Parametrically resonant surface plasmon polaritons.

We present the theory of parametrically resonant surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs). We show that a temporal modulation of the dielectric properties of the medium adjacent to a metallic surface can lead to efficient energy injection into the SPP modes supported at the interface. When the permittivity modulation is induced by a pump field exceeding a certain threshold intensity, such a field undergoes a reverse saturable absorption process. We introduce a time-domain formalism to account for pump saturation and depletion effects. Finally, we discuss the viability of these effects for optical limiting applications.

Plasmonic parametric absorbers.

Exploiting the dynamics of plasmonic parametric resonance (PPR), we introduce the theory of plasmonic parametric absorbers (PPAs). The key insight informing the PPA idea is that in the PPR process a pump field experiences an extinction rate that strongly depends on the intensity of the pump itself, creating two distinct regimes: one of weak absorption under low intensity illumination, and one of strong absorption when the threshold of parametric resonance is met or exceeded. Due to this reverse saturable absorption behavior, PPAs are promising candidates for optical-limiting applications.

Accumulation-layer surface plasmons in transparent conductive oxides.

A rigorous analytical study of the eigenmodes supported by a charge accumulation layer within a transparent conductive oxide (TCO) is presented. The new class of surface plasmons termed accumulation-layer surface plasmons (ASPs) is introduced. Near resonance ASPs are tightly bound and display a vast effective index tunability that could be of great practical interest. The suppression of ASPs in the presence of epsilon-near zero regions is discussed.

Scattering detection of a solenoidal Poynting vector field.

The Poynting vector S plays a central role in electrodynamics as it is directly related to the power and the momentum carried by an electromagnetic wave. In the presence of multiple electromagnetic waves with different polarizations and propagation directions, the Poynting vector may exhibit solenoidal components which are not associated to any power flow. Here, we demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that the presence of such solenoidal components has physical consequences, and it is not a mere artifact of the gauge invariance of S. In particular, we identify a simple field configuration displaying solenoidal components of S and theoretically show that a judiciously designed scatterer can act as a "Poynting vector detector" which when immersed in such field distribution would experience a transverse optical force orthogonal to the incidence plane. We experimentally validate our theoretical predictions by observing a pronounced asymmetry in the scattering pattern of a spherical nanoparticle.

All-optical short pulse translation through cross-phase modulation in a VO2 thin film.

VO2 is a promising material for reconfigurable photonic devices due to the ultrafast changes in electronic and optical properties associated with its dielectric-to-metal phase transition. Based on a fiber-optic, pump-probe setup at 1550 nm wavelength window, and by varying the pump-pulse duration, we show that the material phase transition is primarily caused by the pump-pulse energy. For the first time, we demonstrate that the instantaneous optical phase modulation of probe during pump leading edge can be utilized to create short optical pulses at probe wavelength, through optical frequency discrimination. This circumvents the impact of long recovery time well known for the phase transition of VO2.

Nanophotonic modal dichroism: mode-multiplexed modulators.

As the diffraction limit is approached, device miniaturization to integrate more functionality per area becomes more and more challenging. Here we propose a strategy to increase the functionality-per-area by exploiting the modal properties of a waveguide system. With such an approach the design of a mode-multiplexed nanophotonic modulator relying on the mode-selective absorption of a patterned indium-tin-oxide (ITO) is proposed. Full-wave simulations of a device operating at the telecom wavelength of 1550 nm show that two modes can be independently modulated, while maintaining performances in line with conventional single-mode ITO modulators reported in the recent literature. The proposed design principles can pave the way to a class of mode-multiplexed compact photonic devices able to effectively multiply the functionality-per-area in integrated photonic systems.

Plasmonic resonant solitons in metallic nanosuspensions.

Robust propagation of self-trapped light over distances exceeding 25 diffraction lengths has been demonstrated for the first time in plasmonic nanosuspensions. This phenomenon results from the interplay between optical forces and enhanced polarizability that would have been otherwise impossible in conventional dielectric dispersions. Plasmonic nanostructures such as core-shell particles, nanorods, and spheres are shown to display tunable polarizabilities depending on their size, shape, and composition, as well as the wavelength of illumination. Here we discuss nonlinear light-matter dynamics arising from an effective positive Kerr effect, which in turn allows for deep penetration of long needles of light through dissipative colloidal media. Our findings may open up new possibilities toward synthesizing soft-matter systems with customized optical nonlinearities.

Interactions between self-channeled optical beams in soft-matter systems with artificial nonlinearities.

We demonstrate optical interactions between stable self-trapped optical beams in soft-matter systems with pre-engineered saturable self-focusing optical nonlinearities. Our experiments, carried out in dilute suspensions of particles with negative polarizabilities, show that optical beam interactions can vary from attractive to repulsive, or can display an energy exchange depending on the initial relative phases. The corresponding observations are in good agreement with theoretical predictions.

Optical nonlinearities and enhanced light transmission in soft-matter systems with tunable polarizabilities.

We demonstrate a new class of synthetic colloidal suspensions capable of exhibiting negative polarizabilities, and observe for the first time robust propagation and enhanced transmission of self-trapped light over long distances that would have been otherwise impossible in conventional suspensions with positive polarizabilities. Such light penetration through the strong scattering environment is attributed to the interplay between optical forces and self-activated transparency effects while no thermal effect is involved. By judiciously mixing colloidal particles of both negative and positive polarizabilities, we show that the resulting nonlinear response of these systems can be fine-tuned. Our experimental observations are in agreement with theoretical analysis based on a thermodynamic model that takes into account particle-particle interactions. These results may open up new opportunities in developing soft-matter systems with engineered optical nonlinearities.

Optical trapping of sub-millimeter sized particles and microorganisms.

While optical tweezers (OT) are mostly used for confining smaller size particles, the counter-propagating (CP) dual-beam traps have been a versatile method for confining both small and larger size particles including biological specimen. However, CP traps are complex sensitive systems, requiring tedious alignment to achieve perfect symmetry with rather low trapping stiffness values compared to OT. Moreover, due to their relatively weak forces, CP traps are limited in the size of particles they can confine which is about 100 µm. In this paper, a new class of counter-propagating optical tweezers with a broken symmetry is discussed and experimentally demonstrated to trap and manipulate larger than 100 µm particles inside liquid media. Our technique exploits a single Gaussian beam folding back on itself in an asymmetrical fashion forming a CP trap capable of confining small and significantly larger particles (up to 250 µm in diameter) based on optical forces only. Such optical trapping of large-size specimen to the best of our knowledge has not been demonstrated before. The broken symmetry of the trap combined with the retro-reflection of the beam has not only significantly simplified the alignment of the system, but also made it robust to slight misalignments and enhances the trapping stiffness as shown later. Moreover, our proposed trapping method is quite versatile as it allows for trapping and translating of a wide variety of particle sizes and shapes, ranging from one micron up to a few hundred of microns including microorganisms, using very low laser powers and numerical aperture optics. This in turn, permits the integration of a wide range of spectroscopy techniques for imaging and studying the optically trapped specimen. As an example, we will demonstrate how this novel technique enables simultaneous 3D trapping and light-sheet microscopy of C. elegans worms with up to 450 µm length.

High efficiency cholesteric liquid crystal lasers with an external stable resonator.

An amplified cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) laser performance is demonstrated by utilizing a binary-dye mixture (with 62 wt% DCM and 38 wt% PM597) as the active medium and an external stable resonator. The measured results show that the laser efficiency is enhanced as compared to the highest efficiency of each individual dye. Furthermore, using such an active CLC in an external stable resonator leads to a approximately 92X improved efficiency over the single CLC laser. In this instance, the binary-dye doped CLC simultaneously functions as laser oscillator and amplifier.

Trapping and rotating microparticles and bacteria with moiré-based optical propelling beams.

We propose and demonstrate trapping and rotation of microparticles and biological samples with a moiré-based rotating optical tweezers. We show that polystyrene beads, as well as Escherichia coli cells, can be rotated with ease, while the speed and direction of rotation are fully controllable by a computer, obviating mechanical movement or phase-sensitive interference. Furthermore, we demonstrate experimentally the generation of white-light propelling beams and arrays, and discuss the possibility of optical tweezing and particle micro-manipulation based on incoherent white-light rotating patterns.