Experimental analysis of waveguide-coupled surface-plasmon-polariton cone properties

Numerical investigation of finite thickness metal-insulator-metal structure for waveguide-based surface plasmon resonance biosensing

The emerging field of nanophotonics1 addresses the critical challenge of manipulating light on scales much smaller than the wavelength. However, very few feasible practical approaches exist at present. Surface plasmon polaritons2,3 are among the most promising candidates for subwavelength optical confinement3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. However, studies of long-range surface plasmon polaritons have only demonstrated optical confinement comparable to that of conventional dielectric waveguides, because of practical issues including optical losses and stringent fabrication demands3,11,12,13. Here, we propose a new approach that integrates dielectric waveguiding with plasmonics. The hybrid optical waveguide consists of a dielectric nanowire separated from a metal surface by a nanoscale dielectric gap. The coupling between the plasmonic and waveguide modes across the gap enables ‘capacitor-like’ energy storage that allows effective subwavelength transmission in non-metallic regions. In this way, surface plasmon polaritons can travel over large distances (40–150 µm) with strong mode confinement (ranging from λ2/400 to λ2/40). This approach is fully compatible with semiconductor fabrication techniques and could lead to truly nanoscale semiconductor-based plasmonics and photonics. Xiang Zhang and colleagues from the University of California, Berkeley, propose a new approach for confining light on scales much smaller than the wavelength of light. Using hybrid waveguides that incorporate dielectric and plasmonic waveguiding techniques, they are able to confine surface plasmon polaritons very strongly over large distances. The advance could lead to truly nanoscale plasmonics and photonics.

Photonic structures created by coupling a narrow resonance to a broad resonance can significantly improve the sensitivity of optical sensors. We investigated a planar metal-insulator-metal (MIM) multilayered structure using attenuated total reflection to couple surface plasmon polaritons with the waveguide (WG) mode. A plasmon-induced transparency (PIT) to plasmon-induced adsorption (PIA) transformation was realized by controlling the coupling strength between the incident light and the WG mode. The results indicated that PIT and PIA have differing coupling strength and reflectance phase at surface plasmon resonance. Moreover, Fano resonance was realized by adjusting the center of the absorption band of the WG mode.

Electroreflectance (ER) spectroscopy was used for the estimation of the orientation of heme in a horse heart cytochrome c molecule immobilized on a self-assembled monolayer of 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid on both polycrystalline gold (Au) and single crystalline Au(111) electrodes. The intensity ratio of the ER signal of p-polarized incident light against s-polarized incident light as a function of the incident angle of the light was analyzed in two ways: a doubly degenerate transition for the Soret absorption band of the heme was assumed in one, and the anisotropy of the two orthogonal transitions was taken into account in the other. The doubly degenerate model failed in the expression of the experimental data, pointing to the existence of the anisotropy. Two orthogonal in-plane linear electric dipoles with different magnitudes were assumed to be responsible for the Soret band absorption in a new analysis procedure. This enabled us to fit the experimental data closely to the simulated data. The result revealed that the heme plane is near-vertical to the electrode surface. The need of clarification of the anisotropic heme transition was invoked.

In this paper, we present new results on the controlled directional steering and focusing of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) via 1D and 2 D metagratings by changing the angle of incidence, the incident wavelength and polarization. These findings build on previous work of our group on polarization controlled steering of SPPS using fishbone meta gratings and greatly expand on the functionality of the latter using novel designs. First we show that by creating a running wave of polarization along a one dimensional metallic metagrating consisting of subwavelength spaced rotated apertures that propagates faster than the SPP phase velocity, we can generate surface plasmon wakes, which are the two-dimensional analogue of Cherenkov radiation. The running wave of polarization travels with a speed determined by the angle of incidence and the photon spin angular momentum. We utilize this running wave of polarization to demonstrate controlled steering of the wakes by changing both the angle of incidence and the polarization of light, which we measure through near-field scanning optical microscopy. Next we report a simple 2D metagrating design strategy that can be used for focusing, polarization beam splitting, waveguide coupling, and even phase control at the focus of an SPP beam. We experimentally verify our 2D metasurface by creating a four wavelength plasmonic demultiplexer, which also has polarization selectivity (on/off). The wavelength demultiplexer is designed such that each of the four wavelengths is focused to a different spot outside of the structure. Coupling of free space light to SPPs is achieved by milling subwavelength apertures into a thin gold film. This methodology can be easily extended to any wavelength where SPPs exist, for an arbitrary number of wavelengths, and with polarization selectivity and phase control at the focus as well. © (2015) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Single particle orientation and rotational tracking (SPORT) has recently become a powerful optical microscopy tool that can expose many molecular motions. Unfortunately, there is not yet a single microscopy technique that can decipher all particle motions in all environmental conditions, thus there are limitations to current technologies. Within, the two powerful microscopy tools of total internal reflection and interferometry are advanced to determine the position, orientation, and optical properties of metallic nanoparticles in a variety of environments. Total internal reflection is an optical phenomenon that has been applied to microscopy to produce either fluorescent or scattered light. The non-invasive far-field imaging technique is coupled with a near-field illumination scheme that allows for better axial resolution than confocal microscopy and epi-fluorescence microscopy. By controlling the incident illumination angle using total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy, a new type of imaging probe called “non-blinking” quantum dots (NBQDs) were super-localized in the axial direction to sub-10-nm precision. These particles were also used to study the rotational motion of microtubules being propelled by the motor protein kinesin across the substrate surface. The same instrument was modified to function under total internal reflection scattering (TIRS) microscopy to study metallic anisotropic nanoparticles and their dynamic interactions with synthetic lipid bilayers. Utilizing two illumination lasers with opposite polarization directions at wavelengths corresponding to the short and long axis surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of the nanoparticles, both the in-plane and out-of-plane movements of many particles could be tracked simultaneously. When combined with Gaussian point spread function (PSF) fitting for particle super-localization, the binding status and rotational movement could be resolved without degeneracy. TIRS microscopy was also used to find the 3D orientation of stationary metallic anisotropic nanoparticles utilizing only long-axis SPR enhancement. The polarization direction of the illuminating light was rotated causing the relative intensity of p-polarized and s-polarized light within the evanescent field to change. The interaction of the evanescent field with the particles is dependent on the orientation of the particle producing an intensity curve. This curve and the in-plane angle can be compared with simulations to accurately determine the 3D orientation. Differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy is another non-invasive far-field technique based upon interferometry that does not rely on staining or other contrast enhancing techniques. In addition, high numerical aperture condensers and objectives can be used to give a very narrow depth of field allowing for the optical tomography of samples, which makes it an ideal candidate to study biological systems. DIC microscopy has also proven itself in determining the orientation of gold nanorods in both engineered environments and within cells. Many types of nanoparticles and nanostructures have been synthesized using lithographic techniques on silicon wafer substrates. Traditionally, reflective mode DIC microscopes have been developed and applied to the topographical study of reflective substrates and the imaging of chips on silicon wafers. Herein, a laser-illuminated reflected-mode DIC was developed for studying nanoparticles on reflective surfaces.

This Letter revises the resonance theory of Kretschmann and Otto configurations, where enhanced electromagnetic fields and strong reflectance dips observed under total internal reflection are conventionally attributed to the resonance on surface plasmon-polaritons, the subsystem eigenwaves supported by a single metal/dielectric interface. The rigorous mathematical analysis demonstrates that the field enhancement and reflection decrease, in fact, are two independent physical phenomena that occur under different conditions. Moreover, neither of them coincides with the resonance on surface plasmon-polaritons that manifests in Kretschmann and Otto configurations through other distinct optical effect.

Physical conductors (metals) that model adequately the behavior of a perfect conductor at microwave frequencies are too lossy at optical frequencies to provide low-loss enclosures. The same holds for reflectors. Whereas a metallic reflector is perfectly adequate at microwave frequencies, at optical frequencies reflectors have to be constructed using layered dielectrics of the proper thickness and dielectric constant. Total internal reflection is utilized in the construction of dielectric waveguides at microwave frequencies as well as at optical frequencies. At optical frequencies these dielectric waveguides are realized as fibers. Optical beams can also be contained in free space, if periodically refocused by lenses or mirrors. Optical resonators can be built with two or more curved mirrors that balance the diffraction of the beam bouncing back and forth and maintain a resonance mode in the space between the mirrors. The modes in dielectric waveguides and the modes of optical resonators share many of the properties of microwave waveguides and resonators discussed in the preceding chapter.KeywordsGaussian BeamPropagation ConstantKerr EffectDeterminantal EquationDielectric WaveguideThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

The hybrid modes in the plasmonic quantum dot (QD) laser are modeled using the Marctili method. The model is then used to study the mode characteristics. The modes are going to cutoff point at zero propagation constant, while it goes to surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) mode at higher photon energy. This behavior was different from that of waveguide modes shown in the dielectric waveguide. At plasmon resonance, hybrid mode is exactly one mode: surface plasmon polariton mode (perfect electric conductor).

We report plasmon resonant excitation of hot electrons in a metal based photocatalyst in the oxygen evolution half reaction in aqueous solution. Here, the photocatalyst consists of a 100-nm thick Au film deposited on a corrugated silicon substrate. In this configuration, hot electrons photoexcited in the metal are injected into the solution, ultimately reversing the water oxidation reaction (O2 + 4H+ + 4e− ⇋ 2H2O) and producing a photocurrent. In order to amplify this process, the gold electrode is patterned into a plasmon resonant grating structure with a pitch of 500 nm. The photocurrent (i.e., charge transfer rate) is measured as a function of incident angle using 633 nm wavelength light. We observe peaks in the photocurrent at incident angles of ±9° from normal when the light is polarized parallel to the incident plane (p-polarization) and perpendicular to the lines on the grating. Based on these peaks, we estimate an overall plasmonic gain (or amplification) factor of 2.1× in the charge transfer rate. At these same angles, we also observe sharp dips in the photoreflectance, corresponding to the condition when there is wavevector matching between the incident light and the plasmon mode in the grating. No angle dependence is observed in the photocurrent or photoreflectance when the incident light is polarized perpendicular to the incident plane (s-polarization) and parallel to the lines on the grating. Finite difference time domain simulations also predict sharp dips in the photoreflectance at ±9°, and the electric field intensity profiles show clear excitation of a plasmon-resonant mode when illuminated at those angles with p-polarized light.

We investigated the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of aluminum (Al) thin films with varying refractive index of the environment near the films in the far‒ultraviolet (FUV, ≤ 200 nm) and deep‒ultraviolet (DUV, ≤ 300 nm) regions. By using our original FUV‒DUV spectrometer which adopts an attenuated total reflectance (ATR) system, the measurable wavelength range was down to the 180 nm, and the environment near the Al surface could be controlled. In addition, this spectrometer was equipped with a variable incident angle apparatus, which enabled us to measure the FUV‒DUV reflectance spectra (170–450 nm) with various incident angles ranging from 45° to 85°. Based on the obtained spectra, the dispersion relation of Al‒SPR in the FUV and DUV regions was obtained. In the presence of various liquids (HFIP, water, alcohols etc.) on the Al film, the angle and wavelength of the SPR became larger and longer, respectively, compared with those in the air (i.e., with no materials on the film). These shifts correspond well with the results of simulations performed according to the Fresnel equations, and can be used in the application of SPR sensors. FUV‒DUV‒SPR sensors (in particular, FUV‒SPR sensors) with tunable incident light wavelength have three experimental advantages compared with conventional visible‒SPR sensors, as discussed based on the Fresnel equations, i.e., higher sensitivity, more narrowly limited surface measurement, and better material selectivity.

Although thin film coatings have been used for many years in optical investigations of biological systems (especially as narrow band light filters), more recent applications of such films in two types of spectroscopic devices, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and optical waveguides, have provided new biophysical tools for the study of protein-protein and protein-lipid membrane interactions [1]. Although both of these techniques are based on different physical phenomena, the thin film coatings have the same function, i.e. coupling devices in which incident light, under the appropriate optical conditions, can generate an evanescent surface-bound electromagnetic field, which propagates along the interface between the thin film and the emergent dielectric medium in a manner which depends on the interface characteristics. The resulting electric field intensity is concentrated at the outer surface of the film, and diminishes exponentially on both sides of the interface. As a consequence of these properties, it is possible to use SPR and waveguide spectroscopy to probe a few nanometers from the coated surface, a distance well below the wavelength of the light used to generate the evanescent waves, and hence these phenomena have been utilized extensively in studies of surfaces and thin films [for references see 1,2]. Although numerous other optical techniques have also been applied to such systems (e.g. ellipsometry, interferometry, spectrophotometry, and various forms of microscopy), the SPR method has very recently regained its popularity, mainly because of its superior sensitivity, as well as some additional very important advantages over these other methodologies [1,2]. These latter advantages include the following. First, the complete system of measurement is located on the side of the apparatus which is remote from the sample, and thus there is no optical interference from the bulk medium. Second, the outer surface of the sample needs no treatment to increase reflectance, because the necessary high reflectivity is achieved by using total internal reflectance. Third, there are three principal parameters of the resonance that can readily be measured, thereby yielding much more information about the sample and changes within it than the simple interferometric step height used in other sensitive optical techniques.

Estimation of average orientation of surface-confined chromophores on electrode surfaces using electroreflectance spectroscopy

Traditionally, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensors utilize absorption of light radiation incident upon noble metal films above the total internal reflection angles. Herein we extend the SPR phenomenon to incorporate cavity plasmon resonance (CPR) excitation of metallic films at incidence angles below the critical angle. While SPR occurs for TM polarized light only and requires very specific excitation conditions, which could be disadvantageous in some practical designs, CPR does not require complicated evanescent field excitation above the critical total internal reflection angle and can be implemented for both transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) fields even under normal incidence (TEM). These and other unique features of CPR enable a more flexible design of highly efficient and sensitive biosensing devices.

The evanescent wave, occurred when the incident light generates total internal reflection on the interface between glass and metallic film, can raise the surface plasmon (SP) on the metallic film. SP and evanescent wave can resonate under certain angle of incidence when they have the same frequency and wave number. In this case, the power of reflection beam decreases dramatically, and the resonance peak appears in the reflection spectroscopic. The positions of resonance peaks are different when the refraction indexes of medium on the metallic film or the thicknesses of the metallic film are different. And it is found that the phase position of p-component of reflected light changes with the metal film thickness, while the phase position of s-component almost doesn’t change in the Surface Plasmon Resonance effect. S-polarized light is taken as reference and interferometry is adopted to turn the change of the phase position into the change of interference fringes position in the paper, and the film thickness can be derived from it. The simulation results indicated that, through making use of piecewise quadratic fitting on the phase data, the inaccuracy with the range of film thickness is between 30 and 80 nanometers is not more than 0.33 nm.