Structure-Enhanced Photoluminescence and Lasing in Aggregated Silver Films Coupled to Optically Amplifying Media

非技术描述：本研究为开发新型发光材料以实现纳米级激光器提供了科学依据。该项目利用各种显微镜和光学技术来研究这些材料的结构特征及其发光特性。这项研究的首要目标是获得成本效益高的材料，这种材料可以很容易地大规模制造，从而产生新型的超紧凑激光器。参与该项目的学生将在光学和材料科学方面接受广泛的跨学科培训。本科生进行研究，与研究生一起工作，同时学习各种材料制造和表征技术，计算方法和数字图像分析。通过教授纳米科学与社会这一新开发的课程，PI正在努力提高大学生的科学素养。PI致力于增加妇女在科学学科中的代表性，进一步利用研究活动来帮助扩大代表性不足群体的参与。技术描述：该项目旨在开发由无序银膜和放大介质组成的活性等离子体材料。在器件应用中实现随机材料的主要挑战仍然是获得纳米级结构不规则性和局部形态变化不会妨碍所需器件功能的材料。本研究项目旨在开发活性等离子体材料，通过材料的统计属性可重复控制其光学特性，从而解决这一挑战。所研究的结构包括化学生长的聚合银膜与几种模型放大介质耦合。该方法利用各种光谱、结构和数值表征技术，旨在描述制备材料中增强光发射和统计结构特性之间的基本关系。一系列的研究旨在研究随金属薄膜形态演变的光发射变化，并描述光强度与统计特性之间的标度关系。本部分还讨论了与放大介质耦合的聚合银膜中的激光现象。第二组研究涉及在不同增益系统中实现的温度控制结构增强等离子体激光器，包括等离子体Si拉曼激光器和Ag2O/Ag发色团复合物，目的是开发可靠的控制机制来可靠地调节放大的光输出。

Non-technical Description: This study provides a scientific basis for the development of novel light emitting materials which are implemented to attain nanoscale lasers. The project utilizes a variety of microscopy and optical techniques to investigate the structural characteristics of these materials and their light emitting properties. The overarching goal of this study is to achieve cost efficient materials which may be readily fabricated on large scales, to yield new types of ultra-compact lasers. Students participating in this project are receiving broad interdisciplinary training in optical and materials sciences. Undergraduate students conduct research, working alongside graduate students, while learning a variety of materials fabrication and characterization techniques, computational methods and digital image analysis. The PI is leading efforts to improve undergraduate science literacy through the instruction of a newly developed course on the topic of Nanoscience and Society. The PI's commitment to increasing the representation of women in the scientific disciplines further leverages research activities to help broaden the participation of underrepresented groups.Technical Description: The project aims to develop active plasmonic materials comprising disordered silver films and amplifying media. A main challenge to implementation of random materials in device applications remains attaining materials in which nanoscale structural irregularities and local morphological variations do not impede desired device functionality. This research project addresses this challenge by aiming to develop active plasmonic materials whose optical properties are reproducibly controlled through the materials' statistical attributes. The structures under investigation comprise chemically grown aggregated silver films coupled to several model amplifying media. The approach utilizes a variety of spectroscopic, structural and numerical characterization techniques, and it intends to delineate fundamental relations between enhanced light emission and statistical structural characteristics in the fabricated materials. A set of studies aims to examine variations in light emission as the metal films evolve morphologically, and delineate scaling relations between light intensity and statistical characteristics. This part also addresses lasing phenomena in aggregated silver films coupled to amplifying media. A second set of studies addresses temperature controlled structure-enhanced plasmonic lasers, achieved in different gain systems, including plasmonic Si Raman lasers and Ag2O/Ag chromophore complexes, with the aim of developing robust control mechanisms to reliably tune amplified optical output.