Time-asymmetric loop around an exceptional point over the full optical communications band.

Topological operations around exceptional points1-8-time-varying system configurations associated with non-Hermitian singularities-have been proposed as a robust approach to achieving far-reaching open-system dynamics, as demonstrated in highly dissipative microwave transmission3 and cryogenic optomechanical oscillator4 experiments. In stark contrast to conventional systems based on closed-system Hermitian dynamics, environmental interferences at exceptional points are dynamically engaged with their internal coupling properties to create rotational stimuli in fictitious-parameter domains, resulting in chiral systems that exhibit various anomalous physical phenomena9-16. To achieve new wave properties and concomitant device architectures to control them, realizations of such systems in application-abundant technological areas, including communications and signal processing systems, are the next step. However, it is currently unclear whether non-Hermitian interaction schemes can be configured in robust technological platforms for further device engineering. Here we experimentally demonstrate a robust silicon photonic structure with photonic modes that transmit through time-asymmetric loops around an exceptional point in the optical domain. The proposed structure consists of two coupled silicon-channel waveguides and a slab-waveguide leakage-radiation sink that precisely control the required non-Hermitian Hamiltonian experienced by the photonic modes. The fabricated devices generate time-asymmetric light transmission over an extremely broad spectral band covering the entire optical telecommunications window (wavelengths between 1.26 and 1.675 micrometres). Thus, we take a step towards broadband on-chip optical devices based on non-Hermitian topological dynamics by using a semiconductor platform with controllable optoelectronic properties, and towards several potential practical applications, such as on-chip optical isolators and non-reciprocal mode converters. Our results further suggest the technological relevance of non-Hermitian wave dynamics in various other branches of physics, such as acoustics, condensed-matter physics and quantum mechanics.

High-speed polarization-independent plasmonic modulator on a silicon waveguide.

The electrical bandwidth of an electro-optic modulator plays a vital role in determining the throughput of an optical communications link. We propose a broadband plasmonic electro-optic modulator operating at telecommunications wavelengths (λ0 ∼ 1550 nm), based on free carrier dispersion in indium tin oxide (ITO). The ITO is driven through its epsilon-near-zero point within the accumulation layers of metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) structures. The MOS structures are integrated into a pair of coupled metal-insulator-metal (MIM) waveguides aligned on a planarized silicon waveguide. The coupled MIM waveguides support symmetric and asymmetric plasmonic supermodes, excited adiabatically using mode transformation tapers, by the fundamental TM0 and TE0 modes of the underlying silicon waveguide, respectively, such that the modulator can operate in either mode as selected by the input polarisation to the silicon waveguide. The modulator has an active section 1.5 to 2 µm long, enabling the modulator to operate as a lumped element to bandwidths exceeding 200 GHz (3 dB electrical, RC-limited). The modulators produce an extinction ratio in the range of 3.5 to 6 dB, and an insertion loss in the range of 4 to 7.5 dB including input/output mode conversion losses. The AC drive voltage is ±1.75 V. The devices comprise only inorganic materials and are realisable using standard deposition, etching and nanolithography techniques.

Laser-machined thin copper films on silicon as physical unclonable functions.

Physical unclonable functions (PUFs) are receiving significant attention with the rise of cryptography and the drive towards creating unique structures for security applications and anti-counterfeiting. Specifically, nanoparticle based PUFs can produce a high degree of randomness through their size, shape, spatial distribution, chemistry, and optical properties, rendering them very difficult to replicate. However, nanoparticle PUFs typically rely on complex preparation procedures involving chemical synthesis in solution, therefore requiring dispersion, and embedding within a host medium for application. We propose laser machining of surfaces as a one-step process for the creation of complex nanoparticle based PUFs by machining 600 nm thick copper films on a silicon substrate to yield a complex spatial and chemical distribution of redeposited copper, silicon, and oxide species. The approaches and material system investigated have potential applications in silicon chip authentication.

Dirac gratings.

We propose the concept of a Dirac grating, where periodic permittivity perturbations approach a train of Dirac functions. We show that Dirac gratings can yield identical spectral characteristics for higher-order gratings compared to first-order gratings of the same length. Using an inverse Fourier transform technique, we design different types of Dirac gratings, including structures operating at the exceptional point where parity-time symmetry breaks down, producing unidirectional reflectance. We employ analytical and numerical techniques to validate our theory by modelling practical examples of Dirac gratings implemented in dielectric stacks and silicon nanophotonic waveguides.

Common-mode plasmon sensing scheme as a high-sensitivity compact SPR sensor.

A deep metal grating enables quasi-phase-matched simultaneous excitation of two counterpropagating surface plasmon modes by means of its +1st and -2nd diffraction orders. The resulting angular reflection spectra of the scattered -1st and zeroth orders exhibit three interleaved zeros and maxima in a range centered around the Littrow angle. The spectra differ thoroughly from the usual reflection dip resulting from single-order plasmon coupling that produces strong absorption. The zeroth and -1st orders exhibit two crossing angles enabling high-sensitivity common-mode detection schemes designed to reject variations in source power and environmental noise. The proof of concept and experimental assessment of this new surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensing scheme are demonstrated by monitoring gases in a pressure-controlled chamber. A limit of detection (LOD) of 2 × 10-7 refractive index unit (RIU) was achieved.

Differential Sensing with Replicated Plasmonic Gratings Interrogated in the Optical Switch Configuration.

A new plasmonic configuration is proposed for application in a sensor and demonstrated for the detection of variations in the bulk refractive index of solutions. The configuration consists of monitoring two diffracted orders resulting from the interaction of a TM-polarized optical beam incident on a grating coupler, operating based on an effect termed the "optical switch". The two monitored diffracted orders enable differential measurements which cancel the drift and perturbations common to both, leading to an improved detection limit, as demonstrated experimentally. The measured switch pattern associated with the grating coupler is in good agreement with theory. Bulk sensing is demonstrated under intensity interrogation via the sequential injection of solutions comprised of glycerol in water into a fluidic cell. A limit of detection of about 10-6 RIU was achieved. The optical switch configuration is easy to implement and is cost-effective, yielding a highly promising approach for the sensing and the real-time detection of biological species.

Performance of Grating Couplers Used in the Optical Switch Configuration.

Surface plasmon resonance is an effect widely used for biosensing. Biosensors based on this effect operate in different configurations, including the use of diffraction gratings as couplers. Gratings are highly tunable and are easy to integrate into a fluidic system due to their planar configuration. We discuss the optimization of plasmonic grating couplers for use in a specific sensor configuration based on the optical switch. These gratings present a sinusoidal profile with a high depth/period ratio. Their interaction with a p-polarized light beam results in two significant diffracted orders (the 0th and the -1st), which enable differential measurements cancelling noise due to common fluctuations. The gratings are fabricated by combining laser interference lithography with nanoimprinting in a process that is aligned with the challenges of low-cost mass production. The effects of different grating parameters such as the period, depth and profile are theoretically and experimentally investigated.

Real-Time Convolutional Voltammetry Enhanced by Energetic (Hot) Electrons and Holes on a Surface Plasmon Waveguide Electrode.

Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) propagating along a waveguide working electrode are sensitive to changes in the local refractive index, which follow changes in the concentration of reduced and oxidized species near the working electrode. The real-time response of the output optical power from a waveguide working electrode is proportional to the time convolution of the electrochemical current density, precluding the need to compute the latter a posteriori via numerical integration. Convolutional voltammetry yields complementary results to conventional voltammetry and can be used to determine the diffusion constant, bulk concentration, and the number of transferred electrons of electroactive species. The theoretical optical response of a waveguide working electrode is derived and validated experimentally via chronoamperometry and cyclic voltammetry measurements under low power SPP excitation, for various concentrations of potassium ferricyanide in potassium nitrate electrolyte at various scan rates. Increasing the SPP power induces a regime where the SPPs no longer act solely as a probe of electrochemical activity, but also as a pump creating energetic electrons and holes via absorption in the working electrode. In this regime, the transfer of energetic carriers (electrons and holes) to the redox species dominates the electrochemical current density, which becomes significantly enhanced relative to equilibrium conditions (low SPP power). In this regime the output optical power remains proportional to the time convolution of the current density, even with the latter significantly enhanced by the transfer of energetic carriers.

Directional coupling with parity-time symmetric Bragg gratings.

Parity-time symmetric Bragg gratings produce unidirectional reflection around the exceptional point. We propose and explore directional coupling of gain and loss modulated waveguide Bragg gratings operating at around 880 nm with long-range surface plasmon polaritons. Step-in-width modulation of a Ag stripe supporting long-range plasmons combined with a periodic modulation of the cladding were used to balance the real and imaginary index perturbation of the gratings. IR140 dye molecules in solvent forms a portion of the uppercladding, providing gain under optical pumping. We investigate directional coupling between a pair of parity-time symmetric waveguide Bragg gratings operating near their exceptional point, arranged in various configurations - duplicate, duplicate-shifted and duplicate-flipped. We also investigate coupling to a bus waveguide and to a conventional waveguide Bragg grating. Unidirectional multi-wavelength reflection and coupled supermode conversion are predicted.

Tunable plasmonics on epsilon-near-zero materials: the case for a quantum carrier model.

The carrier density profile in metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitors is computed under gating using two classical models - conventional drift-diffusion (CDD) and density-gradient (DG) - and a self-consistent Schrödinger-Poisson (SP) quantum model. Once calibrated the DG model approximates well the SP model while being computationally more efficient. The carrier profiles are used in optical mode computations to determine the gated optical response of surface plasmons supported by waveguides incorporating MOS structures. Indium tin oxide (ITO) is used as the semiconductor in the MOS structures, as the real part of its optical permittivity can be driven through zero to become negative under accumulation, enabling epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) effects. Under accumulation the predictions made by the CDD and SP models differ considerably, in that the former predicts one ENZ point but the latter predicts two. Consequently, the CDD model significantly underestimates perturbations in n e f f of surface plasmons (by ∼4×) and yields incorrect details in surface plasmon fields near ENZ points. The discrepancy is large enough to invalidate the CDD model in MOS structures on ENZ materials under accumulation, strongly motivating a quantum carrier model in this regime.

Ultrasensitive nanoplasmonic biosensor based on interferometric excitation of multipolar plasmonic modes.

We propose a nanoplasmonic interferometric biosensor, which exploits the selective excitation of multipolar plasmonic modes in a nanoslit to provide a novel scheme for highly-sensitive biosensing. In this design, two counter-propagating surface plasmon polaritons interfere at the location of the nanoslit, selectively exciting the dipolar and quadrupolar modes of the structure depending on the phase relationship induced by the analyte. The contrasting radiation patterns produced by these modes result in large changes in the angular distribution of the transmitted light that depends on the analyte concentration. The resultant far-field is numerically modeled and the sensing performance of the structure is assessed, resulting in maximum bulk and surface sensitivities of SB = 1.12 × 105 deg/RIU and SS = 302 deg/RIU, respectively, and a bulk-sensing resolution of the order of 10-8 RIU. The design allows ample control over the trade-off between operating range and resolution through the slit's width, making this platform suitable for a broad range of sensing requirements.

Plasmonic heptamer-arranged nanoholes in a gold film on the end-facet of a photonic crystal fiber.

We use the end-facet of a solid-core polarization-maintaining photonic crystal fiber (PM-PCF) as a platform on which to fabricate resonant plasmonic nanostructures. Solid-core PM-PCFs can be excited in a polarization-aligned single mode by supercontinuum light, so they are well-suited to the wavelength-interrogation of resonant plasmonic nanostructures, especially supporting complex spectra over a broad spectral range. The nanostructures implemented consist of an array of heptamer-arranged nanoholes formed in a thin Au film. The nanoholes were milled with a He+ focused ion beam, with the array polarization-aligned in situ to cover the solid core of the PM-PCF. Transmittance spectra, measured using a supercontinuum source coupled to the input of the PM-PCF, reveal a rich set of Fano resonances associated with localized and propagating surface plasmons. The measured spectra are compared to computations in order to identify the resonant modes. The spectra redshift as the medium covering the nanoholes changes from air to oil, anticipating application to sensing.

On the performance of optical phased array technology for beam steering: effect of pixel limitations.

Optical phased arrays are of strong interest for beam steering in telecom and LIDAR applications. A phased array ideally requires that the field produced by each element in the array (a pixel) is fully controllable in phase and amplitude (ideally constant). This is needed to realize a phase gradient along a direction in the array, and thus beam steering in that direction. In practice, grating lobes appear if the pixel size is not sub-wavelength, which is an issue for many optical technologies. Furthermore, the phase performance of an optical pixel may not span the required 2π phase range or may not produce a constant amplitude over its phase range. These limitations result in imperfections in the phase gradient, which in turn introduce undesirable secondary lobes. We discuss the effects of non-ideal pixels on beam formation, in a general and technology-agnostic manner. By examining the strength of secondary lobes with respect to the main lobe, we quantify beam steering quality and make recommendations on the pixel performance required for beam steering within prescribed specifications. By applying appropriate compensation strategies, we show that it is possible to realize high-quality beam steering even when the pixel performance is non-ideal, with intensity of the secondary lobes two orders of magnitude smaller than the main lobe.

Efficient Mode Transfer on a Compact Silicon Chip by Encircling Moving Exceptional Points.

Exceptional points (EPs) are branch point singularities of self-intersecting Riemann sheets, and they can be observed in a non-Hermitian system with complex eigenvalues. It has been revealed recently that dynamically encircling EPs by adiabatically changing the parameters of a system composed of lossy optical waveguides could lead to asymmetric (input-output) mode transfer. However, the length of the waveguides had to be considerable to ensure adiabatic evolution. Here we demonstrate that the parameters can change adiabatically along a smaller encircling loop by utilizing moving EPs, leading to significant shortening of the structures compared to fixed EPs. Meanwhile, the mode transmittance is remarkably improved and the transfer efficiency persists at ∼90%. Moving EPs are very promising for applications such as highly integrated broadband optical switches and convertors operating at telecommunication wavelengths.

Straight Long-Range Surface Plasmon Polariton Waveguide Sensor Operating at l0 = 850 nm.

A bulk refractive index sensor based on a straight long-range surface plasmon polariton (LRSPP) waveguide is theoretically designed. The waveguide sensor consists of an Au stripe that is embedded in ultraviolet sensitive polymer SU-8. The geometric parameters are optimized by finite difference eigenmode method at the optical wavelength of 850 nm. The sensitivity of 196 dB/RIU/mm can be obtained with a 1.5 µm wide, 25 nm thick Au stripe waveguide. Straight LRSPP waveguides are fabricated by a double layer lift-off process. Its optical transmission is characterized to experimentally prove the feasibility of the proposed design. This sensor has potential for the realization of a portable, low-cost refractometer.

Investigating the Optical Properties of a Laser Induced 3D Self-Assembled Carbon-Metal Hybrid Structure.

Carbon-based and carbon-metal hybrid materials hold great potential for applications in optics and electronics. Here, a novel material made of carbon and gold-silver nanoparticles is discussed, fabricated using a laser-induced self-assembly process. This self-assembled metamaterial manifests itself in the form of cuboids with lateral dimensions on the order of several micrometers and a height of tens to hundreds of nanometers. The carbon atoms are arranged following an orthorhombic unit cell, with alloy nanoparticles intercalated in the crystalline carbon matrix. The optical properties of this metamaterial are analyzed experimentally using a microscopic Müller matrix measurement approach and reveal a high linear birefringence across the visible spectral range. Theoretical modeling based on local-field theory applied to the carbon matrix links the birefringence to the orthorhombic unit cell, while finite-difference time-domain simulations of the metamaterial relates the observed optical response to the distribution of the alloy nanoparticles and the optical density of the carbon matrix.

Integrated multichannel Young's interferometer sensor based on long-range surface plasmon waveguides.

Two integrated Young's interferometer (YI) sensors based on long-range surface plasmon polariton (LRSPP) waveguides are presented. The first sensor is single-channel and based on a Y-junction splitter, and the other is multi-channel and based on a corporate feed structure. The multichannel YI enables simultaneous and independent phase-based monitoring of refractive index changes in multiple channels. The diverging output beams from the waveguides are overlapped in the far field to form interference patterns which are then post-processed using the fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm to extract phase values. The sensing capability of these YIs was demonstrated through sequential injection of solutions with increasing refractive index into the sensing channels. A detection limit of ∼ 1 × 10-6 RIU was obtained for both LRSPP based YIs, a significant improvement over measurements from similar structures using attenuation-based sensing.

Nanofabrication of plasmonic structures on insulating substrates by resist-on-metal bilayer lift-off.

In last few decades, micro- and nano-fabrication techniques based on photolithography and electron beam lithography have advanced greatly, mainly in the field of semiconductor fabrication. Such techniques are generally transferrable to the fabrication of plasmonic structures and metamaterials. However, plasmonic devices often require a transparent insulating substrate to be operational at visible or near-infrared wavelengths. Here we report a resist-on-metal bilayer lift-off technique enabling the fabrication of plasmonic structures on insulating substrates. The metal layer under the resist eliminates major difficulties in lithography, such as charging during electron beam exposure and uncontrolled diffuse optical scattering during photolithography. In addition, the resist-on-metal bilayer can be migrated to different substrates with minimal process alteration, because the material properties of the substrate, such as secondary electron emission or optical reflectance, become irrelevant due to the shielding provided by the metal layer. As demonstrations, we fabricate large-scale plasmonic waveguides and Bragg gratings, adiabatically-modulated plasmonic waveguide couplers, and plasmonic nanoantenna arrays using the resist-on-metal bilayer lift-off process. The process can also be used to define structures formed of other materials such as dielectrics.

Grating couplers fabricated by e-beam lithography for long-range surface plasmon waveguides embedded in a fluoropolymer.

Long-range surface plasmon polariton waveguides consisting of Au stripes integrated with input and output grating couplers embedded in thick Cytop claddings are proposed and demonstrated experimentally. Under the right conditions, grating couplers enable broadside (top) coupling with good efficiency while producing a low level of background light. The scheme does not require high-quality input and output edge facets, and it simplifies optical alignments. We demonstrate coupling using a cleaved bow-tie fiber and a lensed fiber, and we determine the grating coupling efficiencies in both cases over a broad operating wavelength range. The lensed fiber produces a better overlap with the long-range surface plasmon mode of interest and thus results in a better coupling efficiency with essentially no background light as observed on an infrared camera. The measurements are compared with theoretical results obtained using a realistic model of the structures, including out-of-plane curvature in the grating profile resulting from our fabrication process. The coupling scheme along with the surface plasmon waveguides hold strong potential for biosensing applications.

Long-Range Surface Plasmon-Polariton Waveguide Biosensors for Human Cardiac Troponin I Detection.

Straight long-range surface plasmon-polariton (LRSPP) waveguides as biosensors for label-free detection are discussed. The sensors consist of 5-µm-wide 35-nm-thick gold stripes embedded in a low-index optical-grade fluoropolymer (CYTOPTM) with fluidic channels etched to the Au surface of the stripes. This work demonstrates the application of the LRSPP biosensors for the detection of human cardiac troponin I (cTnI) protein. cTnI is a biological marker for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), often referred to as a heart attack, which can be diagnosed by elevated levels of cTnI in patient blood. Direct and sandwich assays were developed and demonstrated over the concentration range from 1 to 1000 ng/mL, yielding detection limits of 430 pg/mL for the direct assay and 28 pg/mL for the sandwich assay (1 standard deviation), the latter being physiologically relevant to the early detection or onset of AMI. In addition, a novel approach for data analysis is proposed, where the analyte response is normalized to the response of the antibody layer.