Pradeep Srinivasan

Micromachined arrays of cantilevered glass probes

We describe the fabrication and characterization of cantilevered glass probe arrays. Individual probes have tapered shafts that are 175 microm square at the base and 200 nm square at the pyramidal tip. Each array contains as many as eight probes 10-20 mm long at 450-microm center-to-center spacing, fabricated from a single glass wafer by a combination of dicing and chemical etching. Optical signal losses of individual probes were measured to be of the order of 1 dB/cm. High-density data storage and page-oriented retrieval are the potential applications of the arrays.

Spatial and spectral beam shaping with space-variant guided mode resonance filters

Novel all-dielectric beam shaping elements were developed based on guided mode resonance (GMR) filters. This was achieved by spatially varying the duty cycle of a hexagonal-cell GMR filter, to locally detune from the resonant condition, which resulted in modified wavelength dependent reflection and transmission profiles, across the device aperture. This paper presents the design, fabrication, and characterization of the device and compares simulations to experimental results.

Spatially polarizing autocloned elements

A space-variant polarization converting element is introduced that utilizes an autocloning effect to produce high aspect ratio from birefringent gratings. This method utilizes a multilayer deposition process on a template to convert a linearly polarized incident beam to an azimuthally polarized output at a wavelength of 1.55 microm with more than 90% efficiency.

Design and optimization of space-variant photonic crystal filters

A space-variant photonic crystal filter is designed and optimized that may be placed over a detector array to perform filtering functions tuned for each pixel. The photonic crystal is formed by etching arrays of holes through a multilayer stack of alternating high and low refractive index materials. Position of a narrow transmission notch within a wide reflection band is varied across the device aperture by adjusting the diameter of the holes. Numerical simulations are used to design and optimize the geometry of the photonic crystal. As a result of physics inherent in the etching process, the diameter of the holes reduces with depth, producing a taper. Optical performance was found to be sensitive to the taper, but a method for compensation was developed where film thickness is varied through the device.

Novel method for the fabrication of spatially variant structures

Spatially varying grating structures formed at the subwavelength scale behave as a layer with an artificial effective refractive index that is dependent on the local fill fraction. We describe a novel technique to pattern gratings with a spatially varying fill fraction using a simple two-step exposure process. The first exposure forms a partial latent image of a grating in the photoresist. The resist is then saturated by overlaying an exposure with an analog spatially varying intensity, generated by using a phase-only masking technique. The cumulative exposure dose from the two steps was designed so that the point of minimum intensity will still develop the photoresist through, in all the spaces in the grating. By varying the exposure window around the saturation dose, the fill fraction of the patterned gratings was modulated; thus, the size of the space cleared at any location in the grating is a scalable function of the local cumulative dose delivered. Constant feature height is achieved across the patterned area by keeping the second exposure dose below the resist threshold exposure value. The exposure process was modeled numerically to predict the relationship between the local dose and patterned fill fraction. This technique enables rapid, low-cost fabrication of apodized grating structures for applications in diffractive optics technology.

Design and Fabrication of Slotted Multimode Interference Devices for Chemical and Biological Sensing

We present optical sensors based on slotted multimode interference waveguides. The sensor can be tuned to highest sensitivity in the refractive index ranges necessary to detect protein-based molecules or other water-soluble chemical or biological materials. The material of choice is low-loss silicon oxynitride (SiON) which is highly stable to the reactivity with biological agents and processing chemicals. Sensors made with this technology are suited to high volume manufacturing.

Polarization selective, graded-reflectivity resonance filter, using a space-varying guided-mode resonance structure.

We designed, fabricated, and tested, polarization selective, graded-reflectivity resonant filters; based on a radial-gradient spatially-distributed, guided-mode resonance device architecture. The demonstrated filters have polarized spectral-resonance responses, distributed across their aperture extent, in the range between 1535 nm and 1540 nm wavelengths. Spectral sensitivity was observed on device tests, for wavelength changes as low as 0.2 nm. Using multiple lithographic exposures and biasing exposure methods, the devices were engineered to have a sub-aperture region, with no hard boundaries or diffraction anomalies.

Biologically inspired optics: analog semiconductor model of the beetle exoskeleton

Evolution in nature has produced through adaptation a wide variety of distinctive optical structures in many life forms. For example, pigment differs greatly from the observed color of most beetles because their exoskeletons contain multilayer coatings. The green beetle is disguised in a surrounding leaf by having a comparable reflection spectrum as the leaves. The Manuka and June beetle have a concave structure where light incident at any angle on the concave structures produce matching reflection spectra. In this work, semiconductor processing methods were used to duplicate the structure of the beetle exoskeleton. This was achieved by combining analog lithography with a multilayer deposition process. The artificial exoskeleton, 3D concave multilayer structure, demonstrates a wide field of view with a unique spectral response. Studying and replicating these biologically inspired nanostructures may lead to new knowledge for fabrication and design of new and novel nano-photonic devices, as well as provide valuable insight to how such phenomenon is exploited.

Microtransfer molding of SU-8 micro-optics

SU-8 is a very promising polymer for micro-optics. It is mechanically robust with high thermal and chemical resistance, has high transmission at visible and near-infrared wavelengths, and has relatively high refractive index after curing. While lithographic patterning of SU-8 is relatively common, molding of SU-8 is more difficult due to challenges with solvent removal and cross linking. In this paper, we discuss techniques for micromolding of micro- and nano-optics in SU-8. Elastomeric mold templates are first cast from master structures fabricated using standard techniques. The elastomeric templates are then used in low pressure molding processes to produce high-fidelity refractive and diffractive micro-optics in SU-8. The use of the elastomeric replica mold enables realization of a wider variety of optical surfaces than can be achieved with conventional lithographic patterning in SU-8, and further enables conformal fabrication of SU-8 micro-optics on non-planar surfaces. Molding processes and experimental results for both thin (diffractive) and thick (refractive) elements are presented. Replication of SU-8 micro-optics on both planar and non-planar surfaces, and hybrid processes combining molding and lithographic exposure are demonstrated.

Coherent exciton - surface plasmon polariton interactions in hybrid metal semiconductor nanostructures

We report an experimental study of the coherent coupling between Surface Plasmon Polaritons (SPPs) and Quantum Well (QW) excitons in a hybrid metal- semiconductor nanostructure, consisting of a gallium arsenide quantum well placed in a close proximity of a metal nanoslit array. Exciton-SPP coupling is probed by low-temperature angle resolved spectroscopy. Our results give evidence of a distinct modification of the exciton dispersion relation due to interaction of the exciton with SPP fields at both interfaces of the metal film. An analysis of the experimental data within a coupled oscillator model indicates coupling strengths of several tens of meV.