Active Plasmonics: Electronic and All-optical Control of Photonic Signals on Sub-wavelength Scales
Lead Research Organisation:
Queen's University of Belfast
Department Name: Sch of Mathematics and Physics
Abstract
The term 'plasmonics' refers to the science and technology dealing with manipulation of electromagnetic signals by coherent coupling of photons to free electron oscillations at the interface between a conductor and a dielectric. This field of research has emerged as an extremely promising technology with several main fields of application: information technologies, energy, high-density data storage, life sciences and security. The opportunity to guide light in the form of surface plasmon waves on metallic films is attractive for the development of integrated photonic chips where the information can be processed all-optically without the need of electronic-to-optical and optical-to-electronic conversion, as well as for integrating photonics with silicon electronics on a fully compatible platform. Performance of optoelectronic devices, such as light emitting diodes and photodetectors, can also be improved by integrating them with plasmonic nanostructures. Recent research in plasmonics has led to significant progress in development of various passive plasmonic components, such as waveguides, plasmonic crystals, plasmonic metamaterials, with tailored photonic properties. Plasmonic studies have, however, almost exclusively concentrated on pure metallic nanostructures and passive devices with properties fixed by the nanostructure parameters. At the same time, real-life applications require active control to achieve signal switching and modulation, amplification to compensate losses along with the direct generation and detection of plasmons. All these can be realised if plasmonic nanostructures are hybridised with functional (molecular or ferroelectric) materials. Here we propose to develop and study hybrid plasmonic nanostructures consisting of nanostructured metals combined with dielectrics to enable active functionalities in plasmonic circuitry. This project will unlock the plasmonics' potential for improvement of real-world photonic and optoelectronic devices and provide insight into physical phenomena which are important for various areas of optical physics and photonic technologies.
Organisations
- Queen's University of Belfast (Lead Research Organisation)
- Australian Research Council (Collaboration)
- University College Cork (Collaboration)
- Argonne National Laboratory (Collaboration)
- Intel Corporation (Collaboration)
- National Physical Laboratory NPL (Project Partner)
- Intel Ireland Ltd (Project Partner)
Publications
Aouani H
(2013)
Plasmonic Nanoantennas for Multispectral Surface-Enhanced Spectroscopies
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Aouani H
(2014)
Third-harmonic-upconversion enhancement from a single semiconductor nanoparticle coupled to a plasmonic antenna.
in Nature nanotechnology
Aouani H
(2012)
Multiresonant broadband optical antennas as efficient tunable nanosources of second harmonic light.
in Nano letters
Appavoo K
(2012)
Role of defects in the phase transition of VO2 nanoparticles probed by plasmon resonance spectroscopy.
in Nano letters
Aubry A
(2010)
Interaction between plasmonic nanoparticles revisited with transformation optics.
in Physical review letters
Aubry A
(2011)
Plasmonic Hybridization between Nanowires and a Metallic Surface: A Transformation Optics Approach
in ACS Nano
Aubry A
(2010)
Broadband plasmonic device concentrating the energy at the nanoscale: The crescent-shaped cylinder
in Physical Review B
Aubry A
(2010)
Conformal transformation applied to plasmonics beyond the quasistatic limit
in Physical Review B
Aubry A
(2010)
Plasmonic Light-Harvesting Devices over the Whole Visible Spectrum
in Nano Letters
Ballester D
(2010)
Quantum theory of surface-plasmon polariton scattering
in Physical Review A
Benetou M
(2011)
Four-level polarization discriminator based on a surface plasmon polaritonic crystal
in Applied Physics Letters
Beresna M
(2010)
Poling-assisted fabrication of plasmonic nanocomposite devices in glass.
in Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)
Bolger P
(2010)
Amplified spontaneous emission of surface plasmon polaritons and limitations on the increase of their propagation length
in Optics Letters
Bouillard J
(2010)
Optical transmission of periodic annular apertures in metal film on high-refractive index substrate: The role of the nanopillar shape
in Applied Physics Letters
Bouillard JS
(2012)
Low-temperature plasmonics of metallic nanostructures.
in Nano letters
Bouillard JS
(2010)
Hyperspectral imaging with scanning near-field optical microscopy: applications in plasmonics.
in Optics express
Bouillard JS
(2012)
Broadband and broadangle SPP antennas based on plasmonic crystals with linear chirp.
in Scientific reports
Centeno A
(2011)
Light absorption and field enhancement in two-dimensional arrays of closely spaced silver nanoparticles
in Journal of the Optical Society of America B
Chen YG
(2013)
Hybrid phase-change plasmonic crystals for active tuning of lattice resonances.
in Optics express
Chettiar UK
(2012)
Enhancement of radiation from dielectric waveguides using resonant plasmonic coreshells.
in Optics express
Daskalakis K
(2014)
Nonlinear interactions in an organic polariton condensate
Daskalakis KS
(2014)
Nonlinear interactions in an organic polariton condensate.
in Nature materials
Davies P
(2013)
Plasmonic Nanogap Tilings: Light-Concentrating Surfaces for Low-Loss Photonic Integration
in ACS Nano
Di Martino G
(2012)
Quantum Statistics of Surface Plasmon Polaritons in Metallic Stripe Waveguides
in Nano Letters
Di Martino G
(2014)
Observation of Quantum Interference in the Plasmonic Hong-Ou-Mandel Effect
in Physical Review Applied
Doherty M
(2010)
Wavelength Dependence of Raman Enhancement from Gold Nanorod Arrays: Quantitative Experiment and Modeling of a Hot Spot Dominated System
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Doherty M
(2013)
Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering from Metallic Nanostructures: Bridging the Gap between the Near-Field and Far-Field Responses
in Physical Review X
Duan H
(2012)
Nanoplasmonics: classical down to the nanometer scale.
in Nano letters
Einsle JF
(2011)
Hybrid FIB milling strategy for the fabrication of plasmonic nanostructures on semiconductor substrates.
in Nanoscale research letters
Einsle JF
(2012)
Directed self-assembly of nanorod networks: bringing the top down to the bottom up.
in Nanotechnology
Fedyanin DY
(2012)
Surface plasmon polariton amplification upon electrical injection in highly integrated plasmonic circuits.
in Nano letters
Fernandez-Garcia R
(2013)
Use of a gold reflecting-layer in optical antenna substrates for increase of photoluminescence enhancement.
in Optics express
Fernández-Domínguez A
(2012)
Transformation optics description of touching metal nanospheres
in Physical Review B
Fernández-Domínguez AI
(2012)
Theory of three-dimensional nanocrescent light harvesters.
in Nano letters
Fernández-Domínguez AI
(2012)
Transformation-optics description of nonlocal effects in plasmonic nanostructures.
in Physical review letters
Foreman M
(2012)
Independence of plasmonic near-field enhancements to illumination beam profile
in Physical Review B
Francescato Y
(2012)
Plasmonic systems unveiled by Fano resonances.
in ACS nano
Gambari J
(2010)
Thresholdless coherent light scattering from subband polaritons in a strongly coupled microcavity
in Physical Review B
García-Meca C
(2011)
Low-Loss Multilayered Metamaterial Exhibiting a Negative Index of Refraction at Visible Wavelengths
in Physical Review Letters
Giannini V
(2011)
Fano resonances in nanoscale plasmonic systems: a parameter-free modeling approach.
in Nano letters
Giannini V
(2011)
Plasmonic nanoantennas: fundamentals and their use in controlling the radiative properties of nanoemitters.
in Chemical reviews
Giannini V
(2010)
Controlling light localization and light-matter interactions with nanoplasmonics.
in Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany)
Ginzburg P
(2013)
Cascaded second-order surface plasmon solitons due to intrinsic metal nonlinearity
in New Journal of Physics
Ginzburg P
(2013)
Linewidth enhancement in spasers and plasmonic nanolasers.
in Optics express
Ginzburg P
(2012)
Analogue of the quantum Hanle effect and polarization conversion in non-Hermitian plasmonic metamaterials.
in Nano letters
Ginzburg P
(2013)
Manipulating polarization of light with ultrathin epsilon-near-zero metamaterials.
in Optics express
Ginzburg P
(2012)
Nonlinearly coupled localized plasmon resonances: Resonant second-harmonic generation
in Physical Review B
Ginzburg P
(2012)
Non-exponential decay of dark localized surface plasmons.
in Optics express
Gu J
(2012)
Active control of electromagnetically induced transparency analogue in terahertz metamaterials.
in Nature communications
Kabashin AV
(2009)
Plasmonic nanorod metamaterials for biosensing.
in Nature materials
Related Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Award Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EP/H000917/1 | 31/08/2009 | 30/09/2010 | £5,176,637 | ||
| EP/H000917/2 | Transfer | EP/H000917/1 | 30/09/2010 | 30/08/2015 | £4,462,875 |
| Title | In Nanophotonics Lab: Hyperspectral SNOM (a short film by Fanny Hoetzeneder) |
| Description | A short movie filmed in our lab. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2012 |
| Impact | General Public engagement |
| URL | http://vimeo.com/59812566 |
| Title | Nano Nail (by Imogen Clarke) |
| Description | Nano Nail is an artistic installation with nanoscale features in human body. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2014 |
| Impact | Public Engagement, student recruitment, tells general public about nano |
| URL | http://imogen-clarke.4ormat.com/nano-nail#0 |
| Title | Nano Sublimation (by Nedyalka Panova) |
| Description | NANO Sublimation is an installation depicting in conceptual way plasmonic metamaterial. |
| Type Of Art | Artwork |
| Year Produced | 2013 |
| Impact | Was exhibited in art galleries in London. Currently permanently exhibited at Physics Department at King's College. General public engagement, student recruitment. |
| URL | http://www.nedyalkapanova.com/ |
| Description | The term 'plasmonics' refers to the science and technology dealing with manipulation of electromagnetic signals by coherent coupling of photons to free electron oscillations at the interface between a conductor and a dielectric. This field of research has emerged as an extremely promising technology with several main fields of application: information technologies, energy, high-density data storage, life sciences and security. The opportunity to guide light in the form of surface plasmon waves on metallic films is attractive for the development of integrated photonic chips where the information can be processed all-optically without the need of electronic-to-optical and optical-to-electronic conversion, as well as for integrating photonics with silicon electronics on a fully compatible platform. Performance of optoelectronic devices, such as light emitting diodes and photodetectors, can also be improved by integrating them with plasmonic nanostructures. Recent research in plasmonics has led to significant progress in development of various passive plasmonic components, such as waveguides, plasmonic crystals, plasmonic metamaterials, with tailored photonic properties. We have developed plasmonic applications beyond traditional passive devices to achieve plasmonic circuitry components with active functionalities: sources, detectors, modulators and switches, allowing efficient generation and manipulation of optical signals at the nanoscale. Plasmonic nanolasers, including ultrafast nanolasers were developed. Ultrafast (sup 1 ps) switches based on plasmonic materials demonstrated integratable with plasmonic, Si-photonics and other types of phtonic circuitries. Active control to achieve signal switching and modulation, amplification to compensate losses along with the direct generation and detection of plasmons were achieved. All these were realised in plasmonic nanostructures hybridised with functional (molecular or ferroelectric) materials. |
| Exploitation Route | We are exploring ways to licence our patents and created a start-up company. |
| Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Electronics Other |
| URL | http://www.activeplasmonics.org |
| Description | 4 patents have been applied for. Start-up company "Causeway Photonics" created. Nanophotonics Foresight report was instrumental for defining H2020 Photonics workprogramme. Outreach to general public through collaborations with artists. |
| Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Other |
| Impact Types | Cultural Economic Policy & public services |
| Description | Contribution to Europen Nanophotonics Foresight Report |
| Geographic Reach | Asia |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| URL | http://www.nanophotonicseurope.org/ |
| Description | Nanophotonics: A Forward Look |
| Geographic Reach | Asia |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| URL | http://www.nanophotonicseurope.org/ |
| Description | FET CCA |
| Amount | € 640,000 (EUR) |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Department | Horizon 2020 |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 01/2017 |
| End | 12/2018 |
| Description | Argonne |
| Organisation | Argonne National Laboratory |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Investigation on nonlinear and ultrafast response of plasmonic nanostructures |
| Collaborator Contribution | User access to the ultrafast spectroscopy facilities |
| Impact | Publications, conference papers, exchange visits, internal ANL collaborative grants |
| Start Year | 2010 |
| Description | CUDOS |
| Organisation | Australian Research Council |
| Department | Centre for Ultrahigh bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems (CUDOS) |
| Country | Australia |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Collaboration on theory of plasmonic devices |
| Collaborator Contribution | Collaboration on theory of plasmonic devices |
| Impact | Publications, conference papers, joint grant applications |
| Start Year | 2011 |
| Description | INTEL |
| Organisation | Intel Corporation |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Reserach in plasmonic on-chip interconnects |
| Collaborator Contribution | part-funding of a PhD student, Advisory Board |
| Impact | Publications, conference papers |
| Start Year | 2009 |
| Description | Tyndall |
| Organisation | University College Cork |
| Department | Tyndall National Institute |
| Country | Ireland |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Design and characterisation of plasmonic-enhanced VCSEL lasers for high-density data storage applications |
| Collaborator Contribution | Fabrication of plasmonic-enhanced VCSEL lasers for high-density data storage applications |
| Impact | Publications, conference papers |
| Start Year | 2010 |
| Company Name | Causeway Sensors |
| Description | Causeway Sensors develops nanotechnology designed to provide kinetic analysis during biotherapeutic production to improve candidate selection for drug discovery. |
| Year Established | 2013 |
| Impact | Customers include biology laboratories in academia, Institute laboratories and diverse industry. |
| Website | http://www.causewaysensors.com |
| Description | London Science Festival 2011 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Our image "Plasmonic ring-resonator" was a joint (with the other image) best-seller. Public could buy prints of the exhibited image with proceed for charity. Generated lots of interest in general public in science and photonics in particular. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| URL | http://londonsciencefestival.com/ |