Volume 8, Issue 12

This review article discusses progress in surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) chip-based nanostructure array patterns. Recent advancements in fabrication techniques for nano-arrays have endowed researchers with tools to explore a material’s plasmonic optical properties. In this review, fabrication techniques including electron-beam lithography, focused-ion lithography, dip-pen lithography, laser interference lithography, nanosphere lithography, nanoimprint lithography, and anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template-based lithography are introduced and discussed. Nano-arrays have gained increased attention because of their optical property dependency (light-matter interactions) on size, shape, and periodicity. In particular, nano-array architectures can be tailored to produce and tune plasmonic modes such as localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), surface plasmon polariton (SPP), extraordinary transmission, surface lattice resonance (SLR), Fano resonance, plasmonic whispering-gallery modes (WGMs), and plasmonic gap mode. Thus, light management (absorption, scattering, transmission, and guided wave propagation), as well as electromagnetic (EM) field enhancement, can be controlled by rational design and fabrication of plasmonic nano-arrays. Because of their optical properties, these plasmonic modes can be utilized for designing plasmonic sensors and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensors.

Semiconductor nanowires (NW) hold great promise for micro/nanolasers owing to their naturally formed resonant microcavity, tightly confined electromagnetic field, and outstanding capability of integration with planar waveguide for on-chip optoelectronic applications. However, constrained by the optical diffraction limit, the dimension of semiconductor lasers cannot be smaller than half the optical wavelength in free space, typically several hundreds of nanometers. Semiconductor NW plasmonic lasers provide a solution to break this limitation and realize deep sub-wavelength light sources. In this review, we summarize the advances of semiconductor NW plasmonic lasers since their first demonstration in 2009. First of all, we briefly look into the fabrication and physical/chemical properties of semiconductor NWs. Next, we discuss the fundamentals of surface plasmons as well as the recent progress in semiconductor NW plasmonic lasers from the aspects of multicolor realization, threshold reduction, ultrafast modulation, and electrically driven operations, along with their applications in sensing and integrated optics. Finally, we provide insights into bright perspectives and remaining challenges.

Fluorescence microscopy has long been a valuable tool for biological and medical imaging. Control of optical parameters such as the amplitude, phase, polarization, and propagation angle of light gives fluorescence imaging great capabilities ranging from super-resolution imaging to long-term real-time observation of living organisms. In this review, we discuss current fluorescence imaging techniques in terms of the use of tailored or structured light for the sample illumination and fluorescence detection, providing a clear overview of their working principles and capabilities.

Here, we review the progress and most recent advances in phonon-polaritonics, an emerging and growing field that has brought about a range of powerful possibilities for mid- to far-infrared (IR) light. These extraordinary capabilities are enabled by the resonant coupling between the impinging light and the vibrations of the material lattice, known as phonon-polaritons (PhPs). These PhPs yield a characteristic optical response in certain materials, occurring within an IR spectral window known as the reststrahlen band. In particular, these materials transition in the reststrahlen band from a high-refractive-index behavior, to a near-perfect metal behavior, to a plasmonic behavior – typical of metals at optical frequencies. When anisotropic they may also possess unconventional photonic constitutive properties thought of as possible only with metamaterials. The recent surge in two-dimensional (2D) material research has also enabled PhP responses with atomically-thin materials. Such vast and extraordinary photonic responses can be utilized for a plethora of unusual effects for IR light. Examples include sub-diffraction surface wave guiding, artificial magnetism, exotic photonic dispersions, thermal emission enhancement, perfect absorption and enhanced near-field heat transfer. Finally, we discuss the tremendous potential impact of these IR functionalities for the advancement of IR sources and sensors, as well as for thermal management and THz-diagnostic imaging.

The interplay between light and magnetism is considered as a promising solution to fully steer multidimensional magnetic oscillations/vectors, facilitating the development of all-optical multilevel recording/memory technologies. To date, impressive progress in multistate magnetization instead of a binary level has been witnessed by primarily resorting to double laser beam excitation. Yet, the control mechanisms are limited to specific magnetic medium or intricate optical configuration as well as overlooking the crystallographic architecture of the media and the polarization-phase linkage of the light fields. Here, we theoretically present a novel all-optical strategy for generating arbitrary multistate magnetization through the inverse Faraday effect. This is achieved by strongly focusing a single vortex-phase configured beam with circular polarization onto the anisotropic magnetic medium. By judiciously tuning the topological charge effect, the optical anisotropic effect, and the anisotropic optomagnetic effect, the light-induced magnetic vector can be flexibly redistributed between its transverse and longitudinal components, thus enabling orientation-unlimited multilevel magnetization control. In this optomagnetic process, we also reveal the role of anisotropy-mediated spin-orbit coupling, another physical mechanism that enables the effective translation of the angular momentum of light fields to the magnetic system. Furthermore, the conceptual paradigm of all-optical multistate magnetization is verified. Our findings show great prospect in multidimensional high-density optomagnetic recording and memory devices and also in high-speed information processing science and technology.

By color-converting the violet laser diode (VLD) with a cadmium selenide and zinc sulfide (CdSe/ZnS) core-shell-quantum dot (QD) doped polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) film, the VLD + CdSe/ZnS core-shell-QD transferred white-light with improved color rendering index (CRI) is demonstrated for high-speed indoor visible lighting communication. To facilitate hue saturation value (HSV) of the VLD + CdSe/ZnS core-shell-QD white-lighting module, dual-sized CdSe/ZnS core-shell-QDs with two luminescent wavelengths centered at 515 and 630 nm are doped into the PDMS. The CdSe/ZnS core-shell-QD doped PDMS phosphor with the optimized thickness of 2.5 mm serves as the beam divergent color-converter, which not only excites red (R) and green (G) fluorescence to detune the correlated color temperature (CCT) and CRI of the mixed red/green/violet (RGV) white-light, but also remains the residual VLD signal for data transmission. With a divergent angle of 127°, such a VLD + CdSe/ZnS core-shell-QD can deliver cold white-light with a CCT of 6389 K and a CRI of 63.3 at Commission International de l’Eclairage coordinate of 0.3214, 0.2755. Most important, the residual VLD light component is relatively weak with its wavelength out of the peak optical sensitivity region of the human retina centered at 441 nm. The directly encoded VLD + CdSe/ZnS core-shell-QD white light successfully carries the 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) discrete multitone data, which supports the maximal transmission data rate of 9.6 Gbit/s with a bit error ratio (BER) of 3.59 × 10 −3 .

The development of short-wavelength light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with high emission efficiency, a fascinating research area, is still necessary because of great scientific interest and practical significance. Here, a graphene plasmon layer treated by oxygen plasma was employed into ZnO nanorod/p-GaN LEDs for a surface plasmon effect. The graphene-decorated heterojunction exhibited an approximately 4-fold improvement of ZnO ultraviolet (UV) electroluminescence (EL) intensity relative to a primitive p-n junction device. Time-resolved spectroscopy and temperature-dependent luminescence measurement indicated that the EL enhancement resulted from the coupling of ZnO excitons with graphene surface plasmons. The current research not only provides an opportunity to construct three-dimensional architecture from a vertical array of one-dimensional nanorods and a two-dimensional graphene layer, but also proposes an effective strategy to improve near-UV emission efficiency in various devices.

Ferroelectric oxide nanocrystals, in combination with the robust coupling of an electric field with crystal structure symmetry, makes such systems agreeable to field-induced crystal structural transformation. The luminescent properties of rare earth ions are sensitive to the symmetry of the surrounding crystal field. The luminescence tuning of rare earth ions is an important assignment in the research of luminescent materials. However, the current conditional feasibility and reversibility in the exploration of luminescence modification remain major challenges. In this article, the luminescence modulation of rare earth ions has been developed in Yb 3+ /Er 3+ codoped ferroelectrics glass ceramics containing Bi 4 Ti 3 O 12 nanocrystals through an electric field. The inclusion of nanocrystals in the glass matrix greatly enhances the electrical resistance. Both upconversion and near-infrared emissions of rare earth ions are effectively enhanced more than twice via polarization engineering. The electric field regulates the photonic properties of rare earth ions with excellent reversibility and nonvolatility in ferroelectrics. The effective modification by electric field provides a new scheme for optical storage and optoelectronic devices.

Bismuth sulfide (Bi 2 S 3 ) is a binary chalcogenide semiconductor compound that has received much attention in optoelectronic devices because of its stratified structure. In this work we showed that the two-dimensional (2D) Bi 2 S 3 shows strong nonlinearity using spatial self-phase modulation and that the all-optical photonic devices, e.g. the all-optical switches and all-optical diodes, have been demonstrated experimentally by observing the nonlinear behavior of the diffraction rings. In addition, an all-optical diode is designed in this work using combined structure with 2D Bi 2 S 3 /SnS 2 nanosheet by taking advantage of the reverse saturated absorption of 2D SnS 2 and saturated absorption of 2D Bi 2 S 3 . Nonreciprocal light propagation has been achieved with different incident wavelength and a variety of incident intensities. Those characteristics make 2D Bi 2 S 3 a potential candidate for the next generation nonreciprocal all-optical device.

Terahertz quantum cascade laser sources with intra-cavity non-linear frequency mixing are the first room-temperature electrically pumped monolithic semiconductor sources that operate in the 1.2–5.9 THz spectral range. However, high performance in low-frequency range is difficult because converted terahertz waves suffer from significantly high absorption in waveguides. Here, we report a sub-terahertz electrically pumped monolithic semiconductor laser. This sub-terahertz source is based on a high-performance, long-wavelength (λ ≈ 13.7 μm) quantum cascade laser in which high-efficiency terahertz generation occurs. The device produces peak output power of 11 μW within the 615–788 GHz frequency range at room temperature. Additionally, a source emitting at 1.5 THz provides peak output power of 287 μW at 110 K. The generated terahertz radiation of <2 THz is mostly attributable to the optical rectification process in long-wavelength infrared quantum cascade lasers.

Devices based on two-dimensional photonic-crystal nanocavities, which are defined by their air hole patterns, usually require a high quality ( Q ) factor to achieve high performance. We demonstrate that hole patterns with very high Q factors can be efficiently found by the iteration procedure consisting of machine learning of the relation between the hole pattern and the corresponding Q factor and new dataset generation based on the regression function obtained by machine learning. First, a dataset comprising randomly generated cavity structures and their first principles Q factors is prepared. Then a deep neural network is trained using the initial dataset to obtain a regression function that approximately predicts the Q factors from the structural parameters. Several candidates for higher Q factors are chosen by searching the parameter space using the regression function. After adding these new structures and their first principles Q factors to the training dataset, the above process is repeated. As an example, a standard silicon-based L3 cavity is optimized by this method. A cavity design with a high Q factor exceeding 11 million is found within 101 iteration steps and a total of 8070 cavity structures. This theoretical Q factor is more than twice the previously reported record values of the cavity designs detected by the evolutionary algorithm and the leaky mode visualization method. It is found that structures with higher Q factors can be detected within less iteration steps by exploring not only the parameter space near the present highest- Q structure but also that distant from the present dataset.

With the great developments in optical communication technology and large-scale optical integration technology, it is imperative to realize the traditional functions of polarization processing on an integration platform. Most of the existing polarization devices, such as polarization multiplexers/demultiplexers, polarization controllers, polarization analyzers, etc., perform only a single function. Definitely, integrating all these polarization functions on a chip will increase function flexibility and integration density and also cut the cost. In this article, we demonstrate an all-in-one chip-scale polarization processor based on a linear optical network. The polarization functions can be configured by tuning the array of phase shifters on the chip. We demonstrate multiple polarization processing functions, including those of a multiple-input-multiple-output polarization descrambler, polarization controller, and polarization analyzer, which are the basic building blocks of polarization processing. More functions can be realized by using an additional two-dimensional output grating. A numerical gradient descent algorithm is employed to self-configure and self-optimize these functions. Our demonstration suggests great potential for chip-scale, reconfigurable, and fully programmable photonic polarization processors with the artificial intelligence algorithm.

Thanks to their large sensitivity to electromagnetic fields, microelectromechanical systems are becoming attractive for applications in the THz band (0.1–10 THz). However, up to date all THz electromechanical systems couple electromagnetic fields to mechanical motion only through photothermal dissipative forces: such mechanism allows for sensitive detection but prevents applications that require coherent transfer of information. In this work, we present a THz electromechanical meta-atom where the coupling between an electromagnetic mode and the displacement of a metallic micro-beam is substantially controlled by a conservative Coulomb force due to charge oscillations in the nanometric-size capacitive part of the meta-atom. We present experiments, performed at room temperature, which allow distinguishing and precisely quantifying the contributions of conservative and dissipative forces in the operation of our electromechanical resonator. Our analysis shows that the Coulomb force becomes the dominant contribution of the total driving force for high-order mechanical modes. Such system paves the way for the realization of coherent THz to optical transducers and allows the realization of fundamental optomechanical systems in the THz frequency range.

Mirror-on-mirror nanoplasmonic metamaterials, formed on the basis of voltage-controlled reversible self-assembly of sub-wavelength-sized metallic nanoparticles (NPs) on thin metallic film electrodes, are promising candidates for novel electro-tunable optical devices. Here, we present a new design of electro-tunable Fabry–Perot interferometers (FPIs) in which two parallel mirrors – each composed of a monolayer of NPs self-assembled on a thin metallic electrode – form an optical cavity, which is filled with an aqueous solution. The reflectivity of the cavity mirrors can be electrically adjusted, simultaneously or separately, via a small variation of the electrode potentials, which would alter the inter-NP separation in the monolayers. To investigate optical transmittance from the proposed FPI device, we develop a nine-layer-stack theoretical model, based on our effective medium theory and multi-layer Fresnel reflection scheme, which produces excellent match when verified against full-wave simulations. We show that strong plasmonic coupling among silver NPs forming a monolayer on a thin silver-film substrate makes reflectivity of each cavity mirror highly sensitive to the inter-NP separation. Such a design allows the continuous tuning of the multiple narrow and intense transmission peaks emerging from an FPI cavity via electro-tuning the inter-NP separation in situ – reaping the benefits from both inexpensive bottom-up fabrication and energy-efficient tuning.

Photonic band structures are a typical fingerprint of periodic optical structures, and are usually observed in spectroscopic quantities such as transmission, reflection, and absorption. Here we show that the chiro-optical response of a metasurface constituted by a lattice of non-centrosymmetric, L-shaped holes in a dielectric slab shows a band structure, where intrinsic and extrinsic chirality effects are clearly recognized and connected to localized and delocalized resonances. Superchiral near-fields can be excited in correspondence to these resonances, and anomalous behaviors as a function of the incidence polarization occur. Moreover, we have introduced a singular value decomposition (SVD) approach to show that the above mentioned effects are connected to specific fingerprints of the SVD spectra. Finally, by means of an inverse design technique we have demonstrated that the metasurface based on an L-shaped hole array is a minimal one. Indeed, its unit cell geometry depends on the smallest number of parameters needed to implement arbitrary transmission matrices compliant with the general symmetries for 2d-chiral structures. These observations enable more powerful wave operations in a lossless photonic environment.

Tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) is a very useful method to achieve label-free and super-resolution imaging, and the plasmonic tip nanofocusing plays a decisive role for TERS performance. Here, we present a method to enhance the nanofocusing characteristic of a plasmonic tip integrated in a grating near the tip apex. Simulation results show that the grating near the tip apex can significantly improve the electric field intensity of the nanofocusing field compared with a conventional bare tip, under axial excitation of a tightly focused radial vector beam. The electric field enhancement characteristic is quantified in relation with the groove number of grating, excitation wavelength, period of grating, and numerical aperture of the micro-objective (MO). These simulation results could be a good reference to fabricate a plasmonic tip for TERS applications, which is an effective way to promote the development of tip-enhanced near-field optical microscopy.

Optical nanoantennas can efficiently harvest electromagnetic energy from nanoscale space and boost the local radiation to the far field. The dielectric-metal nanogap is a novel design that can help to overcome the core issue of optical loss in all-metal nanostructures while enabling photon density of states larger than that in all-dielectric counterparts. This article reports that a crystalline spherical silicon nanoparticle on metal film (SiNPoM) nanoantenna can largely enhance the spontaneous emission intensity of quantum dots by an area-normalized factor of 69 and the decay rate by 42-fold compared with quantum dots on glass. A high total quantum efficiency of over 80%, including ~20% for far-field radiation and ~60% for surface plasmon polaritons, is obtained in simulation. Thanks to not only the low optical loss in dielectric nanoparticles but also the appropriate gap thickness which weakens the non-radiative decay due to the quenching from metal. Mie resonant modes additionally provide the flexible control of far-field emission patterns. Such a simple optical nanoantenna can be combined with various nanoscale optical emitters and easily extended to form large area metasurfaces functioning as active regions in light-emitting devices in applications such as advanced display, wireless optical communication, and quantum technology.

Optical frequency comb (OFC) based on the whispering-gallery-mode microresonator has various potential applications in fundamental and applied areas. Once the solid microresonator is fabricated, its structure parameters are generally unchanged. Therefore, realizing the tunability of the microresonator OFC is an important precondition for many applications. In this work, we proposed and demonstrated the tunable Kerr and Raman-Kerr frequency combs using the ultrahigh-quality-factor ( Q ) functionalized silica microsphere resonators, which are coated with iron oxide nanoparticles on their end surfaces. The functionalized microsphere resonator possesses Q factors over 10 8 and large all-optical tunability due to the excellent photothermal performance of the iron oxide nanoparticles. We realized a Kerr frequency comb with an ultralow threshold of 0.42 mW and a comb line tuning range of 0.8 nm by feeding the control light into the hybrid microsphere resonator through its fiber stem. Furthermore, in order to broaden the comb span, we realized a Raman-Kerr frequency comb with a span of about 164 nm. Meanwhile, we also obtained a comb line tuning range of 2.67 nm for the Raman-Kerr frequency comb. This work could find potential applications in wavelength-division multiplexed coherent communications and optical frequency synthesis.

Two-dimensional (2D) nanosheet (NS)-based photothermal agents (PTAs), such as transition-metal dichalcogenides, have shown immense potential for their use in cancer photothermal therapy (PTT). However, the nano-bio interaction study regarding these NS-based PTAs is still in its infancy. In this study, we used WS 2 -PEG NS-based PTA as an example to provide comprehensive insights into the experimental understanding of their fate in cancer cells. The data revealed that three different endocytosis pathways (macropinocytosis, clathrin-dependent, and caveolae-dependent endocytosis), autophagy-mediated lysosome accumulation, and exocytosis-induced excretion contribute to the integrated pathways of WS 2 -PEG NSs within cells. These pathways are consistent with our previous reports on MoS 2 -PEG NS-based drug delivery platform, indicating that the composition difference of 2D NSs with PEGylation may have little influence on their intercellular fate. Moreover, by blocking the revealed exocytosis pathway-mediated secretion of WS 2 NSs in tumor cells, an effective approach is proposed to attain enhanced photothermal therapeutic outcomes with low doses of WS 2 NSs and under a low power of a near-infrared (NIR) laser. We expect that the exocytosis inhibition strategy may be a universal one for 2D NSs to achieve combination cancer therapy. This study may also provide more experimental basis for the future development of 2D NS’s application in biomedicine (e.g. PTT).

For achieving well-performing optical thermometry, a new type of dual-mode optical thermometer is explored based on the valley-to-peak ratio (VPR) and fluorescence lifetime of Eu 3+ emissions in the ZrO 2 :Eu 3+ nanocrystals with sizes down to 10 nm. In the VPR strategy, the intensity ratio between the valley (600 nm) generated by the emission band overlap and the 606 nm peak ( 5 D 0 → 7 F 2 ), which is highly temperature sensitive, is employed, giving the maximum relative sensing sensitivity ( S r ) of 1.8% K −1 at 293 K and good anti-interference performance. Meanwhile, the 606 nm emission exhibits a temperature-dependent decay lifetime with the highest S r of 0.33% K −1 at 573 K, which is due to the promoted nonradiative relaxation with temperature. These results provide useful information for constructing high-performance dual-mode optical thermometers, which may further stimulate the development of photosensitive nanomaterials for frontier applications.