Luke A. Sweatlock

Plasmonic Nanostructure Design for Efficient Light Coupling into Solar Cells

We demonstrate that subwavelength scatterers can couple sunlight into guided modes in thin film Si and GaAs plasmonic solar cells whose back interface is coated with a corrugated metal film. Using numerical simulations, we find that incoupling of sunlight is remarkably insensitive to incident angle, and that the spectral features of the coupling efficiency originate from several different resonant phenomena. The incoupling cross section can be spectrally tuned and enhanced through modification of the scatterer shape, semiconductor film thickness, and materials choice. We demonstrate that, for example, a single 100 nm wide groove under a 200 nm Si thin film can enhance absorption by a factor of 2.5 over a 10 microm area for the portion of the solar spectrum near the Si band gap. These findings show promise for the design of ultrathin solar cells that exhibit enhanced absorption.

PLASMOSTOR: A-METAL-OXIDE-SI FIELD EFFECT PLASMONIC MODULATOR

Realization of chip-based all-optical and optoelectronic computational networks will require ultracompact Si-compatible modulators, ideally comprising dimensions, materials, and functionality similar to electronic complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) components. Here we demonstrate such a modulator, based on field-effect modulation of plasmon waveguide modes in a MOS geometry. Near-infrared transmission between an optical source and drain is controlled by a gate voltage that drives the MOS into accumulation. Using the gate oxide as an optical channel, electro-optic modulation is achieved in device volumes of half of a cubic wavelength with femtojoule switching energies and the potential for gigahertz modulation frequencies.

Frequency tunable near-infrared metamaterials based on VO_2 phase transition

Engineering metamaterials with tunable resonances from mid-infrared to near-infrared wavelengths could have far-reaching consequences for chip based optical devices, active filters, modulators, and sensors. Utilizing the metal-insulator phase transition in vanadium oxide (VO(2)), we demonstrate frequency-tunable metamaterials in the near-IR range, from 1.5 - 5 microns. Arrays of Ag split ring resonators (SRRs) are patterned with e-beam lithography onto planar VO(2) and etched via reactive ion etching to yield Ag/VO(2) hybrid SRRs. FTIR reflection data and FDTD simulation results show the resonant peak position red shifts upon heating above the phase transition temperature. We also show that, by including coupling elements in the design of these hybrid Ag/VO(2) bi-layer structures, we can achieve resonant peak position tuning of up to 110 nm.

Electrooptic Modulation in Thin Film Barium Titanate Plasmonic Interferometers

We demonstrate control of the surface plasmon polariton wavevector in an active metal-dielectric plasmonic interferometer by utilizing electrooptic barium titanate as the dielectric layer. Arrays of subwavelength interferometers were fabricated from pairs of parallel slits milled in silver on barium titanate thin films. Plasmon-mediated transmission of incident light through the subwavelength slits is modulated by an external voltage applied across the barium titanate thin film. Transmitted light modulation is ascribed to two effects, electrically induced domain switching and electrooptic modulation of the barium titanate index.

Universal optical transmission features in periodic and quasiperiodic hole arrays

We investigate the influence of array order in the optical transmission properties of subwavelength hole arrays, by comparing the experimental spectral transmittance of periodic and quasiperiodic hole arrays as a function of frequency. We find that periodicity and long-range order are not necessary requirements for obtaining enhanced and suppressed optical transmission, provided short-range order is maintained. Transmission maxima and minima are shown to result, respectively, from constructive and destructive interference at each hole, between the light incident upon and exiting from a given hole, and surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) arriving from individual neighboring holes. These SPPs are launched along both illuminated and exit surfaces, by diffraction of the incident and emerging light at the neighboring individual subwavelength holes. By characterizing the optical transmission of a pair of subwavelength holes as a function of hole-hole distance, we demonstrate that a subwavelength hole can launch SPPs with an efficiency up to 35%, and with an experimentally determined launch phase phi = pi /2, for both input-side and exit-side SPPs. This characteristic phase has a crucial influence on the shape of the transmission spectra, determining transmission minima in periodic arrays at those frequencies where grating coupling arguments would instead predict maxima.

Silicon-Based Plasmonics for On-Chip Photonics

Silicon-based photonic devices dissipate substantially less power and provide a significantly greater information bandwidth than electronic components. Unfortunately, large-scale integration of photonic devices has been limited by their large, wavelength-scale size and the weak optical response of Si. Surface plasmons may overcome these two limitations. Combining the high localization of electronic waves with the propagation properties of optical waves, plasmons can achieve extremely small mode wavelengths and large local electromagnetic field intensities. Si-based plasmonics has the potential to not only reduce the size of photonic components to deeply subwavelength scales, but also to enhance the emission, detection, and manipulation of optical signals in Si. In this paper, we discuss recent advances in Si-based plasmonics, including subwavelength interconnects, modulators, and emission sources. From scales spanning slab waveguides to single nanocrystals, we show that Si-based plasmonics can enable optical functionality competitive in size and speed with contemporary electronic components.

Electronic modulation of infrared radiation in graphene plasmonic resonators

All matter at finite temperatures emits electromagnetic radiation due to the thermally induced motion of particles and quasiparticles. Dynamic control of this radiation could enable the design of novel infrared sources; however, the spectral characteristics of the radiated power are dictated by the electromagnetic energy density and emissivity, which are ordinarily fixed properties of the material and temperature. Here we experimentally demonstrate tunable electronic control of blackbody emission from graphene plasmonic resonators on a silicon nitride substrate. It is shown that the graphene resonators produce antenna-coupled blackbody radiation, which manifests as narrow spectral emission peaks in the mid-infrared. By continuously varying the nanoresonator carrier density, the frequency and intensity of these spectral features can be modulated via an electrostatic gate. This work opens the door for future devices that may control blackbody radiation at timescales beyond the limits of conventional thermo-optic modulation.

Mega-electron-volt ion beam induced anisotropic plasmon resonance of silver nanocrystals in glass

30 MeV Si ion beam irradiation of silica glass containing Ag nanocrystals causes alignment of Ag nanocrystals in arrays along the ion tracks. Optical transmission measurements show a large splitting of the surface plasmon resonance bands for polarizations longitudinal and transversal to the arrays. The splitting is in qualitative agreement with a model for near-field electromagnetic plasmon coupling within the arrays. Resonance shifts as large as 1.5 eV are observed, well into the near-infrared.

Vanadium dioxide based plasmonic modulators

Actively tunable metal-insulator-metal waveguides that employ vanadium dioxide films as the active medium are analyzed numerically. Vanadium dioxide exhibits strong contrast between the optical properties of its insulating and metallic phases. In particular, the large optical absorption in the metallic phase makes it straightforward to implement broadband attenuation modulators and switches, but this strong loss can also complicate the design of other types of devices. We present a plasmonic waveguide that functions as an index modulator with Δn > 20% at λ0 = 1,550 nm (0.80 eV), by using a thin active layer to strike a balance between maximizing index contrast while mitigating attenuation. A second device is configured as a band-stop absorption modulator, taking advantage of symmetry to selectively suppress the TM1 and TM3 modes, with relatively minimal attenuation of the TM0 and TM2 modes.

Experimental Demonstration of >230° Phase Modulation in Gate-Tunable Graphene–Gold Reconfigurable Mid-Infrared Metasurfaces

Metasurfaces offer significant potential to control far-field light propagation through the engineering of the amplitude, polarization, and phase at an interface. We report here the phase modulation of an electronically reconfigurable metasurface and demonstrate its utility for mid-infrared beam steering. Using a gate-tunable graphene-gold resonator geometry, we demonstrate highly tunable reflected phase at multiple wavelengths and show up to 237° phase modulation range at an operating wavelength of 8.50 μm. We observe a smooth monotonic modulation of phase with applied voltage from 0° to 206° at a wavelength of 8.70 μm. Based on these experimental data, we demonstrate with antenna array calculations an average beam steering efficiency of 23% for reflected light for angles up to 30° for this range of phases, confirming the suitability of this geometry for reconfigurable mid-infrared beam steering devices. By incorporating all nonidealities of the device into the antenna array calculations including absorption losses which could be mitigated, 1% absolute efficiency is achievable up to 30°.