Guanghao Rui

Detecting orbital angular momentum through division-of-amplitude interference with a circular plasmonic lens.

We demonstrate a novel detection scheme for the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light using circular plasmonic lens. Owing to a division-of-amplitude interference phenomenon between the surface plasmon waves and directly transmitted light, specific intensity distributions are formed near the plasmonic lens surface under different OAM excitations. Due to different phase behaviors of the evanescent surface plasmon wave and the direct transmission, interference patterns rotate as the observation plane moves away from the lens surface. The rotation direction is a direct measure of the sign of OAM, while the amount of rotation is linked to the absolute value of the OAM. This OAM detection scheme is validated experimentally and numerically. Analytical expressions are derived to provide insights and explanations of this detection scheme. This work forms the basis for the realization of a compact and integrated OAM detection architect that may significantly benefit optical information processing with OAM states.

Circularly polarized unidirectional emission via a coupled plasmonic spiral antenna

In this Letter, we study the emission properties of an electric dipole emitter coupled to a plasmonic spiral structure. The plasmonic spiral structure functions as an optical antenna, coupling the electric dipole emission into circularly polarized unidirectional emission in the far field. Increasing number of turns of the spiral leads to narrower angular width of the emission pattern in the far field. For a spiral antenna with six turns, antenna directivity of 23.5 dB with a directional emission into a narrow angular cone of 4.3° can be achieved. The emitted photons carry spin that is essentially determined by the handedness of the spiral antenna. By reversing the spiral, one can switch the polarization of the emission field between left-hand and right-hand circular polarizations. The spiral antenna may be used as a nanoscale circular polarization source in single molecule sensing, single-photo sources, and integrated photonic circuits.

Beaming photons with spin and orbital angular momentum via a dipole-coupled plasmonic spiral antenna

We analytically and numerically study the emission properties of an electric dipole coupled to a plasmonic spiral structure with different pitch. As a transmitting antenna, the spiral structure couples the radiation from the electric dipole into circularly polarized emitted photons in the far field. The spin carried by the emitted photons is determined by the handedness of the spiral antenna. By increasing the spiral pitch in the unit of surface plasmon wavelength, these circularly polarized photons also gain orbital angular momentum with different topological charges. This phenomenon is attributed to the presence of a geometric phase arising from the interaction of light from point source with the anisotropic spiral structure. The circularly polarized vortex emission from such optically coupled spiral antenna also has high directivity, which may find important applications in quantum optical information, single molecule sensing, and integrated photonic circuits.

Plasmonic near-field probe using the combination of concentric rings and conical tip under radial polarization illumination

We numerically study a plasmonic near-field probe design that integrates a sharp metallic conical tip at the center of a multiple concentric ring plasmonic lens under radially polarized illumination. Due to the symmetry match between the plasmonic structure and the illumination polarization, surface plasmon waves can be efficiently excited and focused by the annular ring structure towards the conical tip at the center. The metallic tip further localizes and enhances the plasmonic field at the tip apex. With a 5 µm tip height and 5 nm tip radius, spatial resolution with the full width at half-maximum of 5.97 nm and electric energy enhancement of 7.29 × 104 can be achieved with 632.8 nm optical excitation. The enhancement factor of this probe design does not strongly depend on the tip cone angle and the excitation wavelength. The strong local field enhancement at the end of the tip and its less stringent fabrication requirements make this probe design very attractive for a broad range of applications in near-field optical imaging.

Tailoring Optical Complex Fields with Nano-Metallic Surfaces

Abstract Recently there is an increasing interest in complex optical fields with spatially inhomogeneous state of polarizations and optical singularities. Novel effects and phenomena have been predicted and observed for light beams with these unconventional states. Nanostructured metallic thin film offers unique opportunities to generate, manipulate and detect these novel fields. Strong interactions between nano-metallic surfaces and complex optical fields enable the development of highly compact and versatile functional devices and systems. In this review, we first briefly summarize the recent developments in complex optical fields. Various nano-metallic surface designs that can produce and manipulate complex optical fields with tailored characteristics in the optical far field will be presented. Nano-metallic surfaces are also proven to be very effective for receiving and detection of complex optical fields in the near field. Advances made in this nascent field may enable the design of novel photonic devices and systems for a variety of applications such as quantum optical information processing and integrated photonic circuits.

Encoding photonic angular momentum information onto surface plasmon polaritons with plasmonic lens

Both spin angular momentum (SAM) and orbital angular momentum (OAM) can be used to carry information in classical optics and quantum optics. In this paper, the encoding of angular momentum (AM) information of photons onto surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) is demonstrated using a nano-ring plasmonic lens. Near-field energy distribution on the metal surface is measured using a near-field scanning optical microscope (NSOM) when the plasmonic lens is excited by photons with different combinations of SAM and OAM. It is found that both the SAM and OAM can influence the near field energy distribution of SPPs. More interestingly, numerical and experimental studies reveal that the energy distribution on the plasmonic lens surface is determined by the absolute value of the total AM. This gives direct evidences that SPPs can be encoded with the photonic SAM and OAM information simultaneously and the spin degeneracy of the photons can be removed using the interactions between photonic OAM and plasmonic lens. The findings are useful not only for the fundamental understanding of the photonic AM but also for the future design of plasmonic quantum optics devices and systems.

Tailoring optical complex field with spiral blade plasmonic vortex lens.

Optical complex fields have attracted increasing interests because of the novel effects and phenomena arising from the spatially inhomogeneous state of polarizations and optical singularities of the light beam. In this work, we propose a spiral blade plasmonic vortex lens (SBPVL) that offers unique opportunities to manipulate these novel fields. The strong interaction between the SBPVL and the optical complex fields enable the synthesis of highly tunable plasmonic vortex. Through theoretical derivations and numerical simulations we demonstrated that the characteristics of the plasmonic vortex are determined by the angular momentum (AM) of the light, and the geometrical topological charge of the SBPVL, which is govern by the nonlinear superposition of the pitch and the number of blade element. In addition, it is also shown that by adjusting the geometric parameters, SBPVL can be utilized to focus and manipulate optical complex field with fractional AM. This miniature plasmonic device may find potential applications in optical trapping, optical data storage and many other related fields.

Trapping of resonant metallic nanoparticles with engineered vectorial optical field

Abstract Optical trapping and manipulation using focused laser beams has emerged as a powerful tool in the biological and physical sciences. However, scaling this technique to metallic nanoparticles remains challenging due to the strong scattering force and optical heating effect. In this work, we propose a novel strategy to optically trap metallic nanoparticles even under the resonant condition using engineered optical field. The distribution of the optical forces can be tailored through optimizing the spatial distribution of a vectorial optical illumination to favour the stable trapping of a variety of metallic nanoparticles under various conditions. It is shown that this optical tweezers has the ability of generating negative scattering force and supporting stable three-dimensional trapping for gold nanoparticles at resonance while avoiding trap destabilization due to optical overheating. The technique presented in this work offers a versatile solution for trapping metallic nanoparticles and may open up new avenues for optical manipulation.

Surface-plasmon-coupled emission microscopy with a polarization converter

Although surface-plasmon-coupled emission-based fluorescence microscopy proves high sensitivity for surface imaging, its donut shape point spread function (PSF) leads to low optical resolution and inefficient signal collection. In this Letter, we experimentally demonstrate the feasibility of solving this problem by the use of a liquid-crystal plate, which could convert the polarization state of surface-plasmon-coupled fluorescence from radial to linear. After being focused by the collection lens, an Airy disk-like PSF of small size can be realized. Experimental results reveal that both the lateral resolution and the signal-to-noise ratio can be enhanced simultaneously.

Hybrid spiral plasmonic lens: towards an efficient miniature circular polarization analyzer

A hybrid spiral plasmonic lens that consists of alternating spiral slot and spiral triangular sub-aperture array can differentiate circular polarization of different handedness and enable a miniature circular polarization analyzer design with high efficiency. The improved performance compared to pure spiral slot lens comes from the fact that the hybrid lens is capable of focusing both the radial and the azimuthal polarization components of a circular polarization, doubling the coupling efficiency. In this paper, the spin-dependent plasmonic focusing properties of a spatially arranged triangular sub-aperture array and a hybrid spiral plasmonic lens are demonstrated using a collection mode near field scanning optical microscope. The coupling efficiency could be further improved through optimizing the geometry of the hybrid lens.