SBIR Phase II: Photonic Crystal Coherent Thermal Emission for Sensors

该SBIR二期项目计划制造一种光子晶体，低发散和低色散的热中红外源，成本约为竞争技术的0.1%。第一阶段的研究对二维光子晶体发射光谱的精细结构进行了解析，发现高强度、大带宽的峰具有多个子模，具有很强的偏振和角依赖性。在一系列设计的实验中，这些子模的强度和中心波长随光子晶体的几何变化而变化，并且在理论上与表面等离子体共振相关。建立了与实验数据相匹配的计算机模型。结果表明，优化光子晶体结构可以分离出单个子模，从而产生极低色散和极低发散的相干发射。该项目将支持一所大学的高端计算研究，用于光子-表面等离子体相互作用的复杂电磁建模。这些计算预测的改进结构将在NSF支持的纳米制造设施中制造。我们将研究改变的对称性、周期性缺陷和静电场的详细形成的影响。所有现有的中红外光谱区相干辐射的选择对于广泛的蒸汽探测来说都太昂贵了。例如使用非线性光学效应的高功率脉冲激光器或量子级联激光器（现在每个5000美元）的波长移动。拟议中的水源售价可能低于10美元。此外，它可以显着降低敏感光谱仪器的成本，允许检测远低于1ppm浓度的蒸汽，并广泛用作商业，住宅和国土防御应用的有毒蒸汽探测器。与其他技术相比，这些探测器对温度不敏感，坚固耐用，无干扰影响，零维护和零漂移。这项工作将有助于理解二维光子晶体中光子表面等离子激元的相互作用。该领域对微电子和光学工业有着巨大的影响，因为光学和电子功能被结合到单芯片上，用于光学计算、通信等应用。

This SBIR Phase II project proposes to fabricate a photonic crystal, thermal mid-IR source with low divergence and low dispersion at about 0.1% the cost of competing technologies.Phase 1 research resolved fine structure of the emission spectrum from 2-D photonic crystals showing that the high intensity, large bandwidth peak had many submodes with strong polarization and angular dependence. In a series of designed experiments the intensity and central wavelength of these submodes were varied with geometrical alterations of the photonic crystal, and theoretically were correlated to surface plasmon resonances. A computer model was developed that matched experimental data. Results imply optimization of photonic crystal structure in Phase 2 could isolate a single sub-mode resulting in very low dispersion, very low divergence emission that could be coherent. The project will support high-end computational research at a university for complex electro-magnetic modeling of photon - surface plasmon interactions. Improved structures predicted by these calculations will be fabricated at an NSF supported nano-fabrication facility. We will examine effects of altered symmetry, periodic defects, and detailed shaping of electrostatic fields.All existing choices for coherent radiation in the mid-infrared spectral region are too expensive for widespread vapor detection. Examples are wavelength shifting of high power pulsed lasers using non-linear optical effects or quantum cascade lasers (now $5,000 each). The proposed source could sell for less than $10. Additionally, it could significantly reduce the cost of sensitive spectroscopic instrumentation allowing detection of vapors well below 1ppm concentration and application to widespread use as toxic vapor detectors for commercial, residential, and homeland defense applications. Compared to other technology, these detectors are temperature insensitive, rugged, and free of interference effects with zero maintenance and zero drift. This work will contribute towards understanding photon surface plasmon interactions within 2D photonic crystals. The field has huge implications for the microelectronics and optics industry as optical and electronic functions are combined onto single chips for applications to optical computing, communications, etc.