Krishnan Thyagarajan

Enhanced second-harmonic generation from double resonant plasmonic antennae

We present a novel plasmonic antenna geometry - the double resonant antenna (DRA) - that is optimized for second-harmonic generation (SHG). This antenna is based on two gaps coupled to each other so that a resonance at the fundamental and at the doubled frequency is obtained. Furthermore, the proximity of the localized hot spots allows for a coupling and spatial overlap between the two field enhancements at both frequencies. Using such a structure, both the generation of the second-harmonic and its re-emission into the far-field are significantly increased when compared with a standard plasmonic dipole antenna. Such DRA are fabricated in aluminium using electron beam lithography and their linear and nonlinear responses are studied experimentally and theoretically.

Augmenting Second Harmonic Generation Using Fano Resonances in Plasmonic Systems

Significant augmentation of second harmonic generation using Fano resonances in plasmonic heptamers made of silver is theoretically and experimentally demonstrated. The geometry is engineered to simultaneously produce a Fano resonance at the fundamental wavelength, resulting in a strong localization of the fundamental field close to the system, and a higher order scattering peak at the second harmonic wavelength. These results illustrate the versatility of Fano resonant structures to engineer specific optical responses both in the linear and nonlinear regimes thus paving the way for future investigations on the role of dark modes in nonlinear and quantum optics.

Gate-Tunable Conducting Oxide Metasurfaces

Metasurfaces composed of planar arrays of subwavelength artificial structures show promise for extraordinary light manipulation. They have yielded novel ultrathin optical components such as flat lenses, wave plates, holographic surfaces, and orbital angular momentum manipulation and detection over a broad range of the electromagnetic spectrum. However, the optical properties of metasurfaces developed to date do not allow for versatile tunability of reflected or transmitted wave amplitude and phase after their fabrication, thus limiting their use in a wide range of applications. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a gate-tunable metasurface that enables dynamic electrical control of the phase and amplitude of the plane wave reflected from the metasurface. Tunability arises from field-effect modulation of the complex refractive index of conducting oxide layers incorporated into metasurface antenna elements which are configured in reflectarray geometry. We measure a phase shift of 180° and ∼30% change in the reflectance by applying 2.5 V gate bias. Additionally, we demonstrate modulation at frequencies exceeding 10 MHz and electrical switching of ±1 order diffracted beams by electrical control over subgroups of metasurface elements, a basic requirement for electrically tunable beam-steering phased array metasurfaces. In principle, electrically gated phase and amplitude control allows for electrical addressability of individual metasurface elements and opens the path to applications in ultrathin optical components for imaging and sensing technologies, such as reconfigurable beam steering devices, dynamic holograms, tunable ultrathin lenses, nanoprojectors, and nanoscale spatial light modulators.

Ultrasensitive Optical Shape Characterization of Gold Nanoantennas Using Second Harmonic Generation

Second harmonic generation from plasmonic nanoantennas is investigated numerically using a surface integral formulation for the calculation of both the fundamental and the second harmonic electric field. The comparison between a realistic and an idealized gold nanoantenna shows that second harmonic generation is extremely sensitive to asymmetry in the nanostructure shape even in cases where the linear response is barely modified. Interestingly, minute geometry asymmetry and surface roughness are clearly revealed by far-field analysis, demonstrating that second harmonic generation is a promising tool for the sensitive optical characterization of plasmonic nanostructures. Furthermore, defects located where the linear field is strong (e.g., in the antenna gap) do not necessarily have the strongest impact on the second harmonic signal.

Second-harmonic generation from periodic arrays of arbitrary shape plasmonic nanostructures: a surface integral approach

A surface integral formulation for the second-harmonic generation (SHG) from periodic metallic–dielectric nanostructures is described. This method requires the discretization of the scatterers’ surface in the unit cell only. All the physical quantities involved in this problem are derived in the unit cell by applying specific periodic boundary conditions both at the fundamental and the second-harmonic (SH) frequencies. Both the fundamental and the SH electric fields are computed using the method of moments and periodic Green’s function evaluated with the Ewald’s method. The accuracy of the method is carefully assessed using two specific cases, namely the surface plasmon enhancement of SHG from a gold film and the SHG from L-shaped nanoparticle arrays. These two examples emphasize the accuracy and versatility of the proposed method, which can be applied to a broad range of periodic metallic structures, including plasmonic arrays on arbitrary substrates and metamaterials.

Millivolt Modulation of Plasmonic Metasurface Optical Response via Ionic Conductance

A plasmonic metasurface with an electrically tunable optical response that operates at strikingly low modulation voltages is experimentally demonstrated. The fabricated metasurface shows up to 30% relative change in reflectance in the visible spectral range upon application of 5 mV and 78% absolute change in reflectance upon application of 100 mV of bias. The designed metasurface consists of nanostructured silver and indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes which are separated by 5 nm thick alumina. The millivolt-scale optical modulation is attributed to a new modulation mechanism, in which transport of silver ions through alumina dielectric leads to bias-induced nucleation and growth of silver nanoparticles in the ITO counter-electrode, altering the optical extinction response. This transport mechanism, which occurs at applied electric fields of 1 mV nm-1 , provides a new approach to use of ionic transport for electrical control over light-matter interactions.

Dynamically controlled Purcell enhancement of visible spontaneous emission in a gated plasmonic heterostructure

Emission control of colloidal quantum dots (QDs) is a cornerstone of modern high-quality lighting and display technologies. Dynamic emission control of colloidal QDs in an optoelectronic device is usually achieved by changing the optical pump intensity or injection current density. Here we propose and demonstrate a distinctly different mechanism for the temporal modulation of QD emission intensity at constant optical pumping rate. Our mechanism is based on the electrically controlled modulation of the local density of optical states (LDOS) at the position of the QDs, resulting in the modulation of the QD spontaneous emission rate, far-field emission intensity, and quantum yield. We manipulate the LDOS via field effect-induced optical permittivity modulation of an ultrathin titanium nitride (TiN) film, which is incorporated in a gated TiN/SiO2/Ag plasmonic heterostructure. The demonstrated electrical control of the colloidal QD emission provides a new approach for modulating intensity of light in displays and other optoelectronics.The dynamic control of light emission from quantum dots is generally controlled via optical or electrical pumping. Here, Lu et al. electrically control the local density of states around a quantum dot to modulate its visible light emission properties.

A New Fabrication Method for Aluminum and Silver Plasmonic Nanostructures

Keywords: Plasmonics ; Nanophotonics Reference EPFL-CONF-207118 Record created on 2015-04-13, modified on 2017-05-10

Plasmonic nanophotonic modulators

Developing a compact, low power and high speed electro-optic modulator is crucial for overcoming the performance bottleneck of electronics. We review progress in chip based silicon compatible plasmonic modulator design, and discuss recent designs which have switching energy close to 1 fJ/bit.

Tunable optical response and purcell enhancement of gated plasmonic structures

We experimentally demonstrate plasmonic nanostructures that enable dynamic electrical control of the phase and/or amplitude of the plane wave reflected from the nanostructures. We also demonstrate dynamically controlled Purcell enhancement of spontaneous emission of InP quantum dots (QDs) coupled to plasmonic heterostructures.