SBIR Phase I: Metal Nanoclusters Embedded Composite Thin Films for Photonic Applications

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将开发一种新的方法来合成纳米团簇嵌入式电介质薄膜的光子学应用。 嵌入介电基质的纳米颗粒显示出独特的物理、化学、光学、电子、催化和磁性。 对于非线性光学（NLO）应用，纳米团簇的固有性质（诸如颗粒尺寸、尺寸分布和体积分数）是非常重要的，并且对于基质材料，其是它们的介电常数和折射率。 一种改进的燃烧化学气相沉积（CCVD）技术将被用来生产纳米复合非线性光学材料与控制纳米团簇的大小和分布，这将表现出高的三阶光学非线性和快速响应。 独特的CCVD技术将产生良好分散的金属纳米团簇嵌入电介质薄膜。 在第一阶段，项目团队将存款的纳米复合薄膜，表征其非线性光学性能，并建立工艺-结构-性能的关系。 主要致力于改善纳米团簇的物理性质，如尺寸，形状，组成，结晶度，结构，以及它们的尺寸分布和体积分数。 今天，没有三阶NLO材料应用是实际的，因为迄今为止观察到的非线性比使用中等功率激光器的商业设备所需的非线性少两到四个数量级。 嵌入式纳米团簇的方法将导致必要的数量级的性能increasing. Commercialized，NLO效应在光通信中的光开关和光信号处理设备是必不可少的元素有重要的应用。 光学器件的使用优于电子器件的使用，因为所使用的载波频率更高，这提供了潜在的更高带宽。 非线性光学效应的实际应用是在光开关，放大，光束转向和清理，以及光通信，计算和集成光学的图像处理。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop a novel approach to synthesizing nanocluster embedded dielectric thin films for photonics applications. Nanosized particles embedded dielectric matrices have shown unique physical, chemical, optical, electronic, catalytic, and magnetic properties. For nonlinear optical (NLO) applications, the intrinsic properties of the nanoclusters such as particle size, size distribution, and volume fraction are of great importance, and for the matrix materials it is their dielectric constant and refractive index. A modified Combustion Chemical Vapor Deposition (CCVD) technique will be utilized to produce the nanocomposite NLO materials with controlled nanocluster size and distribution, which will exhibit high third-order optical nonlinearity and fast response. The unique CCVD technique will produce well-dispersed metal nanoclusters embedded dielectric thin films. In Phase I, the project team will deposit the nanocomposite films, characterize their NLO properties, and establish process-structure-property relationship. Primary efforts will be made on improving nanoclusters' physical properties such as size, shape, composition, crystallinity, structure, as well as their size distribution and volume fraction. Today, no third-order NLO material applications are practical because the nonlinearities observed to date are two to four orders of magnitude short of what will be required for commercial devices that use lasers of moderate power. The embedded nanocluster approach developed here will lead to the necessary orders of magnitude increase in performance.Commercially, NLO effects have important applications in optical communications where optical switching and optical signal processing devices are essential elements. The use of optics is advantageous over that of electronics because of the higher carrier frequency used, which gives a potentially higher bandwidth. Practical applications of the NLO effects are in optical switching, amplification, beam steering and clean-up, and image processing for optical communications, computing, and integrated optics.