Optical Nonlinearities Enhanced by Near-Field Diffraction in Artificial Dielectric Nanostructures

9912476法国鉴于高带宽光纤提供的通信容量的巨大增长，不久将需要新技术来提供超高带宽交换和联网能力。目前使用波长和时分复用技术来利用光纤中可用的带宽，这两种技术都越来越依赖于使用直接有效的非线性光学相互作用来产生、检测、切换、复用和解复用携带光信息的波的能力。利用现有的非线性光学材料和器件，这些技术的能力和应用的增长受到效率的限制(由于相对较小的有效非线性系数和由退位相施加的较短的有效相互作用长度)。该提议的目标是进行基础研究，以开发利用人工纳米结构中的近场相互作用的高效光学非线性。提出的方法将集中在：(I)通过工程纳米结构表现出局域场集中来增强光学非线性，(Ii)结合由于超短激光脉冲可以实现的高场效应而引起的光学非线性增强，以及(Iii)设计宽带相位匹配纳米和微结构以满足光电子和成像系统的需要(例如，利用光子晶体的独特性质允许在宽角度和波长范围内工作)。该方案的具体目标包括对这些新型的非线性光学纳米结构进行严格的建模、设计、制造和表征。我们还将特别强调我们的最终目标，即利用这些增强的光学非线性来建造将对光通信网络产生重大影响的功能性介观光学设备和部件(例如波长转换器、时空和时空分路器、开关等)。和成像系统(例如用于生物医学成像的时间门控)以及其他新的应用(例如用于高分辨率光学光刻的高次谐波产生)。所提出的研究不仅将对用于光通信网络和成像系统的全光非线性处理器的发展产生重大影响，而且将导致研究中尺度光学结构中近场非线性光学效应的基础技术的发展。这些研究还将促进近场非线性介电纳米结构中的矢量光波衍射，了解纳米材料中的非线性光学过程，以及利用沉积和离子注入技术制备此类器件等领域的基础科学和工程研究。拟议的项目还将在研究生和本科生层面的科学和工程人力资源教育和开发方面发挥独特的作用，这是在我们以前的NSF支持下(在被引用的期刊和会议报告中贡献了100多篇手稿，完成了6个博士学位和5个硕士学位)。学位，为8名本科生提供NSF REU，以及目前指导10名博士生)。*

9912476FainmanGiven the enormous increase in communication capacity provided by high bandwidth optical fibers, new technologies will soon be necessary to provide ultra-high bandwidth switching and networking capabilities. The bandwidth available in optical fibers is currently exploited using wavelength and time division multiplexing techniques, both of which increasingly rely on the ability to generate, detect, switch, multiplex and demultiplex optical information-carrying waves using direct efficient nonlinear optical interactions. Growth in the capabilities and applications of these technologies using existing nonlinear optical materials and devices is limited by efficiency (due to the relatively small effective nonlinear coefficients and the short effective interaction lengths imposed by dephasing).The goal of this proposal is to conduct basic research towards the development of efficient optical nonlinearities exploiting the near field interactions in artificial nanostructures. The proposed approach will focus on: (i) enhancement of optical nonlinearities by engineering nanostructures that exhibit local-field concentration, (ii) incorporation of the optical nonlinearity enhancement due to the very high field effects achievable with ultrashort laser pulses, and (iii) engineering broadband phase-matching nano- and micro-structures to meet the needs of optoelectronic and imaging systems (e.g., using the unique properties of photonic crystals to allow operation in broad angular and wavelength bands). The specific objectives of this proposal include rigorous modeling, design, fabrication and characterization of these novel nonlinear optical nanostructures. Special emphasis will also be given to our ultimate objective of using these enhanced optical nonlinearities to build functional meso-optic devices and components that will have a significant impact on optical communication networks (e.g. wavelength converters, space-to-time and time-to-space demultiplexers, switches, etc.) and imaging systems (e.g. time-gating for biomedical imaging), as well as on additional novel applications (e.g. higher order harmonic generation for high-resolution optical lithography).The proposed research will not only have a significant impact on the development of all-optical nonlinear processors for optical communication networks and imaging systems, but also result in development of the basic technology for studying the near field nonlinear optical effects in meso-scale optical architectures. The proposed studies will also advance the basic science and engineering in such areas as vector optical wave diffraction in near-field nonlinear dielectric nanostructures, understanding of nonlinear optical processes in nanostructured materials, and fabrication of such devices using deposition and ion implantation techniques. The proposed project will also play a unique role in the education and development of human resources in science and engineering at the graduate and undergraduate levels, as under our prior NSF support (contributing to over 100 manuscripts in refereed journals and conference presentations, the completion of 6 Ph.D. and 5 M.Sc. degrees, NSF REU for 8 undergraduate students, and the current supervision of 10 Ph.D. students).***