Band 12, Heft 1

Metallic nanostructures exhibit localized surface plasmons (LSPs), which offer unprecedented opportunities for advanced photonic materials and devices. Following resonant photoexcitation, LSPs quickly dephase, giving rise to a distribution of energetic ‘hot’ electrons in the metal. These out-of-equilibrium carriers undergo ultrafast internal relaxation processes, nowadays pivotal in a variety of applications, from photodetection and sensing to the driving of photochemical reactions and ultrafast all-optical modulation of light. Despite the intense research activity, exploitation of hot carriers for real-world nanophotonic devices remains extremely challenging. This is due to the complexity inherent to hot carrier relaxation phenomena at the nanoscale, involving short-lived out-of-equilibrium electronic states over a very broad range of energies, in interaction with thermal electronic and phononic baths. These issues call for a comprehensive understanding of ultrafast hot electron dynamics in plasmonic nanostructures. This paper aims to review our contribution to the field: starting from the fundamental physics of plasmonic nanostructures, we first describe the experimental techniques used to probe hot electrons; we then introduce a numerical model of ultrafast nanoscale relaxation processes, and present examples in which experiments and modelling are combined, with the aim of designing novel optical functionalities enabled by ultrafast hot-electron dynamics.

The integration of two-dimensional (2D) materials with resonant photonic structures is seen as a promising direction for enhancing its nonlinear optical response. The design of such heterogeneous resonant structures has often relied on multi-parameter sweeps to determine the optimized dimensions of resonant optical structure that results in good resonance characteristics, often in the absence of the 2D material. Such an approach is computationally intensive and may not necessarily result in efficient generation or collection of nonlinear signals from the designed structure. Here, we report hybrid-genetic optimization (HGA) based design and experimental demonstration of second harmonic generation (SHG) enhancement from Fabry–Perot structures of single and double multilayer gallium selenide (GaSe) flakes with bottom silicon dioxide, and index matched polymethyl methacrylate spacer/encapsulation layers. HGA technique utilized here speeds up the multilayer cavity design by 8.8 and 89-times for the single and double GaSe structures when compared to the full parameter-sweep, with measured SHG enhancement of 128- and 400-times, respectively, when compared to a reference sample composed of GaSe layer of optimized thickness on 300 nm silicon dioxide layer. SHG conversion efficiencies obtained from the HGA structures are 1–2 orders of magnitude higher than previous reports on 2D material integrated resonant metasurfaces or Bragg cavities.

We develop a model of interaction between photons and electrons in an active vortex field, which can generate a fluorescence spectrum with the characteristics of orbital angular momentum (OAM). In an active optical fiber, our findings generalize the notion of photon–electron interaction and point to a new kind of OAM-mode broad-spectrum light source, which could be interpreted in two processes: one microscopically is the excitation of OAM-carrying photons based on the photon–electron interaction; the other macroscopically is the emission and transmission of a donut-shaped fluorescence in a vortex field with a spiral phase wavefront in a ring-core active fiber. Here we present a straightforward experimental method that the emission of broad-spectrum fluorescence with an OAM feature is actualized and validated in a ring-core erbium-doped fiber. The spectrum has a broad spectral width up to 50 nm. Furthermore, four wavelengths are extracted from the fluorescence spectrum and superimposed with their corresponding Gaussian beams, from which the spiral-shaped interferograms of OAM modes in a broad spectrum are identified with high purity. The application of the OAM-based fluorescence light source may range from classical to quantum information technologies, and enable high-capacity communication, high-sensitivity sensing, high-resolution fluorescence imaging, etc.

Phase-structured light beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) have a wide range of applications ranging from particle trapping to optical communication. Many techniques exist to generate and manipulate such beams but most suffer from bulky configurations. In contrast, silicon photonics enables the integration of various functional components on a monolithic platform, providing a way to miniaturize optical systems to chip level. Here, we propose a series of on-chip subwavelength holographic waveguide structures that can convert the in-plane guided modes into desired wavefronts and realize complex free-space functions, including the generation of complex phase-structured light beams, arbitrarily directed vortex beam emission and vortex beam focusing. We use a holographic approach to design subwavelength holographic surface gratings, and demonstrate broadband generation of Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) and linearly polarized (LP) modes. Moreover, by assigning appropriate geometric phase profiles to the spiral phase distribution, the off-chip vortex beam manipulation including arbitrarily directed emission and beam focusing scenarios can be realized. In the experiment, directed vortex beam emission is realized by using a fabricated tilt subwavelength holographic fork grating. The proposed waveguide structures enrich the functionalities of dielectric meta-waveguide structures, which can find potential applications in optical communication, optical trapping, nonlinear interaction and imaging.

A randomly connected single-walled carbon nanotube (CNT) network film is suggested as an optically homogenous thin film to implement a tunable diffractive optical element with a subwavelength thickness. A Fresnel zone plate (FZP) as a thin-film lens is successfully realized by mask-free direct laser writing onto the CNT network film with a thickness of 450 nm. The fabricated FZP exhibits an intense three-dimensional focus having lateral and axial focal sizes of 0.95 λ and 7.10 λ , respectively, at the wavelength of 1550 nm. Furthermore, we show that the intensities at focal points of the first and second diffraction orders can be significantly modulated by 72% and 40% through ion-gel gating between +1.8 V and −1.8 V. These results may offer the potential for electro-optic tunability in multifocal diffraction flat optics and the like.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a highly promising modality against cancer, but its efficacy is severely limited by the low oxygen content in solid tumors. In this study, a smart photosensitive NiPS 3 nanosheet was developed to solve the problem of low oxygen to allow PDT to be performed against tumors. The photosensitized ROS generation mechanism of NiPS 3 is the photon-generated electron-hole pathway, which can generate O 2 ·− and ·OH at the conduction band and valance band, respectively. More crucial is that ·OH generation doesn’t need O 2 , and the O 2 ·− can also work in a low O 2 environment, and depleting oxygen in tumor cells. Modified with triphenylphosphine (TPP) and based on density functional theory (DFT) calculations and experimental data, the NiPS 3 @TPP nano-system underwent targeted action toward mitochondria. In vitro experiments demonstrated that the reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by NiPS 3 @TPP altered mitochondrial membrane permeability, which not only prolonged the PDT effect but also resulted in mitochondria apoptosis pathways inducing an apoptosis cascade. In vivo experiments demonstrated the targeting capability with low toxicity of the NiPS 3 @TPP nano-system. Tumor targeting at the tested dose indicated that it represented a promising biocompatible photosensitizer for in vivo biomedical applications.

All-dielectric metasurfaces have great potential as highly sensitive refractometric sensors relying on their spectral shifts because of an extensive range of design flexibilities and their smaller absorption losses than plasmonic platforms. However, simultaneously realizing both high quality ( Q ) factors and the large interplay of light with external medium in such photonic sensors remains one of the key challenges for their better performance. This study proposes silicon block metasurfaces with nanogaps to overcome this challenge based on quasi-bound states in the continuum (BICs). We show that the metasurface has two quasi-BIC modes—magnetic dipole (MD) and electric quadrupole (EQ)—and their electric fields experience large enhancement at the ∼30 nm nanogap regions. Consequently, introducing nanogaps into the metasurfaces increases the environmental refractive index sensitivity by up to 2.7 times in the MD mode while keeping the high Q factors and achieves the figure-of-merit (FOM) of 239. In addition, we show that the appropriate selection of the amount of asymmetry is needed under the trade-off between the FOM and spectral signal-to-noise ratio, which provides design guidelines for highly sensitive biosensors based on quasi-BICs.

GaN-based microring lasers grown on Si are promising candidates for compact and efficient light sources in Si-based optoelectronic integration and optical interconnect due to their small footprints, low mode volume, low power consumption, and high modulation rate. However, the high symmetry of circular microcavity leads to isotropic emission, which not only reduces the light collection efficiency, but also affects other adjacent devices during data transmission. In this study, the unidirectional lasing emission of room-temperature current-injected GaN-based microring laser was realized by coating metal Ag on the microring sidewall and integrating a direct coupled waveguide. The light was efficaciously confined in the cavity and only emitted from the waveguide, which avoided optical signal crosstalk with other adjacent devices. Furthermore, we integrated a microdisk at the other end of the waveguide as a photodetector, which could effectively detect the output power of the microring laser from the direct coupled waveguide. Therefore, a preliminary on-chip integration of GaN-based microring laser, waveguide and photodetector on Si substrate was successfully demonstrated for the first time, opening up a new way for on-chip integration and optical interconnect on a GaN-on-Si platform.

Achromatic devices present unique capabilities in efficient manipulation of waves and have wide applications in imaging and communication systems. However, the research of achromatic devices is limited by the narrow bandwidth, low efficiency as well as large configurations. In this paper, we propose a general strategy to design spin-locked achromatic metasurface with broadband and high efficiency properties in microwave region. A multi-resonant model is used to control the dispersion within a wide bandwidth by tuning its resonant intensity, resonance numbers as well as resonant frequency. As a proof of the concept, two achromatic meta-devices with ultra-thin profile at microwave frequency are experimentally investigated. The achromatic deflector can reflect the normal incident waves to the same angle within 9.5 to 11.5 GHz, while the other achromatic lens can focus the excitations at the same focal points. The experimentally working efficiency of the meta-devices fluctuates around 71–82% and 57–65% within the target working bandwidth, respectively. Moreover, our meta-devices can preserve the charity of the excitations. The scheme of this research shows great advances in the design of broadband and high-efficiency achromatic devices which can also be applied to other frequency ranges and inspires the realization of ultrabroadband and high-efficiency metadevices.

We show that a circularly polarized electric dipole harbors a near-field concentrated wave which orbits around with an energy flux significantly larger (five orders of magnitudes at ∼1 nm radial distance) than far-field radiation. This near-field wave is found to carry transverse spins and reveal skyrmion spin texture (Néel-type). By performing electromagnetic analysis and numerical simulation, we demonstrate chiral extraction of a near-field rotational energy flux: the confined energy flow is out-coupled to surface plasmons on metal surface, whose curvature is designed to provide orbital angular momentum matched to spin angular momentum of dipole field, that is, to facilitate spin–orbit interaction. Strong coupling occurs with high chiral selectivity (∼113) and Purcell enhancement (∼17) when both linear and angular momenta are matched between dipole field and surface plasmons. Existence of a high-intensity energy flux in the deep-bottom near-field region ( r ∼ 1 nm) opens up an interesting avenue in altering fundamental properties of dipole emission. For example, extracting ∼1% of this flux would result in enhancing spontaneous emission rate by ∼1000 times.

In this paper, we theoretically and experimentally demonstrated photothermal nonlinearities of both forward and backward scattering intensities from quasi-perfect absorbing silicon-based metasurface with only λ /7 thickness. The metasurface is efficiently heated up by photothermal effect under laser irradiation, which in turn modulates the scattering spectra via thermo-optical effect. Under a few milliwatt continuous-wave excitation at the resonance wavelength of the metasurface, backward scattering cross-section doubles, and forward scattering cross-section reduces to half. Our study opens up the all-optical dynamical control of the scattering directionality, which would be applicable to silicon photonic devices.

We demonstrated an ultra-sensitive terahertz virus detection method combined with virus-sized gold nanogaps filled with Al 2 O 3 . Large-area high-density 20 nm-gap rectangular loop structures, containing a resonant frequency in the terahertz range, were fabricated on a 4-inch wafer using atomic layer lithography. When target viruses with a 60 nm diameter were located on the nanogaps, we observed a significant redshift of the resonant peak already with an average number of about 100 viruses per unit loop due to the strong field confinement and enhancement near the gap. Furthermore, when the virus was tightly attached to an etched gap like a bridge connecting metals, its sensitivity is doubled compared to the unetched gap, which resulted in 400% more resonance frequency shift per single virus particle than our previous work. Full-wave simulations and theoretical calculations based on modal expansions were in good agreement with the experiments, revealing that the resonant transmission spectrum was mostly determined by the change in refractive index in a two-dimensional-like optical hotspot near the nanogap. A further step could be taken to increase sensitivity by tuning nanogap-loops to the absorption frequencies associated with the intermolecular vibrational modes of the viruses and fingerprinting them as well.

Generating 2D diffraction orders with uniform or tailored intensity distribution is highly desired for various applications including depth perception, parallel laser fabrication and optical tweezer. However, previous strategies lack the abilities to tailor multiple parameters of output light in different diffraction orders simultaneously. While such ability plays an important role in achieving various different functionalities parallelly. Here, we demonstrate a method for encoding arbitrary phase profiles to different diffraction orders with controllable polarization states by applying double-phase method into elaborately designed metasurface. Sixteen independent holograms that generated by GS algorithm are successfully encoded into 4 × 4 uniformly distributed diffraction orders. Hence, the predefined holographic images can be observed at the Fourier plane. Meanwhile, the corresponding polarization states of different orders are manipulated according to their Fourier coefficients. For verifying the polarization state of each holographic image, we calculate the Stokes parameter of each order from measured intensity distributions in the experiment. The proposed method provides an effective way to tailor multiple properties of output diffraction orders. Meanwhile, it may promote the realization of achieving various functionalities parallelly such as spectral-polarization imaging or phase-polarization detection and enhance the capabilities of optical communication systems.