Salvatore Tuccio

Molding of Plasmonic Resonances in Metallic Nanostructures: Dependence of the Non-Linear Electric Permittivity on System Size and Temperature

In this paper, we review the principal theoretical models through which the dielectric function of metals can be described. Starting from the Drude assumptions for intraband transitions, we show how this model can be improved by including interband absorption and temperature effect in the damping coefficients. Electronic scattering processes are described and included in the dielectric function, showing their role in determining plasmon lifetime at resonance. Relationships among permittivity, electric conductivity and refractive index are examined. Finally, a temperature dependent permittivity model is presented and is employed to predict temperature and non-linear field intensity dependence on commonly used plasmonic geometries, such as nanospheres.

Squeezing Terahertz Light into Nanovolumes: Nanoantenna Enhanced Terahertz Spectroscopy (NETS) of Semiconductor Quantum Dots

Terahertz spectroscopy has vast potentialities in sensing a broad range of elementary excitations (e.g., collective vibrations of molecules, phonons, excitons, etc.). However, the large wavelength associated with terahertz radiation (about 300 μm at 1 THz) severely hinders its interaction with nano-objects, such as nanoparticles, nanorods, nanotubes, and large molecules of biological relevance, practically limiting terahertz studies to macroscopic ensembles of these compounds, in the form of thick pellets of crystallized molecules or highly concentrated solutions of nanomaterials. Here we show that chains of terahertz dipole nanoantennas spaced by nanogaps of 20 nm allow retrieving the spectroscopic signature of a monolayer of cadmium selenide quantum dots, a significant portion of the signal arising from the dots located within the antenna nanocavities. A Fano-like interference between the fundamental antenna mode and the phonon resonance of the quantum dots is observed, accompanied by an absorption enhancement factor greater than one million. NETS can find immediate applications in terahertz spectroscopic studies of nanocrystals and molecules at extremely low concentrations. Furthermore, it shows a practicable route toward the characterization of individual nano-objects at these frequencies.

Direct determination of the resonance properties of metallic conical nanoantennas

We present a simple method that is able to predict the resonant frequencies of a metallic conical nanoantenna. The calculation is based on an integral relation that takes into account the dependence of the effective refractive index of the plasmonic mode on the cone radius. Numerical simulations retrieving the near field properties of nanocones with different lengths are also performed for comparison. The fine agreement between the two approaches demonstrates the validity of our method.

The phototransduction machinery in the rod outer segment has a strong efficacy gradient

Significance Phototransduction is now considered to be a quite thoroughly understood phenomenon. It is well known that new discs are continuously generated at the base of the outer segments (OSs) and old discs are shed at their tip, but the rod OSs are considered a well-stirred compartment with minor inhomogeneities. To verify this assumption and to better understand the machinery within the OS, we developed a new methodology to deliver highly localized lights. We found that, as the light stimulus is moved from the OS base toward its tip, the amplitude of saturating and single photon responses decreased by 5–10 times. This gradient of efficacy is attributed to a progressive loss of phosphodiesterase. Therefore, OSs are highly inhomogeneous compartments. Rod photoreceptors consist of an outer segment (OS) and an inner segment. Inside the OS a biochemical machinery transforms the rhodopsin photoisomerization into electrical signal. This machinery has been treated as and is thought to be homogenous with marginal inhomogeneities. To verify this assumption, we developed a methodology based on special tapered optical fibers (TOFs) to deliver highly localized light stimulations. By using these TOFs, specific regions of the rod OS could be stimulated with spots of light highly confined in space. As the TOF is moved from the OS base toward its tip, the amplitude of saturating and single photon responses decreases, demonstrating that the efficacy of the transduction machinery is not uniform and is 5–10 times higher at the base than at the tip. This gradient of efficacy of the transduction machinery is attributed to a progressive depletion of the phosphodiesterase along the rod OS. Moreover we demonstrate that, using restricted spots of light, the duration of the photoresponse along the OS does not increase linearly with the light intensity as with diffuse light.

Subwavelength coherent control and coupling of light in plasmonic nanoresonators on dielectric waveguides

We report results on the possibility of subwavelength coherent control of light in coupled plasmonic nanoresonators on dielectric waveguides. Our calculations show that subwavelength regions of the plasmonic structure, spatially separated by a few nanometers, can be individually addressed by controlling the relative phase of the injected fields. We also show the complementary possibility to efficiently inject a guided mode into a planar dielectric waveguide by collecting the radiation emitted by wire-like and/or point-like sources, placed into the resonators. For example, this configuration provides a useful and powerful tool to control the emission of the localized sources such as stripes of fluorescent molecules or quantum dots placed in the gaps between the plasmonic structures. Possible applications of the considered study include plasmonic logic gates, integrated sensors for single-molecule fluorescence, and ready-to-use devices based on plasmonic single-photon sources.

Nanoantenna Enhanced Terahertz Spectroscopy of a Monolayer of Cadmium Selenide Quantum Dots

Exploiting the localization and enhancement capabilities of terahertz resonant dipole nanoantennas coupled through nanogaps, we present an effective method to perform terahertz spectroscopy on an extremely small number of nano-objects.

Terahertz Resonant Dipole Nanoantennas

We investigate the resonance characteristics of terahertz nanoantenna arrays, both numerically and experimentally. We demonstrate their tunability and their significant field enhancement properties, which can find several applications in terahertz spectroscopy and nonlinear optics.