SNM: Scalable Nanomanufacturing of Metasurfaces & Plasmonic Opto-Mechanical Systems

纳米结构与亚波长大小的金属积木安排在表面操纵轻物质的相互作用。这些纳米工程材料基本上为一种新的控制光的工程方法奠定了基础，并为新型功能器件铺平了道路，这是传统光学无法实现的，有利于传感，能源，成像和光导等应用。然而，这些纳米架构的大规模和低成本生产缺乏可扩展性，限制了影响。这个可扩展的纳米制造（SNM）研究计划将提供颠覆性的制造解决方案，以创建嵌入微米级表面的纳米架构，以促进可扩展制造的突破。 研究人员将与工业咨询委员会密切合作，定制研究，解决科学研究，以造福于广泛的技术领域，包括医疗和工业诊断系统，光通信以及实现可扩展纳米制造目标所需的精密制造设备。 该研究计划与多样化的教育计划和强大的行业推广紧密结合，旨在培养学生（高中到研究生水平，STEM教育者/学习者和行业从业者）成为未来的科学和技术领导者，以促进创新并加强美国的制造业。该计划包括与加州大学欧文分校教育学院合作创作电影和演示“从实验室到课程计划”，培训数学工程科学成就（梅萨）计划的高中教师，为科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）中代表性不足的学生提供服务。本科生将从路易斯·斯托克斯少数民族参与STEM项目中招募，这是一项由国家科学基金会资助的全州范围内的计划，旨在培养一批从事高级研究活动的多样化学生。为研究生提供跨学科培训，涉及基础科学和工程以及技术应用和科学传播。协同实验和理论研究涉及理解将纳米粒子从胶体溶液直接组装成预定义表面图案的驱动力，使用机电纺丝技术直接写入周期性和非周期性纳米线排列的物理机制，并且需要精确的过程控制。这些研究与现有的光刻技术相结合时，将产生多长度尺度的复杂架构，使用高吞吐量的制造方法，提供可调性能，在红外和光学频率，同时保持低成本。这些系统的试验台应用包括在大面积上表现出低检测限的传感器、非线性光学器件以及光学天线和致动器，以证明其对技术应用的益处。 研究领域的进步将有三个方面：1）对纳米制造中的基本机制的研究将允许研究人员构思新的和鲁棒的纳米制造方法，其将有益于光学之外的研究，2）对光学响应表面和光学机械系统的开发中的缺陷容限的理解将为纳米制造中的几何容限提供指导，3）对多长度尺度电磁相互作用的物理机制的新见解将提高对新颖的光-物质相互作用的理解，并为未来的光学器件产生改进的功能。

Nanoarchitectures with subwavelength-sized metallic building blocks arranged on surfaces manipulate light matter interactions. These nanoengineered materials basically lay the foundation for a new, engineered way of controlling light, and pave the way for novel functional devices, unattainable with conventional optics benefitting applications including sensing, energy, imaging, and light guiding. Yet the lack of scalability for large-scale and low-cost production of these nanoarchitectures limits impact. This Scalable NanoManufacturing (SNM) research program will provide disruptive manufacturing solutions to create nanoarchitectures embedded in micron scale surface to foster a breakthrough in scalable fabrication. The investigators will work closely with an industrial advisory board to tailor research that addresses scientific studies to the benefit of a broad range of technology sectors that includes medical and industrial diagnostic systems to optical communications as well as the precision manufacturing equipment needed to achieve the goal of scalable nanomanufacturing. The research program is closely integrated with a diverse educational plan and robust industry outreach that is designed to train students (high school to graduate level, STEM educators/learners and industry practitioners) to be future leaders in science and technology to benefit innovation and strengthen manufacturing in the United States. This plan includes creation of movies and demonstrations in collaboration with the UC Irvine School of Education "From Lab to Lesson Plan" that train high school teachers from the Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) program serving underrepresented students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). Undergraduate students will be recruited from The Louis Stokes for Minority Participation in STEM, a statewide initiative funded by the National Science Foundation, to train a diverse group of students in advanced research activities. Interdisciplinary training will be provided for graduate students involving fundamental science and engineering as well as technological applications and scientific communication.Synergistic experimental and theoretical studies involve understanding driving forces that direct assembly of nanoparticles from colloidal solution into predefined surface patterns, physical mechanisms of direct writing of periodic and aperiodic nanowire arrangements using elecromechanical spinning technology, and needed precision in process control. These studies when integrated with existing lithographic techniques will produce multi-length scale complex architectures using high throughput manufacturing methods that afford tunable properties at infrared and optical frequencies while retaining low cost. Test bed applications of these systems include sensors exhibiting low detection limits over large areas, non-linear optical devices, and optical antennas and actuators to demonstrate the benefit to technological applications. Advancements to the research field will be threefold: 1) studies of fundamental mechanisms in nanofabrication will allow researchers to conceive new and robust nanofabrication methods that will benefit research beyond optics, 2) the understanding of defect tolerance in the development of optically responsive surfaces and optomechanical systems will provide guidelines for geometric tolerances in nanomanufacturing, and 3) new insights into the physical mechanism of multi-length scale electromagnetic interactions will improve understanding of novel light-matter interactions and produce improved functionalities for future optical devices.