Tunable Plasmonic Devices Enabled by Holographically-Formed Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystals

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Tunable Plasmonic Devices Enabled by Holographically-Formed Polymer DispersedLiquid CrystalsAbstractObjective: The goal of this project is to address the challenge for the design and fabrication oftunable plasmonic devices through the electrical tuning of refractive index in holographicallyformedpolymer dispersed liquid-crystals (H-PDLCs). Both tunable plasmonic nano-antennasand reconfigurable surface plasmon polariton (SPP) devices will be investigated usingtransformation optics and cellular liquid crystals. The resulting tunable plasmonic devices willfeature fast tuning speed and flexible function for practical applications.Intellectual Merit: The proposed tunable plasmonic devices rely on the H-PDLCs, whichfeature electrical tuning capability and can be fabricated by the nano-fabrication technique. Thisis in contrast to the conventional plasmonic devices that are usually non-tunable, which haslimited their applications in optical systems. Moreover, the proposed uniform and gradient indexH-PDLCs provide us with large flexibility in designing different tuning structures. Combiningthese structures with device design techniques will lead to many new tunable plasmonic devices.Broader Impact: The successful design and fabrication of proposed H-PDLC based tunableplasmonic devices will have a large impact on future optical systems for uses in both civilian andmilitary sectors. Especially, they will find applications in the areas of sensing, imaging, energyharvesting, and communication systems. Other areas of impact include the following: (1)enhancement of optical devices research and education experiences for student researchers; (2)increased participation of high school students, and underrepresented groups in science andtechnology; (3) rapid dissemination of research results through workshops, seminars, andpublications.