Surface plasmon enhanced GeSn photodetectors operating at 2 µm.

Au-hole array and Au-GeSn grating structures were designed and incorporated in GeSn metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodetectors for enhanced photo detection at 2 µm. Both plasmonic structures are beneficial for effective optical confinement near the surface due to surface plasmon resonance (SPR), contributing to an enhanced responsivity. The responsivity enhancement for Au hole-array structure is insensitive to the polarization direction, while the enhancement for Au-GeSn grating structure depends on the polarization direction. The responsivity for GeSn photodetector with Au hole-array structure has ∼50% reinforcement compared with reference photodetector. On the other hand, Au-GeSn grating structure benefits a 3× enhanced responsivity of 0.455 A/W at 1.5V under TM-polarized illumination. The achieved responsivity is among the highest values for GeSn photodetectors operating at 2 µm. The plasmonic GeSn photodetectors in this work offer an alternative solution for high-efficiency photo detection, manifesting their great potentials as candidates for 2 µm optical communication and other emerging applications.

Hole array enhanced dual-band infrared photodetection.

Photonic structures have been attracting more attention due to their ability to capture, concentrate and propagate optical energy. In this work, we propose a photon-trapping hole-array structure integrated in a nip InAsSb-GaSb heterostructure for the enhancement of the photoresponse in both near- and mid-infrared regions. The proposed symmetrical hole array can increase the photon lifetime inside the absorption layer and reduce reflection without polarization dependence. Significant enhancements in absorption and photoelectric conversion efficiency are demonstrated in dual bands for unpolarized incidence. The enhancement factors of responsivity at room temperature under zero-bias are 1.12 and 1.33 for the near- and mid-infrared, respectively, and they are increased to 1.71 and 1.79 when temperature drops to the thermoelectric cooling temperature of 220 K. Besides, such an integrated hole array also slightly improves working frequency bandwidth and response speed. This work provides a promising way for high-efficiency polarization-independent photoelectric conversion in different electromagnetic wave ranges.

Plasmonic semiconductor nanogroove array enhanced broad spectral band millimetre and terahertz wave detection.

High-performance uncooled millimetre and terahertz wave detectors are required as a building block for a wide range of applications. The state-of-the-art technologies, however, are plagued by low sensitivity, narrow spectral bandwidth, and complicated architecture. Here, we report semiconductor surface plasmon enhanced high-performance broadband millimetre and terahertz wave detectors which are based on nanogroove InSb array epitaxially grown on GaAs substrate for room temperature operation. By making a nanogroove array in the grown InSb layer, strong millimetre and terahertz wave surface plasmon polaritons can be generated at the InSb-air interfaces, which results in significant improvement in detecting performance. A noise equivalent power (NEP) of 2.2 × 10-14 W Hz-1/2 or a detectivity (D*) of 2.7 × 1012 cm Hz1/2 W-1 at 1.75 mm (0.171 THz) is achieved at room temperature. By lowering the temperature to the thermoelectric cooling available 200 K, the corresponding NEP and D* of the nanogroove device can be improved to 3.8 × 10-15 W Hz-1/2 and 1.6 × 1013 cm Hz1/2 W-1, respectively. In addition, such a single device can perform broad spectral band detection from 0.9 mm (0.330 THz) to 9.4 mm (0.032 THz). Fast responses of 3.5 µs and 780 ns are achieved at room temperature and 200 K, respectively. Such high-performance millimetre and terahertz wave photodetectors are useful for wide applications such as high capacity communications, walk-through security, biological diagnosis, spectroscopy, and remote sensing. In addition, the integration of plasmonic semiconductor nanostructures paves a way for realizing high performance and multifunctional long-wavelength optoelectrical devices.

Hybridized surface lattice modes in intercalated 3-disk plasmonic crystals for high figure-of-merit plasmonic sensing.

Engineering the spectral lineshape of plasmonic modes by various electromagnetic couplings and mode interferences enables significant improvements for plasmonic sensing. However, bulk and surface sensitivities remain constrained by a trade-off arising from their respective dependence on the interaction volume and decay length of the plasmonic mode, making higher bulk sensitivity realized at the expense of reduced surface sensitivity. We propose a new approach to overcome this trade-off by combining near-field and far-field coupling in an intercalated 3-disk plasmonic crystal, where ∼10× higher figure of merit (FoM) and ∼2× higher surface sensitivity can be achieved, in comparison with those achievable by localized surface plasmons. A plasmonic mode with a Q-factor up to ∼110 is demonstrated based on gold 3-disk arrays in the visible spectrum, with a bulk FoM of ∼24 and a surface sensitivity prefactor of ∼13.56. The design and fabrication simplicity of the 3-disk structure highlight its potential for a robust plasmonic sensing platform with a high figure of merit.

Polarization-Controlled Plasmonic Structured Illumination.

Structured light in the subwavelength scale is important for a broad range of applications ranging from lithography to imaging. Of particular importance is the ability to dynamically shift the pattern of the fields, which has led to the development of structured illumination microscopy. Further extension of structured illumination to plasmonic systems has enabled imaging beyond diffraction limit. However, structured illumination usually requires complicated optical setups entailing moving mechanical parts. Here a polarization tunable structured plasmonic field (SPF) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The SPF is formed by surface plasmon interference (SPI) generated by a fishbone-shaped metasurface on a thin gold film. Importantly, the SPF can be continuously shifted by merely varying the linear polarization state of an incident beam. The precise control of the fringes of structured illumination and elimination of mechanical control will have great potential in subdiffractional imaging for practical applications.

Rotated fourfold U-shape metasurface for polarization-insensitive strong enhancement of mid-infrared photodetection.

Metasurface with thin planar resonant elements offers great capability in manipulating electromagnetic waves and their interaction with semiconductors. Split-ring resonator (SRR), as the basic building block, has been extensively investigated for myriad applications owing to its multiple electric and magnetic resonant modes. In this work, we report a rotated fourfold U-shape SRR metasurface for polarization-insensitive strong enhancement of mid-infrared photodetection. The integrated photodetector consists of a rotated fourfold SRR array and an InAsSb based heterojunction photodiode. A photosensitivity enhancement factor as high as 11 has been achieved by adoption of superimposed high order magnetic and electric resonant modes in the SRR metasurface. This work provides a promising pathway for exploring high performance polarization-insensitive photodetection in different electromagnetic wave ranges.

High Order Magnetic and Electric Resonant Modes of Split Ring Resonator Metasurface Arrays for Strong Enhancement of Mid-Infrared Photodetection.

Integration of photonic nanostructures with optoelectrical semiconductors offers great potential of developing high sensitivity and multifunctional photodetectors enabled by enhanced light-matter interactions. Split ring resonator (SRR) array which resonates at different resonant modes, including fundamental magnetic mode (m0), high order magnetic mode (m1), and electric (e) mode has been investigated because of the high potential for different applications. In this work, we study photodetection enhancement of these resonant modes of U-shape SRR arrays in the mid-infrared (2-5 µm) range and report, for the first time, the strong enhancement of photodetection by superimposition of m1 and e modes in an integrated photodetector consisting of a U-shape SRR array and an InAsSb-based heterojunction photodiode. We observe that the m1 mode in the SRR array shows the strongest enhancement of photocurrent, sequentially followed by the e and m0 modes. Using superimposed m1 and e modes, about an order of enhancement in room temperature detectivity (to about 2.0 × 1010 Jones) is achieved under zero-power-supply without sacrificing the response speed. In addition, polarization-resolved photoresponse between m1 and e modes and tunable enhancement of photoresponse are also demonstrated. The remarkable enhancement makes mid-infrared photodetection possible to operate at room temperature.

Indium antimonide uncooled photodetector with dual band photoresponse in the infrared and millimeter wave range.

All-InSb film-based and spiral antenna-assisted Au-InSb-Au metal-semiconductor-metal detector is reported with dual-band photoresponse in the infrared (IR) and millimeter wave range. At IR, the detector exhibits a long wavelength 100% cut-off at 7.3 µm. Under an applied bias of 5 mA, the uncooled blackbody responsivity and specific detectivity are 3.5 A/W and 1×108 Jones, respectively. The f-3dB value measured at 2.94 µm is 75 KHz, corresponding to a detector rise speed of 4.7 µs. At millimeter wave range, the detector shows a narrowband response determined by the coupling of the antenna. A voltage responsivity of 25 V/W is achieved at 167 GHz (1.796 mm) under an applied bias of 25 mA, and the corresponding noise equivalent power (NEP) is 1.0×10-10 WHz-1/2, which can be improved to 1.8×10-12 WHz-1/2 if normalized to the real active semiconductor area. A f-3dB value of 17.5 KHz, corresponding to a detector rise speed of 20 µs is achieved in this range. A proof of principle for IR-modulated photoresponse for millimeter wave is achieved with a maximum modulation depth of 47.5%. This All-InSb film-based detector and the modulation are promising for future novel optoelectronic devices in IR and millimeter waves.

Plasmon-exciton systems with high quantum yield using deterministic aluminium nanostructures with rotational symmetries.

The abundance and corrosion-resistant properties of aluminium, coupled with its compatibility to silicon processing make aluminium an excellent plasmonic material for light-matter interaction in the ultraviolet-visible spectrum. We investigate the interplay of the excitation and emission enhancements of quantum dots coupled with ultra-small aluminium nanoantennae with varying rotational symmetries, where emission enhancements of ∼8 and ∼6 times have been directly measured for gammadion and star-shaped structures. We observed spontaneous emission modification in the Al antenna with a C6 symmetry and deduce a Purcell factor in the range of 68.01 < FP < 118.25 at plasmonic hotspots, corresponding to a modified quantum yield of >89% in the single antenna and near-unity quantum yield at the plasmonic hotspots. This finding brings us a step closer towards the realization of circularly polarized nanoemitters.

CMOS-compatible all-Si metasurface polarizing bandpass filters on 12-inch wafers.

The implementation of polarization controlling components enables additional functionalities of short-wave infrared (SWIR) imagers. The high-performance and mass-producible polarization controller based on Si metasurface is in high demand for the next-generation SWIR imaging system. In this work, we report the first demonstration of all-Si metasurface based polarizing bandpass filters (PBFs) on 12-inch wafers. The PBF achieves a polarization extinction ratio of above 10 dB in power within the passbands. Using the complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) compatible 193nm ArF deep ultra-violet (DUV) immersion lithography and inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etch processing line, a device yield of 82% is achieved.

Nanobridges formed through electron beam image reversal lithography for plasmonic mid-infrared resonators with high aspect ratio nanogaps.

We present the emergence of nanobridge networks through a nanofabrication technique based on image-reversal electron beam lithography and demonstrate plasmonic structures with high aspect ratio sub-20 nm gaps capable of strong intensity enhancement in the mid-infrared range. The proposed technique, which employs the engineering of natural formations of nanobridges in predefined templates, could serve as an alternative path for realizing mid-infrared plasmonic resonators with potential applications in surface plasmon polariton-based integrated optics, and enhancement of light-matter interaction for high efficiency photodetection and nanoscale light emitters.

Electrically controlled enhancement in plasmonic mid-infrared photodiode.

Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) have been attracting tremendous attention in application of enhanced optoelectronic devices owing to their capability of localizing electromagnetic waves in deep subwavelength scale. We propose a plasmonic mid-infrared InAsSb-based n-i-p photodiode with electrically-controlled photocurrent enhancement achieved by controlling the overlap between SPP depth and the absorption layer, from which maximum electrically controlled enhancement factors of ~5x and ~6x have been achieved for room temperature (293 K) and 77 K operation, respectively, corresponding to electrical tuning factors of 11.9 and 26. The maximum detectivities obtained at the two temperatures are 0.8 × 1010 Jones and 5 × 1011 Jones, respectively. This electrically controlled enhancement expands the application capability of plasmonic photodiodes.

Combining sonicated cold development and pulsed electrodeposition for high aspect ratio sub-10 nm gap gold dimers for sensing applications in the visible spectrum.

Strong interactions between localized surface plasmons and nanoscale objects have led to the development of highly sensitive biochemical sensing in planar metallic nanostructures with sensing performance mainly dependent on the interaction volume and the local electric field. However, the sensitivity and the interaction volume of these planar structures have been limited by the achievable aspect ratios based on the standard lift-off process. We propose a new technique which involves cold sonicated development and pulsed electrodeposition to overcome this limitation, and demonstrate robust gold square dimers with sub-10 nm gaps and a gap aspect ratio of ∼8. We show that smooth gold surfaces can be achieved by growing the gold film directly on a transparent ITO substrate without a gold seed layer, and demonstrate a significant improvement in Q factors and resonance contrast in electrodeposited dimers compared to dimers fabricated by physical vapor deposition. We demonstrate that the electrodeposited dimers exhibit near 50% higher bulk refractive index sensitivity than their planar counterparts. The technique may be used to grow a variety of metals of arbitrary geometries and spatial arrangements.

Single Plasmonic Structure Enhanced Dual-band Room Temperature Infrared Photodetection.

Dual-band photodetection in mid- and near-wave infrared spectral bands is of scientific interest and technological importance. Most of the state-of-the-art mid-infrared photodetectors normally operate at low temperature and/or suffer from toxicity and high cost due to limitations of material properties and device structures. The capability of surface plasmons in confining electromagnetic waves into extremely small volume provides an opportunity for improving the performance for room temperature operation. Here, we report an n-InAsSb/n-GaSb heterostructure photodiode integrated with plasmonic two-dimensional subwavelength hole array (2DSHA) for room temperature two band photodetection. We demonstrate that with a properly designed 2DSHA, room temperature detectivities of the heterostructure device can be enhanced to ~1.4 × 109 Jones and ~1.5 × 1011 Jones for the two bands peaked at 3.4 µm and 1.7 µm, respectively. In addition, we study the photocurrent enhancement in both photoconductor and heterojunction modes in the same integrated structure. The demonstration of single 2DSHA enhanced heterojunction photodiode brings a step closer to high sensitivity room temperature devices and systems which require multiband absorption.

Surface plasmon induced direct detection of long wavelength photons.

Millimeter and terahertz wave photodetectors have long been of great interest due to a wide range of applications, but they still face challenges in detection performance. Here, we propose a new strategy for the direct detection of millimeter and terahertz wave photons based on localized surface-plasmon-polariton (SPP)-induced non-equilibrium electrons in antenna-assisted subwavelength ohmic metal-semiconductor-metal (OMSM) structures. The subwavelength OMSM structure is used to convert the absorbed photons into localized SPPs, which then induce non-equilibrium electrons in the structure, while the antenna increases the number of photons coupled into the OMSM structure. When the structure is biased and illuminated, the unidirectional flow of the SPP-induced non-equilibrium electrons forms a photocurrent. The energy of the detected photons is determined by the structure rather than the band gap of the semiconductor. The detection scheme is confirmed by simulation and experimental results from the devices, made of gold and InSb, and a room temperature noise equivalent power (NEP) of 1.5 × 10-13 W Hz-1/2 is achieved.

Subwavelength dielectric nanorod chains for energy transfer in the visible range.

We report a new type of energy transfer device, formed by a dielectric nanorod array embedded in a silver slab. Such dielectric chain structures allow surface plasmon wave guiding with large propagation length and highly suppressed crosstalk between adjacent transmission channels. The simulation results show that our proposed design can be used to enhance the energy transfer along the waveguide-like dielectric nanorod chains via coupled plasmons, where the energy spreading is effectively suppressed, and superior imaging properties in terms of resolution and energy transfer distance can be achieved.

Polarization invariant plasmonic nanostructures for sensing applications.

Optics-based sensing platform working under unpolarized light illumination is of practical importance in the sensing applications. For this reason, sensing platforms based on localized surface plasmons are preferred to their integrated optics counterparts for their simple mode excitation and inexpensive implementation. However, their optical response under unpolarized light excitation is typically weak due to their strong polarization dependence. Herein, the role of rotational symmetry for realizing robust sensing platform exhibiting strong optical contrast and high sensitivity is explored. Specifically, gammadion and star-shaped gold nanostructures with different internal and external rotational symmetries are fabricated and studied in detail, from which their mode characteristics are demonstrated as superposition of their constituent longitudinal plasmons that are in conductive coupling with each other. We demonstrate that introducing and increasing internal rotational symmetry would lead to the enhancement in optical contrast up to ~3x under unpolarized light illumination. Finally, we compare the sensing performances of rotationally symmetric gold nanostructures with a more rigorous figure-of-merit based on sensitivity, Q-factor, and spectral contrast.

Ultra-small v-shaped gold split ring resonators for biosensing using fundamental magnetic resonance in the visible spectrum.

Strong light localization within metal nanostructures occurs by collective oscillations of plasmons in the form of electric and magnetic resonances. This so-called localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) has gained much interest in the development of low-cost sensing platforms in the visible spectrum. However, demonstrations of LSPR-based sensing are mostly limited to electric resonances due to the technological limitations for achieving magnetic resonances in the visible spectrum. In this work, we report the first demonstration of LSPR sensing based on fundamental magnetic resonance in the visible spectrum using ultrasmall gold v-shaped split ring resonators. Specifically, we show the ability for detecting adsorption of bovine serum albumin and cytochrome c biomolecules at monolayer levels, and the selective binding of protein A/G to immunoglobulin G.

Multifunctional Hyperbolic Nanogroove Metasurface for Submolecular Detection.

Metasurface serves as a promising plasmonic sensing platform for engineering the enhanced light-matter interactions. Here, a hyperbolic metasurface with the nanogroove structure in the subwavelength scale is designed. This metasurface is able to modify the wavefront and wavelength of surface plasmon wave with the variation of the nanogroove width or periodicity. At the specific optical frequency, surface plasmon polaritons are tightly confined and propagated with a diffraction-free feature due to the epsilon-near-zero effect. Most importantly, the groove hyperbolic metasurface can enhance the plasmonic sensing with an ultrahigh phase sensitivity of 30 373 deg RIU-1 and Goos-Hänchen shift sensitivity of 10.134 mm RIU-1 . The detection resolution for refractive index change of glycerol solution is achieved as 10-8 RIU based on the phase measurement. The detection limit of bovine serum albumin (BSA) molecule is measured as low as 0.1 × 10-18 m (1 × 10-19 mol L-1 ), which corresponds to a submolecular detection level (0.13 BSA mm-2 ). As for low-weight biotin molecule, the detection limit is estimated below 1 × 10-15 m (1 × 10-15 mol L-1 , 1300 biotin mm-2 ). This enhanced plasmonic sensing performance is two orders of magnitude higher than those with current state-of-art plasmonic metamaterials and metasurfaces.

Temperature-dependent optoelectronic properties of quasi-2D colloidal cadmium selenide nanoplatelets.

Colloidal cadmium selenide (CdSe) nanoplatelets (NPLs) are a recently developed class of efficient luminescent nanomaterials suitable for optoelectronic device applications. A change in temperature greatly affects their electronic bandstructure and luminescence properties. It is important to understand how and why the characteristics of NPLs are influenced, particularly at elevated temperatures, where both reversible and irreversible quenching processes come into the picture. Here we present a study of the effect of elevated temperatures on the characteristics of colloidal CdSe NPLs. We used an effective-mass envelope function theory based 8-band k·p model and density-matrix theory considering exciton-phonon interaction. We observed the photoluminescence (PL) spectra at various temperatures for their photon emission energy, PL linewidth and intensity by considering the exciton-phonon interaction with both acoustic and optical phonons using Bose-Einstein statistical factors. With a rise in temperature we observed a fall in the transition energy (emission redshift), matrix element, Fermi factor and quasi Fermi separation, with a reduction in intraband state gaps and increased interband coupling. Also, there was a fall in the PL intensity, along with spectral broadening due to an intraband scattering effect. The predicted transition energy values and simulated PL spectra at varying temperatures exhibit appreciable consistency with the experimental results. Our findings have important implications for the application of NPLs in optoelectronic devices, such as NPL lasers and LEDs, operating much above room temperature.