Sema Erten

Broadband light absorption with multiple surface plasmon polariton waves excited at the interface of a metallic grating and photonic crystal.

Light incident upon a periodically corrugated metal/dielectric interface can generate surface plasmon polariton (SPP) waves. This effect is used in many sensing applications. Similar metallodielectric nanostructures are used for light trapping in solar cells, but the gains are modest because SPP waves can be excited only at specific angles and with one linear polarization state of incident light. Here we report the optical absorptance of a metallic grating coupled to silicon oxide/oxynitride layers with a periodically varying refractive index, i.e., a 1D photonic crystal. These structures show a dramatic enhancement relative to those employing a homogeneous dielectric material. Multiple SPP waves can be activated, and both s- and p-polarized incident light can be efficiently trapped. Many SPP modes are weakly bound and display field enhancements that extend throughout the dielectric layers. These modes have significantly longer propagation lengths than the single SPP modes excited at the interface of a metallic grating and a uniform dielectric. These results suggest that metallic gratings coupled to photonic crystals could have utility for light trapping in photovoltaics, sensing, and other applications.

Experimental excitation of multiple surface-plasmon-polariton waves and waveguide modes in a one-dimensional photonic crystal atop a two-dimensional metal grating

The excitation of multiple SPP waves as Floquet harmonics was demonstrated in structures fabricated as one-dimensional photonic crystals (PCs) on top of two-dimensional gold gratings. Each period of the PC comprised nine layers of silicon oxynitrides of different compositions, and each PC had either two or three periods. Absorptances for obliquely incident

Silica nanoparticles aid in structural leaf coloration in the Malaysian tropical rainforest understorey herb Mapania caudata.

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Experimental investigation of circular Bragg phenomenon for oblique incidence

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Excitation of multiple surface-plasmon polariton waves at metal/chiral sculptured thin film interfaces

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Experimental investigation of circular Bragg phenomenon exhibited by a mirror-backed chiral sculptured thin film

-polarized light were measured in the 500--1000-nm wavelength regime and the sharp bands in the absorptance spectra were compared with the solutions of the underlying canonical boundary-value problem. The excitation of multiple surface-plasmon-polariton (SPP) waves as Floquet harmonics was confirmed. The structures demonstrated broadband absorption with overall weak dependences on the incidence angle and the polarization state of the incident light, and has potential application for harvesting solar energy.

Multiple surface-plasmon-polariton waves guided by a chiral sculptured thin film grown on a metallic grating

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Blue-green iridescence in the tropical rainforest understorey sedge Mapania caudata creates structural coloration in its leaves through a novel photonic mechanism. Known structures in plants producing iridescent blues consist of altered cellulose layering within cell walls and in special bodies, and thylakoid membranes in specialized plastids. This study was undertaken in order to determine the origin of leaf iridescence in this plant with particular attention to nano-scale components contributing to this coloration. METHODS Adaxial walls of leaf epidermal cells were characterized using high-pressure-frozen freeze-substituted specimens, which retain their native dimensions during observations using transmission and scanning microscopy, accompanied by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy to identify the role of biogenic silica in wall-based iridescence. Biogenic silica was experimentally removed using aqueous Na2CO3 and optical properties were compared using spectral reflectance. KEY RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Blue iridescence is produced in the adaxial epidermal cell wall, which contains helicoid lamellae. The blue iridescence from cell surfaces is left-circularly polarized. The position of the silica granules is entrained by the helicoid microfibrillar layers, and granules accumulate at a uniform position within the helicoids, contributing to the structure that produces the blue iridescence, as part of the unit cell responsible for 2 ° Bragg scatter. Removal of silica from the walls eliminated the blue colour. Addition of silica nanoparticles on existing cellulosic lamellae is a novel mechanism for adding structural colour in organisms.

Coloration and Structure of the Wings of Chorinea sylphina Bates

A 20-period-thick chiral sculptured thin film (STF) of zinc selenide was fabricated on a glass slide by thermal evaporation. A variable-angle spectroscopic system was devised and used to measure all eight of the circular remittances of the chiral STF as functions of the angle of incidence and the free-space wavelength. Thereby, the center wavelength and the bandwidth of the circular Bragg phenomenon exhibited by structurally chiral materials such as cholesteric liquid crystals and chiral STFs were comprehensively characterized for incidence angles in the range [0°,70°]. The experimental data were qualitatively compared with data calculated using a helicoidal model for the relative permittivity dyadic of the chiral STF, and assuming that all three eigenvalues of that dyadic obey the single-resonance Lorentz model. The chosen representation was found adequate to represent the blue shift of the centerwavelength with an increasing angle of incidence, but the Lorentz model requires modification to develop improved predictive capabilities.

The circular Bragg phenomenon for oblique incidence

We excited multiple surface-plasmon-polariton (SPP) waves guided by the interface of a metal and a chiral sculptured thin film (STF). Chiral STFs made by thermally evaporating NaF and either 3, 4, or 5 periods in thickness were deposited on a metal film by oblique angle deposition accompanied by substrate rotation, each period being 300 nm, for plasmonic investigations in the Turbadar-Kretschmann-Raether (TKR) configuration. Reflectances were measured for a range of incidence angles for both p- and s-polarization states of the incident monochromatic light. Several reflectance minimums independent of the thickness of the chiral STF were obtained, indicating that multiple SPP waves had been excited.

Excitation of multiple surface-plasmon-polariton waves and waveguide modes in a 1D photonic crystal atop a 2D metal grating

Experimentation with obliquely incident light established that all four circular reflectances of a chiral sculptured thin film backed by a metallic mirror contain strong evidence of the circular Bragg phenomenon. When the mirror is removed, strong evidence of that phenomenon is found only in the spectrum of the co-polarized and co-handed reflectance.