures with a desirable feature size and morphology for plasmonics and metamaterials. The advantages of this method, including the high resolution, precipitous top-to bottom profile with a high aspect ratio, and three-dimensional characteristics, make it very suitable for the fabrication of plasmonic structures. By using this ST method, boxing ring-shaped nanocavities have been fabricated and the confined modes of surface plasmon polaritons in these nanocavities have been investigated and imaged by using cathodoluminescence spectroscopy, which has been turned out to be a powerful means to characterize the resonant SPPs modes confined in metal nanocavities [1~5]. The mode of the out-of-plane field components of surface plasmon polaritons dominates the experimental mode patterns, indicating that the electron beam locally excites the out-of-plane field component of surface plasmon polaritons. Quality factors can be directly acquired from the spectra induced by the ultrasmooth surface of the cavity and the high reflectivity of the silver (Ag) reflectors. Because of its three-dimensional confined characteristics and the omnidirectional reflectors, the nanocavity exhibits a small modal volume, small total volume, rich resonant modes, and flexibility in mode control. Numerous applications, such as plasmonic filter, nanolaser, and efficient light-emitting devices, can be expected to arise from these developments.