EAGER: Gate tunable thermo-plasmonic mid-IR coherent light emitters

EAGER：门可调谐热等离子体中红外相干光发射器

• 批准号: 2016636
• 负责人: Srinivas Tadigadapa
• 金额: $ 11万
• 依托单位: Northeastern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-06-15 至 2023-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2016636&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Gate; tunable; thermo; plasmonic

The goal of this work is to demonstrate wavelength-tunable, laser-like, mid-infrared light emitters on a chip. This will be achieved, for the first time, by coupling of surface resonance in silicon carbide with plasmonic resonance in graphene films. The proposed tunable, mid-infrared source has many advantages over existing coherent infrared sources such as tunable lasers which include complete mechanical motion free tunability of wavelength, small size for various lightweight and mobile platforms, and extremely fast response for high speed applications. The small form factor, tunability and integration potential of these devices will usher a new generation of optical lab-on-chip devices where detection of relevant biomarkers, cells, and ligand chemistries can be spectroscopically realized and thus will enable the development of inexpensive, next generation point of care biosensors. The availability of frequency tunable emitters is likely to open opportunities in the area of on-chip optical communications and optical data transfer that are hitherto considered as cumbersome. The potential bandwidth afforded by such systems may revolutionize data transfer rates and volumes. A robust research and mentoring program consisting of a graduate and undergraduate student working on the project is proposed for this 1-year EAGER proposal.This proposal aims to explore, investigate, and demonstrate the possibility of achieving tunable, coherent radiation sources in 11 - 12 μm wavelength range. To accomplish this, we propose to hybridize the localized surface resonance of bulk thermo-plasmonic materials such as silicon carbide with gate-tunable surface plasmonic resonance of two-dimensional materials such as graphene to manipulate the emission characteristics of thermal radiation sources. The proposed experimental study will examine the relation between applied gate-voltage modulated optical properties of graphene, and the corresponding shift in coupled plasmonic and phononic resonance. The study is aimed at deepening the understanding of the coupling between surface phonon resonances of a radiating surface and gate tunable surface plasmon resonance of graphene sheets. The fact that surface phonons and surface plasmons are consequences of resonant ions and electrons respectively raises interesting questions of how momentum matching is balanced between particles of different rest masses. This study will present details of theoretical and the experimentally obtained emission/absorption properties at different temperatures and different wavelengths, specifically, the minimum resolution of wavelength shift that can be achieved with gate-voltage and temperature. From an experimental standpoint, the proposed work will systematically investigate plasmonic tuning of the emission characteristics. Heterogeneous integration techniques with novel micro and nanofabrication methods will be used. The electronic control will allow for programmability of the emitter to auto-sweep through a band of wavelength of interest, to determine the absorption spectrum of samples in spectroscopy applications. The wavelength sweep timeframes of the spectrometers can be potentially accomplished in the milli – nano seconds allowing for the realization of ultrafast IR tunable sources. The fast, narrowband emission characteristics of the gate-tunable plasmonic emitters can provide nearfield infrared communication solutions in the context of next generation neuromorphic computing and sensing devices. Preliminary calculations show that these sources can generate an intensity of ~200 µW/mm2 and should be enough for spectroscopy and communication applications.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这项工作的目标是在芯片上展示波长可调的、类似激光的中红外光发射器。这将首次通过将碳化硅中的表面共振与石墨烯薄膜中的等离子体共振耦合来实现。所提出的可调谐中红外源与现有的相干红外源（如可调谐激光器）相比具有许多优点，包括波长的完全机械运动自由可调谐，各种轻型和移动平台的小尺寸，以及高速应用的极快响应。这些设备的小尺寸、可调性和集成潜力将引领新一代的光学实验室芯片设备，在这些设备中，相关生物标志物、细胞和配体化学的检测可以通过光谱实现，从而使廉价的下一代护理点生物传感器的发展成为可能。频率可调发射器的可用性可能会在迄今为止被认为是繁琐的片上光通信和光数据传输领域开辟机会。这种系统提供的潜在带宽可能会彻底改变数据传输速率和容量。一个由研究生和本科生组成的强大的研究和指导计划在这个为期一年的EAGER提案中提出。本提案旨在探索、研究和证明在11 - 12 μm波长范围内实现可调谐相干辐射源的可能性。为了实现这一目标，我们提出将块状热等离子体材料（如碳化硅）的局部表面共振与二维材料（如石墨烯）的栅极可调谐表面等离子体共振相杂化，以操纵热辐射源的发射特性。本实验研究将探讨应用栅极电压调制的石墨烯光学特性与耦合等离子体共振和声子共振的相应位移之间的关系。该研究旨在加深对辐射表面声子共振与石墨烯薄膜栅极可调谐表面等离子体共振之间耦合的理解。表面声子和表面等离子体分别是共振离子和电子的结果，这一事实提出了一个有趣的问题，即不同静止质量的粒子之间如何平衡动量匹配。本研究将详细介绍在不同温度和不同波长下的理论和实验获得的发射/吸收特性，特别是在栅极电压和温度下可以实现的波长位移的最小分辨率。从实验的角度来看，本文将系统地研究等离子体调谐的发射特性。异质集成技术与新的微纳米加工方法将被使用。电子控制将允许发射器的可编程性，通过感兴趣的波长带自动扫描，以确定光谱应用中样品的吸收光谱。光谱仪的波长扫描时间框架可以潜在地在毫纳秒内完成，允许实现超快红外可调谐源。门可调谐等离子体发射器的快速窄带发射特性可以为下一代神经形态计算和传感设备提供近场红外通信解决方案。初步计算表明，这些光源可以产生约200 μ W/mm2的强度，足以用于光谱和通信应用。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。