Experimental realization of a Fresnel hologram as a super spectral resolution optical element.

A highly dispersive, diffractive optical element is designed and realized for an extremely high spectral resolution spectroscopy for exoplanet telescope application. Our design uses an annular Fresnel hologram to transform incident starlight directly into a spectrogram. The recording of the hologram is accomplished using two spherical waves of different radius of curvature. The resultant hologram consists of an annular grating structure with a gradually shrinking period as a function of increasing radius. The variable period not only could bring the incoming star-light into focus, but also exhibits a large on-axis chromatic behavior. We demonstrate a dispersion of wavelength 430-700 nm over 190 mm on-axis distance, leading to a super fine spectral resolution 0.0266 nm at wavelength 515 nm for a detector size of 20 µm.

Experimental demonstration of broadband solar absorption beyond the lambertian limit in certain thin silicon photonic crystals.

The tantalizing possibility of 31% solar-to-electric power conversion efficiency in thin film crystalline silicon solar cell architectures relies essentially on solar absorption well beyond the Lambertian light trapping limit (Bhattacharya and John in Nat Sci Rep 9:12482, 2019). Up to now, no solar cell architecture has exhibited above-Lambertian solar absorption, integrated over the broad solar spectrum. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate two types of photonic crystal (PhC) solar cells architectures that exceed Lambertian light absorption, integrated over the entire 300-1,200 nm wavelength band. These measurements confirm theoretically predicted wave-interference-based optical resonances associated with long lifetime, slow-light modes and parallel-to-interface refraction. These phenomena are beyond the realm of ray optics. Using two types of 10-µm thick PhC's, first an Inverted Pyramid PhC with lattice constant a = 2,500 nm and second a Teepee PhC with a = 1,200 nm, we observe solar absorption well beyond the Lambertian limit over λ = 950-1,200 nm. Our absorption measurements correspond to the maximum-achievable-photocurrent-density (MAPD), under AM1.5G illumination at 4-degree incident angle, 41.29 and 41.52 mA/cm2 for the Inverted Pyramid and Teepee PhC, respectively, in agreement with wave-optics, numerical simulations. Both of these values exceed the MAPD (= 39.63 mA/cm2) corresponding to the Lambertian limit for a 10-µm thick silicon for solar absorption over the 300-1,200 nm band.

An In-situ and Direct Confirmation of Super-Planckian Thermal Radiation Emitted From a Metallic Photonic-Crystal at Optical Wavelengths.

Planck's law predicts the distribution of radiation energy, color and intensity, emitted from a hot object at thermal equilibrium. The Law also sets the upper limit of radiation intensity, the blackbody limit. Recent experiments reveal that micro-structured tungsten can exhibit significant deviation from the blackbody spectrum. However, whether thermal radiation with weak non-equilibrium pumping can exceed the blackbody limit in the far field remains un-answered experimentally. Here, we compare thermal radiation from a micro-cavity/tungsten photonic crystal (W-PC) and a blackbody, which are both measured from the same sample and also in-situ. We show that thermal radiation can exceed the blackbody limit by >8 times at λ = 1.7 µm resonant wavelength in the far-field. Our observation is consistent with a recent calculation by Wang and John performed for a 2D W-PC filament. This finding is attributed to non-equilibrium excitation of localized surface plasmon resonances coupled to nonlinear oscillators and the propagation of the electromagnetic waves through non-linear Bloch waves of the W-PC structure. This discovery could help create super-intense narrow band thermal light sources and even an infrared emitter with a laser-like input-output characteristic.

Effectively infinite optical path-length created using a simple cubic photonic crystal for extreme light trapping.

A 900 nm thick TiO2 simple cubic photonic crystal with lattice constant 450 nm was fabricated and used to experimentally validate a newly-discovered mechanism for extreme light-bending. Absorption enhancement was observed extending 1-2 orders of magnitude over that of a reference TiO2 film. Several enhancement peaks in the region from 600-950 nm were identified, which far exceed both the ergodic fundamental limit and the limit based on surface-gratings, with some peaks exceeding 100 times enhancement. These results are attributed to radically sharp refraction where the optical path length approaches infinity due to the Poynting vector lying nearly parallel to the photonic crystal interface. The observed phenomena follow directly from the simple cubic symmetry of the photonic crystal, and can be achieved by integrating the light-trapping architecture into the absorbing volume. These results are not dependent on the material used, and can be applied to any future light trapping applications such as phosphor-converted white light generation, water-splitting, or thin-film solar cells, where increased response in areas of weak absorption is desired.

Probing the intrinsic optical Bloch-mode emission from a 3D photonic crystal.

We report experimental observation of intrinsic Bloch-mode emission from a 3D tungsten photonic crystal at low thermal excitation. After the successful removal of conventional metallic emission (normal emission), it is possible to make an accurate comparison of the Bloch-mode and the normal emission. For all biases, we found that the emission intensity of the Bloch-mode is higher than that of the normal emission. The Bloch-mode emission also exhibits a slower dependence on [Formula: see text] than that of the normal emission. The observed higher emission intensity and a different T-dependence is attributed to Bloch-mode assisted emission where emitters have been located into a medium having local density of states different than the isotropic case. Furthermore, our finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation shows the presence of localized spots at metal-air boundaries and corners, having intense electric field. The enhanced plasmonic field and local non-equilibrium could induce a strong thermally stimulated emission and may be the cause of our unusual observation.

Achieving an Accurate Surface Profile of a Photonic Crystal for Near-Unity Solar Absorption in a Super Thin-Film Architecture.

In this work, a teepee-like photonic crystal (PC) structure on crystalline silicon (c-Si) is experimentally demonstrated, which fulfills two critical criteria in solar energy harvesting by (i) its Gaussian-type gradient-index profile for excellent antireflection and (ii) near-orthogonal energy flow and vortex-like field concentration via the parallel-to-interface refraction effect inside the structure for enhanced light trapping. For the PC structure on 500-µm-thick c-Si, the average reflection is only ∼0.7% for λ = 400-1000 nm. For the same structure on a much thinner c-Si ( t = 10 µm), the absorption is near unity (A ∼ 99%) for visible wavelengths, while the absorption in the weakly absorbing range (λ ∼ 1000 nm) is significantly increased to 79%, comparing to only 6% absorption for a 10-µm-thick planar c-Si. In addition, the average absorption (∼94.7%) of the PC structure on 10 µm c-Si for λ = 400-1000 nm is only ∼3.8% less than the average absorption (∼98.5%) of the PC structure on 500 µm c-Si, while the equivalent silicon solid content is reduced by 50 times. Furthermore, the angular dependence measurements show that the high absorption is sustained over a wide angle range (θinc = 0-60°) for teepee-like PC structure on both 500 and 10-µm-thick c-Si.

Experimental observation of anomalous thermal radiation from a three-dimensional metallic photonic crystal.

We report some striking results on thermal radiation properties of a resonantly coupled cavity photonic crystal (PhC) at elevated temperatures (T = 400-900 K). We experimentally found that at resonant wavelengths, λ = 1.1, 1.64, 2.85 µm, the PhC emission is spectrally selective, quasi-coherent, directional, and shows significant deviation from Planck's blackbody law at equilibrium. The presence of non-equilibrium effects, driven by strong thermal excitation and cavity resonance, may be the major cause for our experimental observation.

Controlling quantum-dot light absorption and emission by a surface-plasmon field.

The possibility for controlling both the probe-field optical gain and absorption, as well as photon conversion by a surface-plasmon-polariton near field is explored for a quantum dot located above a metal surface. In contrast to the linear response in the weak-coupling regime, the calculated spectra show an induced optical gain and a triply-split spontaneous emission peak resulting from the interference between the surface-plasmon field and the probe or self-emitted light field in such a strongly-coupled nonlinear system. Our result on the control of the mediated photon-photon interaction, very similar to the 'gate' control in an optical transistor, may be experimentally observable and applied to ultra-fast intrachip/interchip optical interconnects, improvement in the performance of fiber-optic communication networks, and developments of optical digital computers and quantum communications.

Order-of-magnitude enhancement of intersubband photoresponse in a plasmonic quantum dot system.

The unprecedented ability of metallic subwavelength structures to confine and concentrate light into subwavelength spaces has led to new physics and exploration of novel devices. In this Letter, we demonstrate a 20 times enhancement of intersubband photoresponse in a InAs quantum dot (QD) system due to evanescently coupled plasmonic field. The resulting enhancement is accompanied by significant narrowing of photoresponse linewidth. The strong enhancement is attributed to efficient coupling of incident field to surface modes and to QDs, the presence of polarization-dependent absorption from QDs, and a fairly strong plasmon-QD interaction.

Light trapping and near-unity solar absorption in a three-dimensional photonic-crystal.

We report what is to our knowledge the first observation of the effect of parallel-to-interface-refraction (PIR) in a three-dimensional, simple-cubic photonic-crystal. PIR is an acutely negative refraction of light inside a photonic-crystal, leading to light-bending by nearly 90 deg over broad wavelengths (λ). The consequence is a longer path length of light in the medium and an improved light absorption beyond the Lambertian limit. As an illustration of the effect, we show near-unity total absorption (≥98%) in λ=520-620 nm and an average absorption of ~94% over λ=400-700 nm for our α-Si:H photonic-crystal sample of an equivalent bulk thickness of t˜=450 nm. Furthermore, we have achieved an ultra-wide angular acceptance of light over θ=0°-80°. This demonstration opens up a new door for light trapping and near-unity solar absorption over broad λs and wide angles.

Direct observation of quasi-coherent thermal emission by a three-dimensional metallic photonic crystal.

We report a direct observation of a quasi-coherent thermal emission from a heated three-dimensional photonic-crystal sample. While the sample was under Joule heating, we observed multiple oscillations in its emission interferogram and deduced a coherent length of L(coh)≅(20-40) µm, 5-10 times longer than that of a blackbody at comparable wavelengths. The observed, relatively long coherent length is attributed to coupling of thermal emission into lossy Bloch modes that oscillate coherently over a distance determined by decay length and the slow light nature of Bloch modes at the band-edges.

Experimental observation of extremely weak optical scattering from an interlocking carbon nanotube array.

We experimentally demonstrate a nearly wavelength-independent optical reflection from an extremely rough carbon nanotube sample. The sample is made of a vertically aligned nanotube array, is a super dark material, and exhibits a near-perfect blackbody emission at T=450 K-600 K. No other material exhibits such optical properties, i.e., ultralow reflectance accompanied by a lack of wavelength scaling behavior. This observation is a result of the lowest ever measured reflectance (R=0.0003) of the sample over a broad infrared wavelength of 3 µm < λ < 13 µm. This discovery may be attributed to the unique interlocking surface of the nanotube array, consisting of both a global, large scale and a short-range randomness.

Efficient and directed Nano-LED emission by a complete elimination of transverse-electric guided modes.

A key to the success of solid-state lighting is an ultraefficient light extraction, ∼90%. Recent advances in nanotechnology, particularly in creating nanorods, present an unprecedented opportunity to manipulate optical modes at nanometer scales. Here, we report an optically pumped nanorod light-emitting diode (LED) with an ultrahigh extraction efficiency of 79% at λ = 460 nm without the use of either a back reflector or thin film technology. We demonstrated experimentally three key mechanisms for achieving high efficiency: guided mode-reduction, embedded quantum wells, and ultraefficient light out-coupling by the fundamental HE(11) mode. Furthermore, we show that size reduction at nanoscale represents a new degree-of-freedom for alternating and achieving a more directed LED emission.

Three-dimensional inverted photonic grating with engineerable refractive indices for broadband antireflection of terahertz waves.

Reduction of reflection is of great importance in optical spectroscopy to reduce interference and increase throughput. Here we demonstrate a three-dimensional inverted photonic grating device design using only one material-silicon. Enhanced transmission compared to planar silicon wafers is observed from 0.2 THz to over 7.3 THz for a device with a 15 µm period, which covers most of the terahertz band, and its relative 3 dB bandwidth (δf/f(c)) is a noteworthy 116.3%. Moreover, the device is polarization independent and can perform up to a large incident angle.

A surface plasmon enhanced infrared photodetector based on InAs quantum dots.

In this paper, we report a successful realization and integration of a gold two-dimensional hole array (2DHA) structure with semiconductor InAs quantum dot (QD). We show experimentally that a properly designed 2DHA-QD photodetector can facilitate a strong plasmonic-QD interaction, leading to a 130% absolute enhancement of infrared photoresponse at the plasmonic resonance. Our study indicates two key mechanisms for the performance improvement. One is an optimized 2DHA design that permits an efficient coupling of light from the far-field to a localized plasmonic mode. The other is the close spatial matching of the QD layers to the wave function extent of the plasmonic mode. Furthermore, the processing of our 2DHA is amenable to large scale fabrication and, more importantly, does not degrade the noise current characteristics of the photodetector. We believe that this demonstration would bring the performance of QD-based infrared detectors to a level suitable for emerging surveillance and medical diagnostic applications.

Experimental realization of plasmonic filters for multispectral and dual-polarization optical detection.

We report the design and implementation of a new class of plasmonic filters that are both wavelength and polarization selective. The plasmonic filter consists of a five-layer metallic photonic crystal structure and operates inside the photonic bandgap regime. We show that by manipulating the middle layer geometry alone, it is possible to tune the Fabry-Perot resonance over a broad spectral range (lambda=1.25to1.63 microm) and in a monolithic fashion. Furthermore, we show that the resonance has a definite polarization character that is determined by the orientation of the first layer grating. The plasmonic filter may be integrated with an array of photodetectors for high-throughput spectral and polarimetric imaging applications.

Large enhancement of light-extraction efficiency from optically pumped, nanorod light-emitting diodes.

We report a threefold enhancement of light-emission intensity at lambda=460 nm and a 16-fold extraction-efficiency enhancement measured from a 2D array of nanorod LEDs. The nano-LEDs are randomly arranged and have a typical rod diameter of 100-250 nm. From a combination of photoluminescence, reflectance, and excitation power-dependence measurements, we show that the enhanced emission is due mainly to modification of the extraction efficiency, and not to that of the internal efficiency. Furthermore, we show that the extraction enhancement originates from the randomness of the 2D array that scatters light efficiently into the air and the smallness of the nanorods that eliminates the guiding modes that trap light.

Strong light concentration at the subwavelength scale by a metallic hole-array structure.

A metallic two-dimensional hole-array (2DHA) sample is successfully fabricated and its transmission property measured at mid-infrared wavelengths (lambda ~ 1.5-20 microm). At the plasmonic resonance, the 2DHA sample exhibits a normal incidence transmittance of 80% at lambda = 7.6 microm. This corresponds to more than twice as much light that is transmitted as it impinges directly on the holes at the maxima of transmittance. This exceedingly large enhancement is attributed to a strong plasmonic resonance and an effective light concentration through an ultrathin metal film of 50 nm. This advancement will pave the way to a much enhanced infrared detection using a simple and compact 2DHA architecture.

Realization of a near-perfect antireflection coating for silicon solar energy utilization.

To harness the full spectrum of solar energy, Fresnel reflection at the surface of a solar cell must be eliminated over the entire solar spectrum and at all angles. Here, we show that a multilayer nanostructure having a graded-index profile, as predicted by theory [J. Opt. Soc. Am. 66, 515 (1976); Appl. Opt. 46, 6533 (2007)], can accomplish a near-perfect transmission of all-color of sunlight. An ultralow total reflectance of 1%-6% has been achieved over a broad spectrum, lambda = 400 to 1600 nm, and a wide range of angles of incidence, theta = 0 degrees-60 degrees . The measured angle- and wavelength-averaged total reflectance of 3.79% is the smallest ever reported in the literature, to our knowledge.

Experimental observation of an extremely dark material made by a low-density nanotube array.

An ideal black material absorbs light perfectly at all angles and over all wavelengths. Here, we show that low-density vertically aligned carbon nanotube arrays can be engineered to have an extremely low index of refraction, as predicted recently by theory [Garcia-Vidal, F. J.; Pitarke, J. M.; Pendry, J. B. Phys. Rev. Lett. 1997, 78, 4289-4292] and, combined with the nanoscale surface roughness of the arrays, can produce a near-perfect optical absorption material. An ultralow diffused reflectance of 1 x 10(-7) measured from such arrays is an order-of-magnitude lower compared to commercial low-reflectance standard carbon. The corresponding integrated total reflectance of 0.045% from the nanotube arrays is three times lower than the lowest-ever reported values of optical reflectance from any material, making it the darkest man-made material ever.