Photonic Micro-/Nano-Structures: Design, Properties, and Applications

光子微纳米结构是许多光子元件和系统的关键元件。由于新应用需要更小的占地面积和增强的功能，光子微/纳米结构的设计、制造和性能对于实现许多技术突破至关重要，这取决于对亚波长尺度下光与光子材料之间相互作用的理解。尤其重要的是揭示其潜在的物理特性，这是它们在光电器件、环境监测和生物医学诊断中的应用的基础。在这项研究中，我们提出用近场光学技术，即激光耦合近场扫描光学显微镜（NSOM/SNOM），利用其超越衍射极限的优越分辨率，来研究光子微/纳米结构的设计、制造和性能。我们将率先尝试开发一种新的纳米加工技术，即NSOM激光纳米加工，以探索透明介质材料和有机薄膜中与光子微纳米结构相关的物理学。主要研究方向如下：(1)开发激光耦合NSOM系统，特别是采用超快激光，实现超快光谱分辨率和纳米尺度空间分辨率的光学测量。(2)飞秒激光和近场光学揭示了微/纳米结构的新光学性质，包括本研究采用的功能材料的多光子吸收和二/三阶非线性等非线性光学效应。(3)利用NSOM制备光子纳米结构及其形成机制。(4)光纤中的光子微/纳米结构，包括纳米尺度NSOM对光子晶体光纤的操纵，以及光子晶体光纤中渗透功能材料（如液晶和纳米颗粒）的新现象。从这项研究中获得的知识将在光发射、光传感、信号处理、电信和生物医学科学方面有潜在的应用，并使加拿大在这些领域的工业受益。

Photonic micro-/nano-structures are the key elements in many photonic components and systems. As a smaller footprint is required along with enhanced functionalities for their new applications to emerge, design, fabrication and properties of photonic micro-/nano-structures are crucial in the realization of many technological breakthroughs, which is dependent on the understanding of the interactions between light and photonic materials at subwavelength scales. It is especially important to reveal the underlying physics, which is the foundation for their applications in optoelectronic devices, environmental monitoring, and biomedical diagnostics. In this study, we propose to investigate the design, fabrication and properties of photonic micro-/nano-structures with near-field optical technique, i.e., a laser coupled near-field scanning optical microscope (NSOM/SNOM), by taking advantage of its superior resolution beyond diffraction limit. We will pioneer the try to develop a new nanofabrication technique, i.e., NSOM enabled laser nanofabrication, to explore the physics associated with the photonic micro-/nano-structures in transparent dielectric materials and organic thin films. The study will focus on the following areas: (1) Development of a laser coupled NSOM system, in particular with an ultrafast laser, to achieve an optical measurement with ultrafast spectral resolution and nanoscale spatial resolution. (2) Novel optical properties of micro-/nano-structures revealed by femtosecond laser and near-field optics, including nonlinear optical effects such as mutiphoton absorption and second-/third-order nonlinearity of the functional materials adopted in this study. (3) Creation of photonic nanostructures with NSOM and the underlying mechanisms of nanostructure formation. (4) Photonic micro-/nano-structures in optical fibres, including manipulation of photonic crystal fibres with NSOM at nanoscale and new phenomena from the photonic crystal fibres infiltrated with functional materials, such as liquid crystals and nanoparticles. The knowledge acquired from this research will have potential applications in light emission, optical sensing, signal processing, telecommunication and biomedical science, and benefit Canadian industries in these fields.