DMREF: Collaborative Research: Semiconductor Heterostructure Platform for Active Nonlocal Plasmonic and Hyperbolic Materials

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NON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: Multilayered composites, designed to combine the properties of reflective metals and transparent dielectrics, have the potential to revolutionize optical microscopy, control emission of molecules, and even to enable cloaks of invisibility. However, until now the advantages achieved with multilayered structures have been limited. Decreasing layer thickness, reducing absorption, and implementing optical gain have been named as some of the possible ways to advance the optics of multilayered media towards its revolutionary potential. In this project, our collaborative team will aim to understand, through carefully designed experimental, computational, and analytical studies, the optical response of free-electron plasma that underlines the photonics of multilayered composites. Of particular interest will be the limits of small layer thickness where quantum-mechanical effects are expected to manifest themselves, and the interaction between optical gain and loss. The program will present new opportunities for engaging students in interdisciplinary research and thus improve competitiveness of the US high-tech workforce. The team members will also implement a number of outreach events to broaden participation of school-aged and undergraduate students in STEM. TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: Plasmonic metamaterials -- nanostructured composites with tailored optical response resulting from metallic or highly doped semiconducting components -- promise to revolutionize our understanding of light-matter interactions, enabling new applications that include perfect light absorbers, invisibility cloaks, sub-wavelength imaging, focusing, and guiding. In this project the team will perform a comprehensive interdisciplinary study of semiconductor layered metamaterials, with a vision towards understanding the fundamentals of light-matter interaction in heterogeneous mesoscale plasmonic systems. Of particular interest will be (i) understanding the optical response of plasmonic systems where the motion of the free charges is confined by the geometry, leading to nonlocal electromagnetism and to (ii) fundamentals of light propagation, emission, and absorption in coupled nonlocal nanoplasmonic systems. The developed description of active nonlocal plasmonics will be applicable to multiple material platforms operating throughout optical spectrum. The proposed program will provide multiple opportunities for educating the next-generation interdisciplinary workforce and will serve as a platform for outreach activities targeting undergraduates, school students, and school teachers.