Super-resolution focusing of terahertz plasmonic surface waves

太赫兹波仍然是电磁波谱中最不发达的分支之一。太赫兹辐射的许多特性有望在遥感、成像、光谱分析和医疗保健中得到重要应用。该项目旨在创新等离子体太赫兹表面波通过时间域近场平台传播的控制和聚焦。研究人员和团队正在解决可以显著提高等离子体太赫兹表面波强度的技术问题。这项研究取得的创新成果是一项技术突破，满足了基础科学研究和太赫兹商业化应用的需要。该项目研究太赫兹波段的等离子体表面波聚焦，并开发先进的等离子体元器件。具体地说，这项研究取得了以下创新：(1)展示了可灵活控制聚焦位置和强度的太赫兹等离子体表面波聚焦，以及单焦点和双聚焦等特征。(2)展示了太赫兹区域等离子体表面波的超分辨率聚焦，最终目标是显著提高等离子体表面波的峰值强度，从而向前向非线性太赫兹光学和非线性等离子体。(3)开发具有多种功能的新型等离子体元器件，使其成为操控太赫兹表面波发射和聚焦的有力工具。该项目的制造程序、快速原型制作和实验验证过程提供了等离子体元设备的概念验证原型。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Terahertz waves remain one of the most underdeveloped branches of the electromagnetic spectrum. Numerous properties of terahertz radiation promise essential applications in remote sensing, imag-ing, spectroscopy, and healthcare. This project aims to innovate control and focusing of plasmonic terahertz surface waves propagating through time-domain near-field platforms. The investigator and team are addressing technical issues that can significantly increase the intensity of plasmonic terahertz surface waves. The innovations obtained from this research represent a technological breakthrough which meets the needs of applications in fundamental scientific research and terahertz commercialization. This project investigates plasmonic surface wave focusing in the terahertz regime and develops advanced plasmonic meta-devices. Specifically, this research is delivering the following innovations: (1) Demonstrating terahertz plasmonic surface wave focusing with flexible control of focusing location and intensity, as well as features such as single-focus and dual-focus.(2) Demonstrating super-resolution focusing of plasmonic surface waves in the terahertz regime with an ultimate goal of significantly enhancing the peak intensity of plasmonic surface waves to-ward nonlinear terahertz optics and nonlinear plasmonics. (3) Developing novel plasmonic meta-devices with versatile functionalities, enabling a powerful tool to manipulate the launching and focusing of terahertz surface waves at will. The fabrication procedure, fast prototyping, and experimental validation process in this project offer proof-of-concept prototypes of plasmonic meta-devices.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.