Seunghwoi Han

High-harmonic generation by field enhanced femtosecond pulses in metal-sapphire nanostructure

Plasmonic high-harmonic generation (HHG) drew attention as a means of producing coherent extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation by taking advantage of field enhancement occurring in metallic nanostructures. Here a metal-sapphire nanostructure is devised to provide a solid tip as the HHG emitter, replacing commonly used gaseous atoms. The fabricated solid tip is made of monocrystalline sapphire surrounded by a gold thin-film layer, and intended to produce EUV harmonics by the inter- and intra-band oscillations of electrons driven by the incident laser. The metal-sapphire nanostructure enhances the incident laser field by means of surface plasmon polaritons, triggering HHG directly from moderate femtosecond pulses of ∼0.1 TW cm−2 intensities. The measured EUV spectra exhibit odd-order harmonics up to ∼60 nm wavelengths without the plasma atomic lines typically seen when using gaseous atoms as the HHG emitter. This experimental outcome confirms that the plasmonic HHG approach is a promising way to realize coherent EUV sources for nano-scale near-field applications in spectroscopy, microscopy, lithography and atto-second physics.

Hybrid mode-locked Er-doped fiber femtosecond oscillator with 156 mW output power

We report on an Er-doped fiber oscillator that produces 146 fs pulses with 156 mW average power at a repetition rate of 49.9 MHz. The pulse energy reaches 3.13 nJ, surpassing the conventional power limit in the dispersion-managed soliton regime. Such high pulse power is obtained by devising a hybrid mode-locking scheme that combines saturable absorption with nonlinear polarization evolution. The oscillator also offers excellent temporal purity in the generated pulses with high power, providing a robust fiber-based frequency comb well suited for industrial uses.

Generation of isolated attosecond pulses using a plasmonic funnel-waveguide

We theoretically investigated the possibility of generating attosecond pulses by means of plasmonic field enhancement induced in a nano-structured metallic funnel-waveguide. This study was motivated by our recent experimental demonstration of ultrashort extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) pulses using the same type of three-dimensional waveguides. Here, with emphasis on generation of isolated attosecond pulses, the finite-domain time-difference method was used to analyze the funnel-waveguide with respect to the geometry-dependent plasmonic features such as the field enhancement factor, enhanced plasmonic field profile and hot-spot location. Then an extended semi-classical model of high-order harmonic generation was adopted to predict the EUV spectra generated from the funnel-waveguide in consideration of the spatial inhomogeneity of the plasmonic field within the hot-spot volume. Our simulation finally proved that isolated attosecond pulses can be produced at fast repetition rates directly from a few-cycle femtosecond laser or by synthesizing a two-color laser consisting of two multi-cycle pulses of cross-polarized configuration.

Two-dimensional self-patterning of PbTiO3 on a Nb–SrTiO3 (001) surface using atomic force microscope lithography and hydrothermal epitaxy

Atomic force microscope (AFM) lithography and hydrothermal epitaxy processes were used to resolve issues related to aligning ferroelectric micro- and nanosized cell arrays through a bottom-up approach. A Nb-doped SrTiO3 (100) surface was transformed in two dimensions by applying bias using a conductive AFM tip. The locally transformed areas were etched out with an acidic solution. It was found that the PbTiO3 crystal nucleated and grew on the artificially aligned grooves preferentially during a hydrothermal epitaxial process. The self-patterned PbTiO3 cell had excellent piezoresponse hysteresis with ferroelectric properties suitable for the fabrication of micro- and nanosized ferroelectric devices.

High-brightness laser imaging with tunable speckle reduction enabled by electroactive micro-optic diffusers

High coherence of lasers is desirable in high-speed, high-resolution, and wide-field imaging. However, it also causes unavoidable background speckle noise thus degrades the image quality in traditional microscopy and more significantly in interferometric quantitative phase imaging (QPI). QPI utilizes optical interference for high-precision measurement of the optical properties where the speckle can severely distort the information. To overcome this, we demonstrated a light source system having a wide tunability in the spatial coherence over 43% by controlling the illumination angle, scatterer’s size, and the rotational speed of an electroactive-polymer rotational micro-optic diffuser. Spatially random phase modulation was implemented for the lower speckle imaging with over a 50% speckle reduction without a significant degradation in the temporal coherence. Our coherence control technique will provide a unique solution for a low-speckle, full-field, and coherent imaging in optically scattering media in the fields of healthcare sciences, material sciences and high-precision engineering.

Self-optimization of plasmonic nanoantennas in strong femtosecond fields

Plasmonic dimer nanoantennas can significantly boost the electric field strength in the gap region, allowing for a modification of the feed gap geometry by femtosecond laser illumination. Using resonant bowtie antennas to enhance the electric field of a low-fluence femtosecond oscillator, here we experimentally demonstrate highly localized reshaping of the antennas, resulting in a self-optimization of the antenna shape. From high-resolution scanning electron micrographs and two-dimensional energy dispersive x-ray maps, we analyze the near-field enhanced subwavelength ablation at the nanotips and the resulting deposition of ablated materials in the feed gap. The dominant ablation mechanism is attributed to the nonthermal transient unbonding of atoms and electrostatic acceleration of ions. This process is driven by surface plasmon enhanced electron emission, with subsequent acceleration in the vacuum. This ablation is impeded in the presence of an ambient gas. A maximum of sixfold enhancement of the third-harmonic yield is observed during the reshaping process.

Investigating the origin of third harmonic generation from diabolo optical antennas

We propose to use diabolo nanoantennas for experimentally investigating the origin of the enhanced third harmonic generation by localized surface plasmon polaritons. In such a geometry, the opposing apexes of bowties are electrically connected by a thin gold nanorod, which has two important functions in discriminating the point of harmonic generation. First, the inserted gold nanorod shifts the field enhancement area to be far away from the dielectric substrate material. Next, the accumulation of free charges at the adjacent bowtie tips produces a strong electric field inside the gold nanorod. The diabolo nanoantennas allow us to examine the contribution of the bare gold susceptibility to the third harmonic conversion. Our results reveal that the bare gold does not significantly enhance the harmonic generation at high pump intensity. From this, we deduce that in regular bowtie antennas, the enhanced harmonic photons mainly arise from the substrate sapphire that is located in the feedgap of the bowtie, whe...

Nonlinear third harmonic generation at crystalline sapphires

Third harmonic generation (THG) is a nonlinear optical phenomenon which can be applied in diverse research areas including interfacial studies, sub-wavelength light manipulation, and high sensitivity bio-molecular detection. Most precedent studies on THG have focused on dielectric and metallic materials, including silicon, gold, and germanium, due to their high nonlinear susceptibility. Sapphire, a widely-used optical substrate, has not been studied in depth for its third harmonic characteristics, despite its excellent optical transmission in the UV-visible range, high thermal conductance, and superior physical and chemical stability. In this research, we comprehensively studied THG at thin air-dielectric interfaces of sapphire wafers by controlling the wafer cutting planes, focusing depth, incidence angle, laser intensity, and input polarization of the input laser beam. These findings can lead to broader use of third harmonics for high-precision sapphire characterization, such as surface quality inspection, crystallinity determination, interfacial studies, delamination check, and real-time monitoring of crack propagation.

EUV generation by plasmonic field enhancement using nanostructures

Plasmonic field enhancement using metal nanostructures is investigated to boost the peak intensity of the incident femtosecond laser by a factor of greater than 20 dB while retaining the original ultrashort pulse dynamics. This method enables extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light generation directly from moderate femtosecond pulses of ~1 x 1011 W/cm2 intensities without auxiliary power amplification, demonstrating a possibility of achieving robust and reproducible EUV sources of the nano-scale for diverse EUV applications for microscopy, lithography and spectroscopy.

Observation of strongly enhanced ultrashort pulses in 3-D metallic funnel-waveguide

For strong field enhancement of ultrashort light pulses, a 3-D metallic funnel-waveguide is analyzed using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. Then the maximum intensity enhancement actually developed by the funnel-waveguide upon the injection of femtosecond laser pulses is observed using two-photon luminescence (TPL) microscopy. In addition, the ultrafast dephasing profile of the localized field at the hot spot of the funnel-waveguide is verified through the interferometric autocorrelation of the TPL signal. Finally it is concluded the funnel-waveguide is an effective 3-D nanostructure that is capable of boosting the peak pulse intensity of stronger than 80 TWcm(-2) by an enhancement factor of 20 dB without significant degradation of the ultrafast spatiotemporal characteristics of the original pulses.