Mid-IR near-perfect absorption with a SiC photonic crystal with angle-controlled polarization selectivity.

We theoretically investigate mid-IR absorption enhancement with a SiC one-dimensional photonic crystal (PC) microstructure at the frequency regime of the phonon-polariton band gap, where efficient absorption is unattainable in the bulk material. Our study reveals an intricate relationship between absorption efficiency and the energy velocity of light propagation, that is far more complex than hitherto believed. In particular, our findings suggest that absorption peaks away from the photonic-crystal band edge where energy velocity is minimum. While efficient absorption is still associated with a slow-light mode, the latter is faster by at least an order of magnitude in comparison to the bulk material. Moreover, our calculations suggest that absorption becomes optimal when light gradually slow downs as it enters the PC. Relying on this insight, we achieved near-perfect absorption around the phonon-polariton mid-gap frequency with a PC with a suitably terminated end face. We further demonstrate that the near-perfect absorptive property can be tuned with the incident light angle, to be polarization insensitive or polarization selective. We believe our proposed non-metallic paradigm opens up a new route for harnessing infrared absorption with semiconductor and ionic-crystal materials.

Nonresonant broadband funneling of light via ultrasubwavelength channels.

Enhancing and funneling light efficiently through deep subwavelength apertures is essential in harnessing light-matter interaction. Thus far, this has been accomplished resonantly, by exciting the structural surface plasmons of perforated nanostructured metal films, a phenomenon known as extraordinary optical transmission. Here, we present a new paradigm structure which possesses all the capabilities of extraordinary optical transmission platforms, yet operates nonresonantly on a distinctly different mechanism. Our proposed platform demonstrates efficient ultrabroadband funneling of optical power confined in an area as small as ∼(λ/500)(2), where optical fields are enhanced, thus exhibiting functional possibilities beyond resonant platforms. We analyze the nonresonant mechanism underpinning such a phenomenon with a simple quasistatic picture, which shows excellent agreement with our numerical simulations.

Optical near-field excitations on plasmonic nanoparticle-based structures.

We investigate optical excitations on single silver nanospheres and nanosphere composites with the Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method. Our objective is to achieve polarization control of the enhanced local field, pertinent to SERS applications. We employ dimer and quadrumer structures, which can display broadband and highly confined near-field-intensity enhancement comparable to or exceeding the resonant value of smaller sized isolated spheres. Our results demonstrate that the polarization of the enhanced field can be controlled by the orientation of the multimers in respect to the illumination, rather than the illumination itself. In particular, we report cases where the enhanced field shares the same polarization with the exciting field, and cases where it is predominantly perpendicular to the source field. We call the later phenomenon depolarized enhancement. Furthermore, we study a realizable nanolens based on a tapered self-similar silver nanosphere array. The time evolution of the fields in such structures show conversion of a diffraction limited Gaussian beam to a focused spot, through sequential coupling of the nano-array spheres' Mie-plasmons. For a longitudinally excited nanolens design we observed the formation of an isolated focus with size about one tenth the vacuum wavelength. We believe such nanolens will aid scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) detection and the excitation of surface plasmon based guiding devices.

Refraction in media with a negative refractive index.

We show that an electromagnetic (EM) wave undergoes negative refraction at the interface between a positive and negative refractive index material, the latter being a properly chosen photonic crystal. Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations are used to study the time evolution of an EM wave as it hits the interface. The wave is trapped temporarily at the interface, reorganizes, and, after a long time, the wave front moves eventually in the negative direction. This particular example shows how causality and speed of light are not violated in spite of the negative refraction always present in a negative index material.

Subwavelength resolution in a two-dimensional photonic-crystal-based superlens.

We experimentally and theoretically demonstrate single-beam negative refraction and superlensing in the valence band of a two-dimensional photonic crystal operating in the microwave regime. By measuring the refracted electromagnetic waves from a slab shaped photonic crystal, we find a refractive index of -1.94 that is very close to the theoretical value of -2.06. A scanning transmission measurement technique is used to measure the spatial power distribution of the focused electromagnetic waves that radiate from a point source. The full width at half maximum of the focused beam is measured to be 0.21 lambda, which is in good agreement with the finite difference time domain method simulations. We also report a subwavelength resolution for the image of two incoherent point sources, which are separated by a distance of lambda/3.