EAGER: Exploring Antenna-Enhanced Nano IR-Sensors

本项目旨在探索将纳米金属结构与光子晶体相结合，开发高效光子天线，从而显著提高纳米碳材料红外探测器的填充系数。研究表明，与现有红外探测器相比，纳米碳材料红外探测器具有不需要低温冷却、光谱检测、高信噪比等优越性能。然而，应用这种探测器的主要瓶颈是由于纳米碳材料的尺寸而导致其低填充因子。该计划的潜在结果将是纳米碳材料红外探测器应用的关键一步。他们还将通过发现纳米光子天线和纳米红外探测器设计的新知识，以及为纳米光子器件开发新的纳米制造工艺来实现变革。知识上的优点是利用光子天线来提高量子效率和填充因子，从而推动了纳米碳材料光伏技术的发展。对电磁场拓扑和表面等离子体的理论理解、纳米光子器件的优化设计以及高效的纳米制造将做出变革性的贡献。更广泛的影响不仅在纳米光子学和纳米制造方面，而且在更广泛的领域包括：在纳米技术和电磁学方面创造新的多学科研究和发展方向；为工程、生物和其他科学领域的研究和发展提供新的理解和设备；并推动了新型红外摄像机的开发，用于国家安全、医疗诊断和工业检查。

The objective of the program is to explore the integration of nano metallic structures with photonic crystal for developing high efficient photonic antennas to significantly improve the fill factor of nanocarbon material based infrared detectors. It has been demonstrated that the nanocarbon material based infrared detectors have many superb performance comparing to currently available infrared detectors such as no need for cryogenic cooling, spectrum detection, and high signal to noise ratio. However the major bottle neck for applying such detectors is their low fill factors due to the dimensions of nanocarbon material. The potential results of this program will be a key step forward for the applications of nanocarbon material based infrared detectors. They will be also transformative by discovering new knowledge on the design of nanophotonic antenna and nanoinfrared detectors, and developing new nanomanufacturing processes for nanophotonic devices. The intellectual merit is to advance the state-of-art of nanocarbon material based photovoltaics by using a photonic antenna to increase quantum efficiency and fill factors. The transformative contributions will be made in theoretical understanding of electromagnetic field topology and surface plasmonics, optimal design of nanophotonic devices, and efficient nanomanufacturing.The broader impacts are not only on nanophotonics and nanomanufacturing, but also on broader areas including: creating new multidisciplinary research and development directions in nanotechnology and electromagnetics; providing new understanding and devices for research and development in engineering, biology and other science fields; and leading to the development of new infrared cameras for applications in national security, medical diagnostics, and industrial inspections.