Multi-Directional Plasmonic Splitter and Polarization Analyzer Based on the Catenary Metasurface

Owing to the unique properties of strongly confined and enhanced electric fields, surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) provide a new platform for the realization of ultracompact plasmonic circuits. However, there are challenges in coupling light into SPPs efficiently and subsequently routing SPPs. Here, we propose a multi-directional SPP splitter and polarization analyzer based on the catenary metasurface. Based on the abundant electromagnetic modes and geometric phase modulation principle of catenary structure, the device has realized high-efficiency beam splitting for four different polarization states (x-polarization, y-polarization, LCP, and RCP). The central wavelength of the device is 632 nm and the operation bandwidth can reach 70 nm (585–655 nm). Based on the phenomenon of SPP beam splitting, we present a prototype of a polarization analyzer, which can detect the polarization state of incident light by adding photodetector with light intensity logic threshold in four directions. Moreover, by combining this device with dynamic polarization modulation techniques, it is possible to be served as a router or switch in integrated photonic circuits.

     

Dynamically Tunable Plasmon-induced Transparency in a T-shaped Cavity Waveguide Based on Bulk Dirac Semimetals

We propose a dynamically tunable surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) waveguide system based on bulk Dirac semimetals (BDS) containing only a side-coupled T-shaped cavity. Plasmon-induced transparency (PIT) is achieved in the terahertz band by introducing a position offset. We have analytically investigated the spectral characteristics of PIT in this system, indicating that the larger the position offset, the higher the peak of the PIT window. The spectrum responses of PIT system can be flexibly regulated via transforming the geometric parameters of the structure. At the same time, it is particularly sensitive to the refractive index of the surrounding medium, which is promising for sensing devices. In addition, the resonance frequency and peak transmission can be actively adjusted by controlling the Fermi energy of the BDS without reconstructing the geometric structure. Moreover, the optical delay time near the PIT peak reaches 11.001 ps, which has good slow-light characteristics and is a candidate in the field of slow-light equipment. The structure we designed may have potential application value in the design of SPPs light-guide devices.

     

Coupling Efficiency of Surface Plasmon Polaritons: Far- and Near-Field Analyses

The excitation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) through one-dimentional (1D) metallic (Au) grating on higher refractive index -GaP substrate is investigated. Such grating devices find potential applications in real world, only if the coupling efficiency (η) of a free-space transverse-magnetic plane-wave into a SPPs mode is maximum. A simple and robust technique is used to estimate the η, by simply measuring the transmission through the grating while varying slit width (a) but period (Λ) and the thickness (t) remain fixed. When the wave vector (k ₀ ) of the incident light is matched to that of SPP, highest η is achieved. It is found that Λ/3 < a < Λ/2 yields a maximum η where the intermediate scattering couples more incident energy to SPPs. These gratings are designed in such a way that they support only the fundamental plasmonic mode yielding higher η. Scanning near-field optical measurements also confirm and corroborate the observations of far-field and near-field modeling (COMSOL multiphysics) results.

     

Directional Excitation of Surface Plasmon Polaritons by Circularly Polarized Vortex Beams

We investigate the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) using a metallic nanoaperture array illuminated by circularly polarized Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) vortex beams. The direction of SPP excitation is tunable by changing the circular polarization and topological charge of LG beams. The left- or right-handed circular polarization determines SPP propagation on either side of the nanoaperture array. Furthermore, varying the topological charge of LG beam will result in beam splitting of SPPs. We also utilize a composite nanoaperture array with different periods to achieve unidirectional excitation of SPPs. The study provides an interesting approach to control the excitation direction of SPPs and may find great applications in SPP generators and optical switches.

     

Broadband Plasmon-Induced Transparency in Plasmonic Metasurfaces Based on Bright-Dark-Bright Mode Coupling

Plasmon-induced transparency (PIT), an analog of electromagnetically induced transparency, originates from destructive interference of plasmonic resonators with different quality factors and brings about the extreme dispersion within the narrow transparency window, promising remarkable potential for slow light, nonlinear optics and biochemical sensors. However, sometimes a broad transmission frequency band is more desirable for other applications such as bandpass filters. In general, strong coupling between bright and dark plasmon modes in coupled resonant systems leads to wide transparency bandwidth at the PIT resonance. Based on multi-oscillator coupling theory, a metasurface structure consisting of three perpendicularly connected metallic nanobars is purposefully designed and numerically demonstrated to support broadband PIT spectral response. The near-field patterns indicate that the broadening of the transparent band results from the constructive interference of dual excitations of the single non-radiative (dark) resonator by the two radiative (bright) antennas. These results show that this scheme of bright-dark-bright mode coupling is significantly beneficial for designing filters operating over a broad frequency range.

     

Beam Manipulation by Hybrid Plasmonic-Dielectric Metasurfaces

A hybrid plasmonic-dielectric metasurface is proposed in order to manipulate beam propagation in desired manners. The metasurface is composed of patterned hybrid graphene-silicon nano-disks deposited on a low-index substrate, namely silica. It is shown that the proposed hybrid metasurface simultaneously benefits from the advantages of graphene-based metasurfaces and dielectric ones. Specially, we show that the proposed hybrid metasurface not only provides reconfigurability, just like previously proposed graphene-based metasurfaces, but also similar to dielectric metasurfaces, is of low loss and CMOS-compatible. Such exceptional features give the metasurface exceptional potentials to realize high efficient optical components. To demonstrate the latter point, focusing and anomalous reflection are performed making use of the proposed hybrid structure as examples of two well-known optical functionalities. This work opens up a new route in realization of reconfigurable meta-devices with widely real-world applications which cannot be achieved with their passive counterparts.

     

Ultrasensitive and Tunable Sensor Based on Plasmon-Induced Transparency in a Black Phosphorus Metasurface

We propose an ultrasensitive and tunable mid-infrared sensor based on plasmon-induced transparency (PIT) in a monolayer black phosphorus metasurface. Results show that there are two PIT windows, each of which occurs when the long axis of the metasurface is placed along the MBP’s armchair and zigzag crystal directions, respectively. The corresponding sensors based on these PIT effects show high sensitivities of 7.62 THz/RIU and 7.36 THz/RIU. Both PIT frequencies can be tuned statically by varying the geometric parameters or dynamically by changing the electron doping of monolayer black phosphorus, making the sensors adaptable to tackle with a variety of scenarios. We expect that this work will advance the engineering of metasurfaces based on monolayer black phosphorus and promote their sensing applications.

     

Highly Absorptive Chiral L-Shape MDM Plasmonic Metasurface as Multifunction Device: Design and Computational Studies

A multifunction plasmonic metasurface made of metal-dielectric-metal (MDM) layers is designed, and its chiral, absorption, and refractive index sensing properties are studied numerically using finite difference time domain (FDTD) computation. Top layer of the proposed novel metasurface consists of four L-shape gold strips arranged in a specific orientational sequence into a square unit cell whose period (along X direction and Y direction) is varied from 800 to 1400 nm in a step of 200 nm. The proposed super-structure shows highly chiral behaviour with multi bands circular dichroism (CD) between ~ 600 and 1200 nm with highest CD value of about 0.4. The CD spectral response is seen to be tunable with the structural parameters such as periods and appropriate L-strip length. True chiral nature of the proposed structure is cross-checked by computing its enantiomer that shows a mirror reflection of CD response of the original structure. Multi-work functionalities are investigated by studying perfect absorption and refractive index sensing properties of the metasurface. The study shows polarization independent multi-resonance spectral absorption that reaches to ~ 100% in some cases. On the other hand, refractive index sensing study shows high sensitivity (S) of 700–750 nm/RIU (per refractive index unit) with figure of merit (FOM) of 5–10. Owing to its exotic optical properties, the novel metasurface may be considered for chip level integration for multi-purpose work functionalities.

     

Effects of Dielectric Anisotropy on Surface Plasmon Polaritons in Three-Layer Plasmonic Nanostructures

The effects of highly anisotropic dielectric on surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) are investigated in several three-layer plasmonic nanostructures. Dispersion relations of SPPs in anisotropic-dielectric-metal (ADM), dielectric-anisotropic-metal (DAM), and metal-anisotropic-metal (MAM) structures are analytically derived. The numerical results in the visible indicate that, in ADM, the propagation length of a conductor-gap-dielectric mode is changed from 5.9 to 91 μm and its cutoff thickness from 83 to 7 nm with varying the optical axis, while in DAM, the influences of anisotropic dielectric are reversed on propagation length and cutoff thickness. In MAM, by tuning the optical axis, the light confinement of symmetry SPPs mode varies about 10 %. Further numerical calculations show that the above results induced by the anisotropy of dielectric can be extended to the telecommunication frequency. The improved mode properties may be used in plasmonic-based nanodevices and tunable single surface plasmon sources.     

Large Circular Dichroism in MDM Plasmonic Metasurface with Subwavelength Crescent Aperture

A metal–dielectric–metal planar chiral plasmonic metasurface is proposed and its circular dichroism (CD) property is numerically studied using finite difference time domain computation. The unit cell of planar plasmonic metasurface consists of crescent apertures that are arranged in a particular orientation. The proposed structure exhibits multiband circular dichroism at near-infrared wavelengths. By changing the orientational symmetry, the structure shows a drastic reduction in the circular dichroism. Passive controlling of orientational symmetry shows a systematic change in the sign of the CD. High incident angular tolerance of the planar chiral plasmonic metasurface (PCPM) to about 15° suggests the proposed structure might be useful for CD spectroscopy.

     

Near-Field Optical Imaging of a Porous Au Film: Influences of Topographic Artifacts and Surface Plasmons

In this work, near-field scanning optical microscopy is employed to study a porous Au film and the direct observation of topographic artifacts and surface plasmon influences is revealed. Under tip illumination, topographic artifacts are found to be present in a reflection mode optical image but not in a transmission mode image. A simple algorithm is used for filtering the topographic artifacts and extracting a correct near-field optical image approximately. On the other hand, surface plasmon influences are present in both modes. By using three exciting wavelengths of 488, 647.1, and 520.8 nm, it is confirmed that a suitable wavelength should be chosen for avoiding the surface plasmon interference in a near-field optical investigation of morphological or material dielectric contrast. Finally, plasmonic or nonplasmonic regions on the porous Au film can be identified from the observed optical intensity variation in the optical images obtained at incident polarizations of 0°, 90°, and 45°.     

Coupled Mode Demonstration of Slow-Light Plasmonic Sensor Based on Metasurface at Near-Infrared Region

In this paper, we theoretically and numerically reported a dual plasmon-induced transparency and the relevant sensing property in a multi-cross metasurface by the coupled mode analysis. A phase coupling model was established to characterize the optical response of this plasmonic sensor. It was found that the transparency windows were sensitive to the resonance mode of each metal strip, which was well demonstrated by the theoretical model. Both the sensing property and the slow light in this structure were discussed. A high figure of merit of 223 and sensitivity of 850 nm/RIU were achieved. In addition, the 1170-nm near-infrared light can be slowed down by nearly two order of magnitude with group delay of 0.45 ps in this sensor. These results may provide guidance for light-matter interaction-enhanced slow-light sensor and integrated optical circuit design.

     

Excitation and Optimization Modeling of Surface Plasmon Polaritons in a Concentric Circular Metallic Grating Film

Interaction behavior between surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) and Hankel-distributed diffracted waves (DWs) on a silver concentric circular grating film is studied using a rigorous coupled-wave technique for circular structure. It is shown that the numerical technique reveals the excitation characteristics of SPPs in the circular metal grating as well as provides an accurate calculation of SPP intensities for further optimization designs. Results show that the SPPs can be excited by various DWs through the control of wavelength and angle of the incident light. The most efficient excitation of SPPs from this circular metal grating structure can be obtained from the +1^st-order DW under a normal incidence with wavelength close to the grating period, and the optimal thickness and duty cycle of the grating are found to be 370 and 0.5 nm, respectively. It is shown that the optimized intensity of SPPs excited from circular metal grating can be higher than that from strip metal grating by over one order of magnitude.     

Plasmonic Focusing in Nanostructures

In this review, we show that by designing the metallic nanostructures, the surface plasmon (SP) focusing has been achieved, with the focusing spot at a subwavelength scale. The central idea is based on the principle of optical interference that the constructive superposition of SPs with phase matching can result in a considerable electric-field enhancement of SPs in the near field, exhibiting a pronounced focusing spot. We first reviewed several new designs for surface plasmon focusing by controlling the metallic geometry or incident light polarization: We made an in-plane plasmonic Fresnel zone plates, a counterpart in optics, which produces an obvious SP focusing effect; We also fabricated the symmetry broken nanocorrals which can provide the spatial phase difference for SPs, and then we propose another plasmon focusing approach by using semicircular nanoslits, which gives rise to the phase difference through changing refractive index of the medium in the nanoslits. Further, we showed that the spiral metallic nanostructure can be severed as plasmonic lens to control the plasmon focusing under a linearly polarized light with different angles.

     

A Near-field Nanosource Based on Surface Plasmon Bragg Reflectors and Nanocavity

We demonstrate a type of confined nanosource based on surface plasmon band-gap structure consisting of a nanocavity surrounded by grooves. A single, localized, and non-radiating central peak is obtained and can be used as a nanosource. The characteristics of the surface plasmon polariton (SPP) field in the vicinity of the structures with different geometrical parameters are investigated experimentally. A confined central peak is obtained in the nanocavity. The full width at half maximum of the central peak is beyond the diffraction limit and changes little during 600 nm distance away from the sample surface. With the modifications of the geometrical parameters, the central peak intensity can be enhanced and the sidelobes can be suppressed. The physical origin of the enhancement and the surface-sensitivity is explored theoretically. These phenomena demonstrate the abilities of the structures to collect the electromagnetic field and to tailor the SPP field profile. This type of SPP-based nanosource is promising to be applied in near-field imaging, data storage, optical manipulation, and localized spectrum excitation, and has potential applications in nano-photonics devices based on SPPs.     

Imaging and Characterizing Long-Range Surface Plasmon Polaritons Propagating in a Submillimeter Scale by Two-Color Two-Photon Photoelectron Emission Microscopy

Long-range surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), which propagate along metal/dielectric interfaces to submillimeter distances in the range of near-infrared (NIR) excitation wavelength, were examined by two-color two-photon photoelectron emission microscopy (2P-PEEM). Interferences between incident NIR photons and SPPs excited by the NIR photons at surface defects were imaged by detecting photoelectrons emitted from a gold surface, assisted by simultaneously irradiated ultraviolet photons which are to overcome the workfunction of the surface. The wavelength of the interference beat depends sensitively on the NIR wavelength. By analyzing the interference beat, the dispersion curve as well as phase and group velocities of SPP’s were experimentally obtained. The results closely match the theoretical one based on the Drude free electron model, indicating that two-color 2P-PEEM is applicable not only to the visualization of NIR-excited SPPs but also to the quantitative analysis of its physical properties. This method will be widely used to observe SPPs for various artificial plasmonic devices.     

Dynamically Switchable Multispectral Plasmon-Induced Transparency in Stretchable Metamaterials

We propose dynamically switchable multispectral plasmon-induced transparency (PIT) with high modulation depth in a three-dimensional metamaterial standing on a flexible substrate. The proposed metamaterial is composed of a pair of metal–insulator–metal (MIM) nano-cut-wires and a pair of insulator–metal–insulator (IMI) nano-cut-wires. Results show that two PIT windows can be achieved because of the near-field coupling between the dipole supported by the IMI nano-cut-wire and two quadrupoles supported by the MIM structures. These two PIT windows can be blue-shifted or even flipped over by stretching the substrate along one direction, or be switched off by stretching along the other direction. A classical coupled oscillator model is developed to quantitatively describe and explain these results. We expect this work will find promising applications in multispectral sensors, slow light devices and nonlinear optical devices.

     

Supercritical Angle Fluorescence Microscopy and Spectroscopy

Fluorescence detection, either involving propagating or near-field emission, is widely being used in spectroscopy, sensing, and microscopy. Total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) confines fluorescence excitation by an evanescent (near) field, and it is a popular contrast generator for surface-selective fluorescence assays. Its emission equivalent, supercritical angle fluorescence (SAF), is comparably less established, although it achieves a similar optical sectioning as TIRF does. SAF emerges when a fluorescing molecule is located very close to an interface and its near-field emission couples to the higher refractive index medium (n₂ > n₁) and becomes propagative. Then, most fluorescence is detectable on the side of the higher-index substrate, and a large fraction of this fluorescence is emitted into angles forbidden by Snell’s law. SAF, as well as the undercritical angle fluorescence (UAF; far-field emission) components, can be collected with microscope objectives having a high-enough detection aperture (numerical aperture > n₂) and be separated in the back focal plane by Fourier filtering. The back focal plane image encodes information about the fluorophore radiation pattern, and it can be analyzed to yield precise information about the refractive index in which the emitters are embedded, their nanometric distance from the interface, and their orientation. A SAF microscope can retrieve this near-field information through wide-field optics in a spatially resolved manner, and this functionality can be added to an existing inverted microscope. Here, we describe the potential underpinning of SAF microscopy and spectroscopy, particularly in comparison with TIRF. We review the challenges and opportunities that SAF presents from a biophysical perspective, and we discuss areas in which we see potential.     

Nano-Raman Spectroscopy: Surface Plasmon Emission, Field Gradients, and Fundamentally Near Field Propagation Effects

Nano-Raman spectra differ from far-field Raman spectra. The differences result from a strong electric field gradient near the metal tip, propagation, and polarization, but the dependence upon probe-sample distance can only be explained by the inclusion of surface plasmons and the near-field, non-propagating terms of the dipole emission. A simple model based upon these components accurately describes distance-dependent data measured with a near-field scanning optical microscope. Our essentially near-field model will apply generally to Raman spectroscopy near a nanoscale conductor.     

Hybrid Toroidal Resonance Response in Planar Core-Shell THz Metasurfaces

Toroidal resonance of planar structure is feasible and interesting for many appealing applications. We numerically and experimentally investigated the toroidal resonances in a planar metamaterial comprising core-shell structures and its constituent core and shell components at THz frequencies. The investigated structure demonstrated sharp toroidal and hybrid toroidal resonance modes in 0.2–0.3 THz range. Our analysis showed that these modes could be explained by the interaction of resonance toroidal modes of the shell and core components. The response of the investigated planar core-shell toroidal metasurface is notably geometry dependent and can be easily tuned by tailoring the device geometry. Presented work can be used for advanced THz photonics applications, including precise bio-sensing, narrow-band filters, fast-switching, and modulation.