This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 9927, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, and Conference Committee listing.

We review principles and applications of nanophotonic devices based on electromagnetic resonance effects in thin periodic films. We discuss the fundamental resonance dynamics that are based on lateral Bloch modes excited by evanescent diffraction orders in these subwavelength devices. Theoretical and experimental results for selected example devices are furnished. Ultra-sparse nanogrids with duty cycle less than 10% are shown to provide substantially wide reflection bands and operate as effective polarizers. Narrow-passband resonant filters with extensive low sidebands are presented with focus on the zero-contrast grating architecture. This study is extended to long-wave operation in the THz region. Examples of fabricated guided-mode resonance devices with outstanding performance are given. This includes an unpolarized wideband reflector using serial single-layer reflectors, an ultra-sparse silicon nanowire grid as wideband reflector and polarizer, resonant bandpass filter with wide low sidebands, and a spatial/spectral filter permitting compact nonfocusing spatial filtering. The guided-mode resonance concept applies in all spectral regions, from the visible band to the microwave domain, with available low-loss materials.

Waveguide networks are essential to gain control over photons on a chip-scale level, for applications in, e.g., optical communication, light routing, and even quantum simulation. Quantum simulators on a chip use highly controllable pairs of single photons to shed light onto the role of entanglement in interacting many-body systems. We build three-dimensional waveguide networks on a chip using a commercial system for direct laser writing in a low fluorescent photoresist on a silica substrate and air cladding. Due to our capability to fabricate three-dimensional structures, we use special coupling structures, that enable addressing all input and output ports of our waveguide network through the substrate via one microscope objective simultaneously. Since the photoresist shows low fluorescence for excitation at 532 nm, we will be able to integrate single quantum emitters, such as color centers in diamond, into the waveguide, acting as integrated single quantum system. Here we present our current arc shaped coupling structure, discuss the limits of the single mode-operation of the waveguides and show first beamsplitting devices. We analyze the contributions to the damping in our network, including the bend loss for bend radii smaller than 10 µm.

Thanks to its high quality and low cost, silicon is the material of choice for optical devices operating in the mid-infrared (MIR; 2 μm to 6 μm wavelength). Unfortunately in this spectral region, the refractive index is comparably high (about 3.5) and leads to severe reflection losses of about 30% per interface.

In this work, we demonstrate that self-organized, statistical Black Silicon structures, fabricated by Inductively Coupled Plasma Reactive Ion Etching (ICP-RIE), can be used to effectively suppress interface reflection. More importantly, it is shown that antireflection can be achieved in an image-preserving, non-scattering way. This enables Black Silicon antireflection structures (ARS) for imaging applications in the MIR. It is demonstrated that specular transmittances of 97% can be easily achieved on both flat and curved substrates, e.g. lenses. Moreover, by a combined optical and morphological analysis of a multitude of different Black Silicon ARS, an effective medium criterion for the examined structures is derived that can also be used as a design rule for maximizing sample transmittance in a desired wavelength range. In addition, we show that the mechanical durability of the structures can be greatly enhanced by coating with hard dielectric materials like diamond-like carbon (DLC), hence enabling practical applications.

Finally, the distinct advantages of statistical Black Silicon ARS over conventional AR layer stacks are discussed: simple applicability to topological substrates, absence of thermal stress and cost-effectiveness.

Spectrally-selective nanophotonic and plasmonic structures enjoy widespread interest for application as color filters in imaging devices, due to their potential advantages over traditional organic dyes and pigments. Organic dyes are straightforward to implement with predictable optical performance at large pixel size, but suffer from inherent optical cross-talk and stability (UV, thermal, humidity) issues and also exhibit increasingly unpredictable performance as pixel size approaches dye molecule size. Nanophotonic and plasmonic color filters are more robust, but often have polarization- and angle-dependent optical response and/or require large-range periodicity. Herein, we report on design and fabrication of polarization- and angle-insensitive CYM color filters based on a-Si nanopillar arrays as small as 1um2, supported by experiment, simulation, and analytic theory. Analytic waveguide and Mie theories explain the color filtering mechanism-- efficient coupling into and interband transition-mediated attenuation of waveguide-like modes—and also guided the FDTD simulation-based optimization of nanopillar array dimensions. The designed a-Si nanopillar arrays were fabricated using e-beam lithography and reactive ion etching; and were subsequently optically characterized, revealing the predicted polarization- and angle-insensitive (±40°) subtractive filter responses. Cyan, yellow, and magenta color filters have each been demonstrated. The effects of nanopillar array size and inter-array spacing were investigated both experimentally and theoretically to probe the issues of ever-shrinking pixel sizes and cross-talk, respectively. Results demonstrate that these nanopillar arrays maintain their performance down to 1um2 pixel sizes with no inter-array spacing. These concepts and results along with color-processed images taken with a fabricated color filter array will be presented and discussed.

Nano-optical wire grid polarizers to control the polarization, a fundamental property of light, are of great importance in many optical applications. This importance originates from several advantageous properties, such as large acceptance angle, large clear aperture and simple integration into optical systems. However, due to fabrication and material requirements at short wavelengths particularly in the ultraviolet spectral range the realization is sophisticated. In this contribution we demonstrate the design and fabrication of a titanium dioxide wire grid polarizer for the wavelength range from about 190 nm to 280 nm. Thereby, an unprecedented extinction ratio of 384 and a transmittance of 10 % is achieved at a wavelength of 193 nm and an extinction ratio of 774 and a transmittance of 16% at a wavelength of 248 nm, respectively. Furthermore, the correlation between the polarization performance and a specific feature in the transmittance of transverse-magnetic light which occurs at a wavelength of about 370 nm, i.e. well above the application wavelength, is discussed. The characterization of this feature enables a performance prediction without performing elaborate polarimetry in the far ultraviolet. This facilitates a simple inline or even insitu fabrication process control.

Silicon nanowires have unique optical effects, and have potential applications in photodetectors. They can exhibit simple optical effects such as anti-reflection, but can also produce quantum confined effects. In this work, we have fabricated silicon photodetectors, and then post-processed them by etching nanowires on the incident surface. These nanowires were produced by a wet-chemical etching process known as the metal-assisted-chemical etching, abbreviated as MACE. N-type silicon substrates were doped by thermal diffusion from a solid ceramic source, followed by etching, patterning and contact metallization. The detectors were first tested for functionality and optical performance. The nanowires were then made by depositing an ultra-thin film of gold below its percolation thickness to produce an interconnected porous film. This was then used as a template to etch high aspect ratio nanowires into the face of the detectors with a HF:H₂O₂ mixture.

We investigated forming of high refractive index (n), low extinction coefficient (k) of Si dielectrics in visible wavelength ranges. To decrease k, pulsed green laser annealing (GLA) with line beam of a 532-nm wavelength was applied in this study for homogeneous melting. By AFM, XRD and TEM analysis, we examined the defect reduction in various conditions during poly-crystallization. We achieved dielectric nanostructures having optical properties of n>4.2, k<0.06 at 550 nm wavelength and fine pitches down to 40 nm (aspect ratio 3:1) and 130 nm (aspect ratio 7:1) with ±5% size accuracy. Finally, we realized optical metasurfaces for optical band filters, flat lens and beam deflectors.

Fabrication of dual-width plasmonic gratings with sub-10 nm gaps has been made possible by a recently developed technique. Studying the effects of various material and geometrical parameters on the optical response of these gratings will prove useful to future fabrication of devices. The ability to tune the widths of both wires in the periodic array allows for optimization of the response based not only on one nanowire geometry, but the hybridization of the two. The structures hold potential to be used as a substrate for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) in the detection of different chemical analytes, with biosensing as a major area of interest. The ability to tune the structures to different wavelengths makes this a potentially attractive method of fabricating sensor substrates capable of enhancing otherwise weak analyte signals. Here, preliminary computational results are shown for a study of the effects of a SiO2 layer on the substrate containing a plasmonic grating

Rare-earth activated upconversion material is receiving renewed attention for their potential applications in bioimaging and solar energy conversion. Plasmon resonance can enhance the upconversion efficiency but the enhancement mechanism remained unclear due to the inherent complexity of upconversion process. In this study, we synthesized NaYF4:Yb3+,Er3+ upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) and modified the surface with an amphiphilic polymer, (poly(maleic anhydride-alt-octadecene) (PMAO), which makes UCNPs water-soluble and negatively charged. This in turn enables electrostatic self-assembly of UCNPs. We fabricated silver nanograting using laser-interference lithography and deposited 3 monolayers of UNCPs by polyelectrolyte-mediated layer-by-layer self-assembly process. It is noted that all the fabrication processes are scalable. We then conducted a comprehensive photoluminescence (PL) and transient PL spectroscopy. We observed up to 39x enhancement in PL intensity. A combination of numerical simulations, rate equation analysis and transient PL spectroscopy revealed that the total enhancement is made of 3.1x absorption enhancement and 2.7x energy transfer rate enhancement. The absorption enhancement makes the most contribution because the upconverted PL intensity varies quadratically with the absorption. This study represents the first experimental observation of plasmon enhanced energy transfer rate in UCNPs. It contributes to the long debate on the plasmon enhancement of Förster energy transfer process. Finally, we developed a new numerical modeling tool that can faithfully simulate the highly non-uniform light absorption and carrier generation in the plasmon enhanced photovoltaic devices. We used the tool to precisely predict the performance of photovoltaic devices incorporating plasmon enhanced upconversion and offer guidelines for upconversion photovoltaic devices.

Light-matter interaction involving photons with large period τ of ~ 3 fs (10^-15 s) and above, i.e. infrared (IR) to microand radio-waves, displays interesting properties so far mostly unexplored. These photons indeed can produce voltages after activating charges or currents. For example, in the literature it is demonstrated that animals and plants neural system (which is similar to a system consisting of capacitors in series) can be stimulated by IR photons. Additionally, radio waves can activate currents in antennas. However, a systematic investigation of the voltages and currents produced, of the charge density changes, and of the number of photons involved is missing. Here we initiate the investigation of the voltages produced by a capacitor-type device. We shine broadband IR light in the middle IR region (MIR) at a power of 25 mW onto capacitors with capacitance C from 30 to 300 pF. We observe that the voltage produced increases with decreasing C while developing negligible temperature changes. Further increases can be obtained by increasing τ and, modestly, by deviating from normal incidence the angle of incidence θ between the IR light and the illuminated plate of the capacitor. Specifically, here we compare τ in the MIR and far IR (FIR) regions, and θ from 0° (normal incidence) to 45°. The effects of the power of the light will be explored in the near future. These results suggest that it is possible to harvest and transform IR, micro- and radio-waves into usable and sustainable electricity.

Recently, the portable and wearable electronic devices, operated in the power range of microwatt to miliwatt, become available thank to the nanotechnology development and become an essential element for a comfortable life. Our recent research interest mainly focuses on the fabrication of piezoelectric nanogenerators based on smart nanomaterials such as zinc oxide novel nanostructure, M13 bacteriophage. In this talk, we present a simple strategy for fabricating the freestanding ZnO nanorods/graphene/ZnO nanorods double sided heterostructures. The characterization of the double sided heterostructures by using SEM, and Raman scattering spectroscopy reveals the key process and working mechanism of a formation of the heterostructure. The mechanism is discussed in detail in term of the decomposed seed layer and the vacancy defect of graphene. The approach consists of a facile one-step fabrication process and could achieve ZnO coverage with a higher number density than that of the epitaxial single heterostructure. The resulting improvement in the number density of nanorods has a direct beneficial effect on the double side heterostructured nanogenerator performance. The total output voltage and current density are improved up to~2 times compared to those of a single heterostructure due to the coupling of the piezoelectric effects from both upward and downward grown nanorods. The facile one-step fabrication process suggests that double sided heterostructures would improve the performance of electrical and optoelectrical device, such as touch pad, pressure sensor, biosensor and dye-sensitized solar cells. Further, ioinspired nanogenerators based on vertically aligned phage nanopillars are inceptively demonstrated. Vertically aligned phage nanopillars enable not only a high piezoelectric response but also a tuneable piezoelectricity. Piezoelectricity is also modulated by tuning of the protein's dipoles in each phage. The sufficient electrical power from phage nanopillars thus holds promise for the development of self-powered implantable and wearable electronics.

For the first time we have derived an equation for the temperature (T) dependent work function (W(T)) containing terms up to fifth power of T which gives a modified Richardson-Dushman (MRDE) equation that fits excellently well the experimental data of thermionic current density, J vs temperature, T data for suspended monolayer graphene. It provides a unique technique for accurate determination of work function, W0, Fermi energy, EF0 at 0 K and surface density of charge carriers, ns of graphene. The corresponding values obtained for monolayer suspended graphene are: W₀ = 4.592 ± 0.002 eV, E_F0 = 0.203 ± 0.002 eV; n_s = 3.16x10¹² cm^-2. The model gives us unique method of determination of the Fermi energy of graphene as a function of temperature. The values of thermal expansion coefficient, α and surface density of charge, ns obtained with the use of the model are in excellent agreement with experiments. We also find that the model explains fairly well the J vs T data for carbon nanotubes, which is reported in a separate paper.

Nano devices can be used as building blocks for Internet of Nano-Things network devices, such as sensors/actuators, transceivers, and routers. Although nano particles response can be engineered to fit in different regimes, for such a nano particle to be used as an active nano device, its properties should be dynamically controlled. This controllability is a challenge, and there are many proposed techniques to tune nanoparticle response on the spot through a sort of control signal, wither that signal is optical (for all-optical systems) or electronic (for opto-electronic systems). This will allow the use of nano particles as nano-switches or as dynamic sensors that can pick different frequencies depending on surrounding conditions or depending on a smart decisions. In this work, we propose a piezoelectric substrate as an active control mediator to control plasmonic gaps in nano dimers. This method allows for integrating nano devices with regular electronics while communicating control signals to nano devices through applying electric signals to a piezoelectric material, in order to control the gaps between nano particles in a nano cluster. We do a full numerical study to the system, analyzing the piezoelectric control resolution (minimum gap change step) and its effect on a nanodimer response as a nanoantenna. This analysis considers the dielectric functions of materials within the visible frequencies range. The effects of different parameters, such as the piezoelectric geometrical structure and materials, on the gap control resolution and the operating frequency are studied.

Scanning electron microscopes (SEM) are used extensively in research and advanced manufacturing for materials characterization, metrology and process control. Unfortunately, noise can limit the specimen-specific detail and the information that can be acquired in any SEM micrograph, or measurement made from those data. The majority of SEM measurements are done at low primary electron beam currents and fast imaging mode resulting in rather noisy signals - often too noisy. The amount and the type of the noise and the steps taken to deal with it are critical to the quality and amount of the information gathered. This fifth presentation, in this series of SEM dimensional metrology tutorial papers, discusses some of the various causes of measurement uncertainty in scanned particle beam instruments specifically dealing with signal-to-noise (SNR) and its contribution to measurement imprecision.

The detection sensitivity of synchrotron-based X-ray techniques has been largely improved due to the ever increasing source brightness, which have significantly advanced ex-situ and in-situ research for energy materials, such as lithium-ion batteries. However, the strong beam-matter interaction arisen from the high beam flux can significantly modify the material structure. The parasitic beam-induced effect inevitably interferes with the intrinsic material property, which brings difficulties in interpreting experimental results, and therefore requires comprehensive evaluation. Here we present a quantitative in-situ study of the beam-effect on one electrode material Ag2VO2PO4 using four different X-ray probes with different radiation dose rate. The material system we reported exhibits interesting and reversible radiation-induced thermal and chemical reactions, which was further evaluated under electron microscopy to illustrate the underlying mechanism. The work we presented here will provide a guideline in using synchrotron X-rays to distinguish the materials’ intrinsic behavior from extrinsic structure changed induced by X-rays, especially in the case of in-situ and operando study where the materials are under external field of either temperature or electric field.

In this work we apply a new laser scanning apparatus in multiple ways to measure various aspects of in-process and final silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers in high volume manufacturing (HVM). The laser scanner enables high-spatialresolution whole-wafer metrology of topographic features, film thickness variation, and two scattering channels, while bridging between 200 mm and 300 mm diameters on a single platform.

Extreme optical fabrication projects known as EUV and X-ray optic systems, which are representative of today’s advanced optical manufacturing technology level, have special requirements for the optical surface quality. In synchroton radiation (SR) beamlines, mirrors of high shape accuracy is always used in grazing incidence. In nanolithograph systems, middle spatial frequency errors always lead to small-angle scattering or flare that reduces the contrast of the image. The slope error is defined for a given horizontal length, the increase or decrease in form error at the end point relative to the starting point is measured. The quality of reflective optical elements can be described by their deviation from ideal shape at different spatial frequencies. Usually one distinguishes between the figure error, the low spatial error part ranging from aperture length to 1mm frequencies, and the mid-high spatial error part from 1mm to 1 μm and from1 μm to some 10 nm spatial frequencies, respectively. Firstly, this paper will disscuss the relationship between slope error and middle spatial frequency error, which both describe the optical surface error along with the form profile. Then, experimental researches will be conducted on a high gradient precise aspheric with pitch tool, which aim to restraining the middle spatial frequency error.

Nanometric lateral standards are essential to nanometrology. Using laser-focused atomic deposition, a one-dimensional (1D) grating has been manufactured. The pitch of the grating is 212.8 nm, which can be traced to the laser wavelength that is accurately locked to the 52Cr atomic resonance transition ⁷S₃ →⁷P₄⁰. In this paper, the uniformity rather than the pitch accuracy of the 1D grating was evaluated using atomic force microscope (AFM). Based on the center-of-gravity method, the average pitch and the nonuniformity of the grating pitch were calculated. The results show that the average pitch of the grating is 213.2 nm which deviates from the design pitch due to the calibration of AFM, and the nonuniformity of the grating is 0.1 nm. The results preliminarily prove that 1D grating fabricated by laser-focused atomic deposition has good uniformity, and has great potential to become nanometric reference material for AFM and scanning electron microscope (SEM) calibration.

One-dimensional multilayer gratings were prepared by four steps. A periodic Si/SiO₂ multilayer was firstly deposited on Si substrate using a magnetron sputtering coating process. Then, the multilayer was been bonded and split into small pieces by diamond wire cutting. The side-wall of the cut sample was subsequently grinded and polished until the surface roughness was less than 1nm. Finally, the SiO₂ layers were selective etched using hydrofluoric acid to form the grating structure. In the above steps, special attentions were given to optimize the etching processes to achieve a uniform and smooth grating pattern. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) was used to characterize the multilayer gratings. The pitch size of the grating was evaluated by an offline image analysis algorithm and optimized processes are discussed.

In this study we introduce Gallium Nitride (GaN) nanowire (NW) as high aspect ratio tip with excellent durability for nano-scale metrology. GaN NWs have superior mechanical property and young modulus compare to commercial Si and Carbon tips which results in having less bending issue during measurement. The GaN NWs are prepared via two different methods: i) Catalyst-free selected area growth, using Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD), ii) top-down approach by employing Au nanoparticles as the mask material in dry-etch process. To achieve small diameter tips, the semipolar planes of the NWs grown by MOCVD are etched using AZ400k. The diameter of the NWs fabricated using the top down process is controlled by using different size of nanoparticles and by Inductively Coupled Plasma etching. NWs with various diameters were manipulated on Si cantilevers using Focus Ion Beam (FIB) to make tips for AFM measurement. A Si (110) substrate containing nano-scale grooves with vertical 900 walls were used as a sample for inspection. AFM measurements were carried out in tapping modes for both types of nanowires (top-down and bottom-up grown nanowires) and results are compared with conventional Si and carbon nanotube tips. It is shown our fabricated tips are robust and have improved edge resolution over conventional Si tips. GaN tips made with NW’s fabricated using our top down method are also shown to retain the gold nanoparticle at tip, which showed enhanced field effects in Raman spectroscopy.

Focused ion beam technology is combined with dynamic chemical etching to create microcavities in tapered optical fiber tips, resulting in fiber probes for temperature and refractive index sensing. Dynamic chemical etching uses hydrofluoric acid and a syringe pump to etch standard optical fibers into cone structures called tapered fiber tips where the length, shape, and cone angle can be precisely controlled. On these tips, focused ion beam is used to mill several different types of Fabry-Perot microcavities. Two main cavity types are initially compared and then combined to form a third, complex cavity structure. In the first case, a gap is milled on the tapered fiber tip which allows the external medium to penetrate the light guiding region and thus presents sensitivity to external refractive index changes. In the second, two slots that function as mirrors are milled on the tip creating a silica cavity that is only sensitive to temperature changes. Finally, both cavities are combined on a single tapered fiber tip, resulting in a multi-cavity structure capable of discriminating between temperature and refractive index variations. This dual characterization is performed with the aid of a fast Fourier transform method to separate the contributions of each cavity and thus of temperature and refractive index. Ultimately, a tapered optical fiber tip probe with sub-standard dimensions containing a multi-cavity structure is projected, fabricated, characterized and applied as a sensing element for simultaneous temperature and refractive index discrimination.

The electronics fabrication without using conventional deposition and photolithography has attracted an intense interest in the modern technology. The direct metal pattering based on the laser local sintering of nano ink is one of the alternative manufacturing methods. In this sintering process, some researchers have shown the mechanism of the heating particle. In this paper, we discuss the theoretical analysis of sintering process about silver and copper nanoparticles. For analyzing the sintering process, we use Shi’s model to calculating the melting temperature and surface melting temperature with variation of the particle size. The absorption cross section with respect to wavelength of laser and particle size is calculated by Mie theory. From the results, we suggest the minimum energy per unit area of laser with respect to particle size and wavelength of the laser for the sintering process. These results suggest that the longer the wavelength of the laser, the higher minimum energy for sintering process in copper case. In the silver case, the wavelength of the laser has to be close to 350 nm which is near to the surface plasmon resonance frequency of the silver for minimum energy per unit area.

This study focused on UV-curable acrylic hybrid of solute in vacuum-deposited on the surface and make it smooth. On the surface coating of the entire process, including the pre-treatment of organic solutes, vacuum, nozzle pressure, airflow, frequency ratio, the surface of the rotation rate, nozzle angle, UV light irradiation time, waste solute recycling.Organic solutes through a flow meter and precise measured,by high pressure or vibration of a piezoelectric material, spray our organic solute in a certain degree of vacuum,leaving nozzle of tiny micro-mist volatiles in a vacuum to form secondary atomization,deposited our surface,Since no UV light irradiation, the surface is a liquid having fluidity, so the non-planar substrates can have good performance, finally it is irradiated by UV light of sufficient energy solidify to form a solid film.The advantage of this approach is that a smooth surface,Strong adhesion, low-cost equipment, low temperature, a wide range of high deposition rate can be combined with other deposition method,Under vacuum have not waste because excess paint can be recycled.Avoid solute direct contact with human, relative to the environment-friendly.

The continuous downscaling of interconnect dimensions in combination with the introduction of low-k dielectrics has increased the number of heat dissipation, integration and reliability challenges in modern electronics. As a result, there is a strong need for new materials that have high current-carrying capacity for applications as nanoscale interconnects. In this presentation, we show that quasi-one-dimensional (1D) van der Waals metals such as TaSe3 have excellent breakdown current density exceeding that of 5 MA/cm2. This value is above that currently achievable in conventional copper or aluminum wires. The quasi-1D van der Waals materials are characterized by strong bonds along one dimension and weak van der Waals bonds along two other dimensions. The material for this study was grown by the chemical vapor transport (CVT) method. Both mechanical and chemical exfoliation methods were used to fabricate nanowires with lateral dimensions below 100 nm. The dimensions of the quasi-1D nanowires were verified with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The metal (Ti/Au) contacts for the electrical characterization were deposited using electron beam evaporation (EBE). The measurements were conducted on a number of prototype interconnects with multiple electric contacts to ensure reproducibility. The obtained results suggest that quasi-1D van der Waals metals present a feasible alternative to conventional copper interconnects in terms of the current-carrying capacity and the breakdown current-density. This work was supported, in part, by the SRC and DARPA through STARnet Center for Function Accelerated nanoMaterial Engineering (FAME).

The orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light offers a promising solution to today’s overwhelming demand of bandwidth and has known an increasing attention as a new degree of freedom in the telecom field. Here we present the design, fabrication and optical characterization of miniaturized phase-only diffractive optical elements (DOE) for OAM beams generation, multiplexing and sorting. Samples have been fabricated with high-resolution electron-beam lithography and exhibit high fabrication quality. Different DOE designs are presented for the sorting of optical vortices with different steering geometries in far-field and applications in free-space and optical fibers.

Multispectral imaging has the capability to identify the state of objects based on their spectral characteristics. These are features not available with conventional color imaging based on metameric RGB (red, green and blue) colors alone. Current multispectral imaging systems use narrowband filters to capture the spectral content of a scene, which necessitates different filters to be designed and applied for each application. Previously, we demonstrated the concept of Fourier multispectral imaging using filters with sinusoidally varying transmittance [1, 2]. In this paper, we report to the design of a five channel, spatially multiplexed pixel filter array. This enables single-shot images and makes it possible to capture scenes containing moving objects.

The ability to stimulate, track, and record biological processes with as many data channels as possible is central to decoding complex phenomena in the body. For example, many biological processes involve small mechanical cues that can help drive chemical reactions and/or initiate responses to external stimuli. However, to measure these nanomechanical events, specialized tools are required that can not only achieve piconewton force resolution, but be able to record from multiple sites while maintaining a small footprint to allow embedded or intracellular measurements. This is challenging for state-of-the-art instruments such as atomic force microscopes or optical traps due to the difficulty in multiplexing, their size, and feedback mechanisms. Here we describe a new nanofiber-optic platform that can detect sub-piconewton forces by monitoring far-field scattering signals of plasmonic nanoparticles moving within the near-field. To provide mechanical resistance to the nanoparticles, and allow quantitative forces to be extracted, compressible polymer claddings have been designed that have tunable spring constants and chemical compositions. The transduction mechanism is demonstrated both on detecting local contact forces acting on the nanoparticles as well as acoustic waves propagating in the medium. Because of the small cross-sectional areas (< 1 um2) and long lengths (> 1 mm), these nanofibers can also be inserted deep into tissue to locally excite and collect signals from single cells (e.g., neurons) with minimal invasiveness. Experiments focused on stimulating and recording from brain tissue will be discussed.

This work thoroughly investigates binary nanowire gratings with nanogap spacing. A binary plasmonic grating is a periodic nanostructure for which each period has two different widths. The study has determined that plasmonic gratings with two different widths in each period give rise to optical enhancement that is 2.1 times stronger than that of standard plasmonic grating structures. A map of varying width ratios has been created to illustrate the key geometric characteristic for enhancement optimization. The structure under investigation was a gold structure with a constant height of 15 nm and a nanogap of 5 nm. The period size of the structure depends on the two nanowire widths in each grating period. The optical enhancement (E/E₀)² of the geometry was investigated using a finite element method (FEM) simulation for various wavelengths. The results show a strong correlation between the plasmon wavelength and the periodicity of the gratings. Additionally, the plasmonic charge distributions have been calculated for various periods and geometries. Various resonant modes exist for the charge distribution, significantly affecting the enhancement depending on the nanowire widths.

In this work, we utilize electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) to study the electronic characteristics of nanostructured silicon (Si) fabricated using the metal-assisted chemical etched (MACE) process. The nanostructured Si fabricated using the MACE process results in a density graded surface that reduces the broadband surface reflection of Si making it appear almost black, which coins it the name ‘black Si’ (bSi). We study two bSi samples prepared using varying MACE times (20s and 40s) and a reference bare silicon sample using EIS between 1 MHz and 1 Hz frequencies. At an illumination intensity created with the use of a tungsten lamp source calibrated to output an intensity of 1-Sun (1000 W/m²), the impedance behavior at bias potentials in both the forward and reverse bias ranging between -1 V and 1 V are studied. We also study the effect of illumination wavelength by using bandpass filters at 400 nm and 800 nm. The results indicate that the charge transfer resistance (R_ct) decreases as the surface roughness of the electrodes increases and as the illumination wavelength increases. We also find that the constant phase element (CPE) impedance of the electrodes increases with increasing surface roughness. These results will guide our future work on high efficiency bSi solar cells.

Random anti-reflecting surface structures (rARSS) are fabricated on fused silica substrates, for broadband and omnidirectional applications. These structures are fabricated using dry reactive ion etching. Etching parameters, such as RF power, flow ratio of etching gases, and etching time, determine the surface morphology of the random structures. The surface roughness of the random structures induces a gradient index transition over the boundary, yielding transmission enhancement compared to plain polished fused silica. We present variable angle-of-incidence (AOI) and polarization transmission measurements, through rARSS on fused silica at 633nm, and compare the results with conventional AR coating simulations. We tested a number of different samples, all with optimized transmission near 633nm, but different surface characteristics, and found that rARSS have structural characteristics which affect transmission at non-normal angles of incidence. We show that rARSS on fused silica substrates outperform conventional BBAR and SLAR thin film coatings in transmission enhancement, for incident light with AOI from 0° to 55°. We measured rARSS with zero degree of polarization in transmission, for AOI ranging from 0° to 60° in certain cases. A figure of merit that includes both the transmission degree of polarization and transmission enhancement is formulated in order to quantify rARSS performance for both effects. We found that rARSS measured performance is better than SLAR and BBAR, for transmission with AOI greater than 30° and up to 70°, especially for p-polarized incident light, which is the stricter criterion. Applications requiring polarization insensitivity and AR performance can be positively impacted by these surface structures.

Imaging techniques based on CCD sensors presenting very high number of pixels enable to record images with high resolution. However, the huge storage load and high bandwidth required to store and transmit digital holographic information are technical bottlenecks that should be overcome for the future of holographic display. Techniques to capture images with single pixel sensors have been greatly improved recently with the development of compressive sensing algorithm (CS). Since interference patterns may be considered sparse, the number of measurements required to recover the information with CS is lower than the number of pixels of the reconstructed image. In addition, this method does not need any scanning system. One other advantage of single pixel imaging is that the cost of recording system can be dramatically reduced since high-resolution cameras are expensive while compressive sensing exploits only one pixel. In this paper, we present an imaging system based on phase-shifting holography. First, simulations were performed to confirm that hologram could be reconstructed by compressive sensing even if the number of measurements was smaller than the number of pixels. Then, experimental set-up was realized. Several holograms with different phase shifts introduced by quarter and half wave plates in the reference beam were acquired. We demonstrated that our system enables the reconstruction of the object.

Fluorescence based detection is a commonly used methodology in biotechnology and medical diagnostics. Metalenhanced fluorescence (MEF) becomes a promising strategy to improve the sensitivity of fluorescence detection, where fluorophores coupling with surface plasmon on metallic structures results fluorescence enhancement. To apply the MEF methodology in real medical diagnostics, especially for protein or DNA microarray detection, a large area (e.g., slide glass, 75 × 25 mm²) with uniform metallic nanostructures is required. In this study, we fabricated a large area MEF substrates using oblique angle deposition (OAD), which is a single step, inexpensive large area fabrication method of nanostructures. To optimize the morphological effect, Ag-nanorods with various lengths were fabricated on the conventional slide glass substrates. Streptavidin-Cy5 dissolved in buffer solution with different concentration (100ng/ml ~ 100μg/ml) were applied to MEF substrates using a pipette, and the fluorescence signals were measured. The enhancement factor increased with the increase in length of Ag-nanorods and maximum enhancement factor ~ 91x was obtained from Ag-nanorods 750nm length compare to bare glass due to higher surface Plasmon effect.

We have modified Richardson-Dushman equation considering thermal expansion of lattice and change of chemical potential with temperature in material. The corresponding modified Richardson-Dushman equation (MRDE) fits quite well the experimental data of thermo-electronic current density (J) vs T from carbon nanotubes. It provides a unique technique for accurate determination of work function Wo, Fermi energy, EFo at 0 K and linear thermal expansion coefficient of carbon nanotube in good agreement with experiment. From the value of EFo we obtain the charge carrier density in excellent agreement with experiment. We describe application of the equations for the evaluation of performance of concentrated solar thermionic energy converter (STEC) with emitter made of carbon nanotube for future applications.

This paper, originally published on September 15, 2016, was retracted from the SPIE Digital Library on October 5, 2016, due to a high degree of similarity between specific portions of the text of the paper to the following publications:

J. Tchahame, J. Beugnot, A. Kudlinski, and T. Sylvestre, "Multimode Brillouin spectrum in a long tapered birefringent photonic crystal fiber," Opt. Lett. 40, 4281-4284 (2015). doi: 10.1364/OL.40.004281

W. W. Ke, X. J. Wang and X. Tang, "Stimulated Brillouin Scattering Model in Multi-Mode Fiber Lasers," in IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, vol. 20, no. 5, pp. 305-314, Sept.-Oct. 2014. doi: 10.1109/JSTQE.2014.2303256.

The paper analyzes the prospects for the creation of a fundamentally new class of MEMS, which are based on the use of the photovoltaic effects of Dember, Kikoin – Noskov, photopiezoelectric effect in semiconductors for measuring various physical quantities. Different variants of designs of sensors, which are allowing their technical implementation without making fundamental changes in the existing technology have been reviewed. It is shown that the sensors based on photovoltaic effects are high-tech products, which is provided including extreme simplicity of the construction and technological route of their manufacture. An experiment proves the consistency was conducted photopiezoelectric effect and its use in sensor design based on it. The main problems that will require considerable effort on the part of developers and constructors of these products are likely to be associated with the processing of the output signal and increasing the sensitivity of the sensor to the measured physical quantities.

In this paper, we have proposed a technique to maintain the constant overgrowth percentage of quantum dots (QDs) in all layers of a multistacked heterostructure and hence the dot size uniformity is achieved. Two samples have been grown and compared in terms of their optical properties. Post growth annealing was carried out to observe the variation in their properties. The active layer of sample A is composed of 2.7 monolayer (ML) InAs QDs and the QD deposition amount is same for all the stacks. For the proposed sample B, 8ML In(Ga)As QDs were grown as seed layer, and the subsequent QD deposition is kept constant at 5ML. The overgrowth percentage in all QD layers were constant (∼40%) for this sample. Monomodal photoluminescence (PL) emission spectra was observed for the proposed sample B, whereas sample A has multimodal spectra. The samples were subjected to post growth annealing in argon atmosphere for 650, 700, 750, 800, 850, and 900°C. A negligible shift in the PL peak was observed for sample B up to 750°C, which confirms better thermal stability. The PL activation energy variation with respect to the annealed temperature was negligible for the proposed sample B (∼ 165 meV up to 750 °C). Hence the proposed growth mode of In(Ga)As multistacked QD heterostructure has better optical characteristics than the conventional structure in terms of PL spectra, FWHM, and also activation energy.

Strain-coupled InAs quantum dot (QD) heterostructures has been compared in terms of their optical properties, with varying the number of stacks. Each structure consists of seed layer dots (2.5 monolayer of InAs) with a capping layer of 6.5nm GaAs followed by active layer dots (2.1 monolayer of InAs). The active layer QD with the capping layer is repeated by one, two, four, and six times in bilayer, trilayer, pentalayer, and heptalayer samples, respectively. Thickness of the GaAs spacer layer in between active layer QD stacks is different for each structure. A red shift in photoluminescence (PL) emission was obtained for the strain-coupled multi-stack samples compared to the conventional uncoupled one. This is due to the formation of larger dot size in coupled structures. We also observed a monomodal dot distribution till the pentalayer sample, but after that a bimodal distribution was found, which may be due to the enhancement of strain as we further increase the stacks. Compared to an uncoupled sample, all coupled samples exhibited lower full width at half maximum (FWHM) values (uncoupled-35.89nm, bilayer-32.83nm, trilayer-30.17nm, pentalayer-68.91nm, and heptalayer-67.55nm) which attributes to homogeneous dot size distribution. Higher activation energies were measured in coupled samples compared to the conventional uncoupled one. Trilayer sample claimed the highest PL activation energy of 303.42meV, whereas the uncoupled sample has only 243.89meV. This increased activation energy in the coupled structures will be helpful for lower dark current in the devices.

Systems for optical analysis use vacuum chambers, where low pressures are reached. Remaining water molecules are the prevalent contaminant in high vacuum chambers. For this reason measurement of water levels is an important task that allows correct equipment operation. In this work, a different approach is presented for detecting and quantifying the water molecules inside a the vacuum chamber used in optical systems. A zeolite coated quartz crystal microbalance is used for detecting the water molecules, and the change in the resonance frequency is measured using a novel technique known as the principle of rational approximations. Theoretical results show how nanograms of adsorbed molecules are measured, and the number of molecules are quantified.

Among the printing processes for printed electronic devices, gravure offset and reverse offset method have drawn attention for its fine pattern printing possibility. These printing methods use cliché, which has critical effect on the final product precision and quality. In this research, a novel precise cliché replica method is proposed. It consists of copper sputtering, precise mask pattern printing with 5 um width using reverse offset printing, Ni electroplating, lift-off, etching, and DLC coating. We finally compare the fabricated replica cliché with the original one and print out precise patterns using the replica cliché.

The evanescent wave, occurred when the incident light generates total internal reflection on the interface between glass and metallic film, can raise the surface plasmon (SP) on the metallic film. SP and evanescent wave can resonate under certain angle of incidence when they have the same frequency and wave number. In this case, the power of reflection beam decreases dramatically, and the resonance peak appears in the reflection spectroscopic. The positions of resonance peaks are different when the refraction indexes of medium on the metallic film or the thicknesses of the metallic film are different. And it is found that the phase position of p-component of reflected light changes with the metal film thickness, while the phase position of s-component almost doesn’t change in the Surface Plasmon Resonance effect. S-polarized light is taken as reference and interferometry is adopted to turn the change of the phase position into the change of interference fringes position in the paper, and the film thickness can be derived from it. The simulation results indicated that, through making use of piecewise quadratic fitting on the phase data, the inaccuracy with the range of film thickness is between 30 and 80 nanometers is not more than 0.33 nm.

Vanadium dioxide (VO₂) is a polycrystalline thin film that reversibly changes from a semiconductor to a metallic state at 68°C, and has important applications in thermal detection and actuation as well as in reconfigurable photonic circuitry. In this work, we have produced VO₂ thin films by oxygen ion-assisted electron-beam evaporation. Compared to prior work, the phase change temperature is as low as 54°C, which we believe arise due to the oxygen implantation from the ion-assisted process. The films were deposited on c-cut sapphire substrates, and their properties were measured using a four-point probe electrical sheet resistance measurement.

Nanocomposite films are of great interest in the development of infrared detectors and other technology. Polyvinylidenefluoride (PVDF) with excellent pyroelectric and piezoelectric properties such as fast, dynamic response has great potential for use in touch/tactile sensors, infrared detectors and thermal vidicon/imaging devices. PVDF:LiNbO₃, PVDF:LiTaO₃, and PVDF:BaTiO₃ nanocomposites are fabricated with optimal characteristics using the solution casting technique. All these nanocomposite films are doped with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) with various weight percentages. The objective of this research was to characterize the low-frequency dielectric constant, dielectric loss and the pyroelectric properties of these composite films and thus the materials figures of merit for their use in space applications. Nanocomposites are also characterized using Raman Spectroscopy to get the finger print of these materials and their existence in the composite film. Dielectric constant and dielectric loss results are presented as a function of temperature and frequency, and pyroelectric coefficient as a function of temperature. Raman Spectrum of the nanocomposite materials is presented using 785nm laser. Obtained Raman spectrum matches with the literature available. Authors also observed that both microscopic structure and environmental conditions contributed to observed properties. Dielectric loss resulted from electromagnetic energy loss as manifested through phase differences between low-frequency input signal to the films and time varying polarization. In addition, both the dielectric constant and dielectric loss were observed to be highest for MWCNT doped nanocomposite materials compared to pure PVDF and pure PVDF:LiNbO₃, PVDF:LiTaO₃, and PVDF:BaTiO₃. Among all the MWCNT doped nanocomposite materials PVDF:LiTaO₃ showed the highest Pyroelectric coefficient which would make the best material to be used in space applications compared to the other materials at test.

In this experimental work, we have studied induced changes in refractive index, extinction coefficient, and optical band-gap of Bisphenol-A-polycarbonate (BPA-PC) coated with a uniform and thin, anti-scratch SiO₂ film irradiated by visible to near-infrared lasers at 532 nm (green),650 nm(red), and 980 nm (IR)wavelength lasers with different energy densities. Our lasers sources are indium-gallium-aluminum-phosphide, second harmonic of neodymium-YAG-solid state lasers and gallium-aluminum-arsenide-semiconductor laser. The energy densities of our sources have been changed by changing the spot size of incident laser. samples transmission spectra were monitored by carry500 spectrophotometer and induced changes in optical properties are evaluated by using, extrapolation of the transmission spectrum through Swanepoel method and computer application

Optical waveguides were fabricated with femtosecond pulsed lasers on glass and characterized by transmission measurements. Glass waveguides were later used for excitation of the whispering gallery modes in a silicon microsphere. The coupling between the silicon microsphere and the femtosecond laser inscribed optical waveguide was simulated in both 90° elastic scattering and 0° transmission spectra. The silicon microsphere whispering gallery modes are available for both in the transverse electric and transverse magnetic polarizations with a spectral mode spacing of 0.25 nm. Optical resonances on silicon microsphere integrated with femtosecond laser written optical waveguides may lead to future quantum optical communication devices.