Novel Capabilities and Devices Using Plasmonic Lattices in Conventional and Exotic Metals

摘要目的：这项研究的目的是阐明这一现象的基本性质，并利用这一知识开发出适用于太赫兹光谱范围的独特和有用的设备功能。学术价值：在过去的十年里，由于可以探索的惊人的新物理，以及与许多已发现的现象相关的新的和独特的应用的潜力，人们对等离子体激动学领域的兴趣急剧增加。引起人们极大关注的一种特殊现象是通过亚波长光圈阵列(也称为等离子体晶格)增强的光传输。在研究计划期间，我们将使用时间域光谱学来检查太赫兹频率下等离子体晶格的传输特性，它比现有在光学频率下进行的研究具有几个独特的优势：(I)与光学频率下不同，在光学频率下，只有金和银能够支持表面等离子激元-极化子的相对低损耗的传播，包括铝、不锈钢以及更多外来金属，如重掺杂导电聚合物和金属单壁碳纳米管，在太赫兹频率下工作良好(Ii)在太赫兹频率下的传输共振比在光学频率下的类似共振显示更高的品质因数(Iii)太赫兹时域光谱学允许直接测量通过结构传输的太赫兹电场，产生幅度和相位信息。更广泛的影响：潜在的应用包括生物医学和国土安全应用的传感、短距离自由空间通信和成像。拟议的研究具有很强的跨学科性质，将有助于教育来自多个系的研究生和本科生，他们将参与研究项目的所有方面。

Abstract Objective: The goal of the proposed research is to elucidate the underlying properties of the phenomenon, and use this knowledge to develop unique and useful device capabilities for the THz spectral range. Intellectual Merit:Over the last decade, interest in the field Plasmonics has increased dramatically, because of the striking new physics that can be explored and the potential for new and unique applications associated with many of the discovered phenomena. One particular phenomenon that has elicited significant attention is that of enhanced optical transmission through arrays of subwavelength apertures (also known as plasmonic lattices). During the research program period, we will examine the transmission properties of plasmonic lattices at THz frequencies using time-domain spectroscopy, which offers several unique advantages over existing studies performed at optical frequencies: (i) Unlike at optical frequencies, where only gold and silver are able to support relatively low loss propagation of surface plasmon-polaritons, a broad range of metals including aluminum, stainless steel, as well as more exotic metals such as heavily doped conducting polymers and metallic single walled carbon nanotubes, work well at THz frequencies (ii) the transmission resonances at THz frequencies exhibit a higher quality factor than similar resonances at optical frequencies (iii) THz time-domain spectroscopy allows for a direct measurement of the THz electric field transmitted through the structures, yielding both amplitude and phase information. Broader Impact:Potential applications include sensing for biomedical and homeland security applications, short range free-space communications, and imaging. The strong interdisciplinary nature of the proposed research will serve to educate graduate and undergraduate students from multiple departments, who will be involved in all aspects of the research projects.