CAREER: Electric Field Localization and Enhancement at Optical Frequencies Enabled by Material's Dissipation

职业：通过材料耗散实现光频率电场局部化和增强

• 批准号: 1555336
• 负责人: Jie Yao
• 金额: $ 53.95万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-06-01 至 2022-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1555336&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Electric; Field; Localization; Enhancement

Non-technical Description: Most materials absorb light, converting electromagnetic energy into thermal energy. The energy dissipation has traditionally been considered as undesirable for many usages of optical materials and needs to be minimized. The principal investigator approaches this problem from a new perspective: to make use of the dissipation in optical materials by converting it into useful functionalities. The project experimentally investigates the electromagnetic field confinement and enhancement in nanophotonic structures made of dissipative optical materials and explores their applications in molecule sensing. In parallel with the research component of the project, "Thinkingstorm" graduate- and undergraduate-student competitions on materials development and a lab immersion activity for high school students are carried out to enhance the education of critical thinking and problem solving skills. Technical Description: Dissipative loss contributes directly to the distribution of both magnitude and phase of the electromagnetic field around a material. Photonic structures made of strongly absorbing materials may induce field redistribution in similar ways as plasmonic metal structures. The research component of this CAREER award explores new roles of imaginary part of material permittivity in controlling the light-matter interaction, especially at the interface between lossy/lossless materials. The principal investigator investigates electromagnetic field enhancement in lossy nanostructures using photochemical near-field imaging technique and experimentally measures the mode volume of the highly confined field. Electron energy loss spectroscopy is employed for studying the local photonic density of states. The understanding of these nanophotonic behaviors can lead to new forms of surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy. The research on composite materials over a large tunable range and on versatile dynamic control of material dissipation provides a solid base for new families of nanophotonic devices and changes the ways in which researchers control light, process optical materials, and design photonic structures.

非技术描述：大多数材料吸收光，将电磁能转化为热能。能量耗散传统上被认为对于光学材料的许多用途是不期望的，并且需要被最小化。首席研究员从一个新的角度来解决这个问题：通过将其转化为有用的功能来利用光学材料中的耗散。本计画以实验方式研究由耗散光学材料制成的奈米光子结构中的电磁场限制与增强，并探讨其在分子感测上的应用。在开展该项目研究部分的同时，还举办了关于材料开发的“思维风暴”研究生和本科生竞赛，并为高中生举办了一次实验室沉浸活动，以加强批判性思维和解决问题技能的教育。技术说明：耗散损耗直接影响材料周围电磁场的幅度和相位分布。由强吸收材料制成的光子结构可以以与等离子体金属结构类似的方式诱导场重新分布。该CAREER奖的研究部分探索了材料介电常数虚部在控制光-物质相互作用中的新作用，特别是在有耗/无耗材料之间的界面处。主要研究者研究了使用光化学近场成像技术在有损纳米结构中的电磁场增强，并实验测量了高度受限场的模体积。利用电子能量损失谱研究了局域光子态密度。这些纳米光子行为的理解可以导致新形式的表面增强拉曼光谱。复合材料在一个大的可调范围内和材料耗散的多功能动态控制的研究提供了一个坚实的基础，为新的家庭的纳米光子器件和改变的方式，研究人员控制光，加工光学材料，设计光子结构。