Template-based Fabrication of Three-dimensional, Chiral Plasmonic Nanostructures

手征描述了物体的结构手性，这些手性不同于它们自己的镜像。手征在自然界中无处不在，最为人所知的是观察我们自己的左手和右手。它也存在于许多糖分子、氨基酸和较大的蛋白质、核酸和病毒中，其中手性对功能有深远的影响;例如手性分子在化学反应中以及在与偏振光的相互作用中表现不同。受天然手性分子的启发，人工手性等离子体纳米结构被探索利用它们的强光相互作用，并实现包括生物传感，光发射和光操纵在内的应用的“巨大”光学响应。手性等离子体纳米结构的实现需要等离子体材料被成形为复杂的、亚波长的三维结构。然而，在所需的大面积上制造高密度的这些纳米结构并不是微不足道的。该奖项将结合自上而下的制造和自下而上的组装，以实现具有强大的偏振相关光学特性的手性等离子体纳米结构。通过利用块体和纳米晶材料的不同物理性质，将产生对光和磁刺激响应的手性材料。 该团队将利用这些制造技术的简单性来设计一个新的光学器件制造实验室，使该领域能够为参加科学节，夏令营和正式课程的K-12和本科生所用。该团队还将分享职业经验，鼓励女性追求科学和工程职业。 光学超材料通过工程化物质的尺寸、形状和物理性质，以纳米级精度从等离子体和非等离子体构建块人工构造，从而实现对光的前所未有的控制。其中，手征等离子体超材料联合收割机结合了强的光-物质相互作用和由其结构旋向性产生的独特的偏振选择性。该奖项旨在通过利用由纳米压印光刻定义的尺寸和形状工程模板以及块体和微纳米薄膜的不同沉积工艺和特性来推进大面积，多功能，三维，手性等离子体纳米结构的纳米级制造。通过结合角度选择性，阴影蒸发的大块金属薄膜与各向同性沉积的胶体纳米薄膜，分层，手性纳米结构将被创建。利用块体和纳米薄膜的不同化学和结构性质，将利用应力来驱动块体金属/纳米结构的屈曲，从而将平面二维的手性纳米结构转变为三维的手性纳米结构。通过将不同的块体材料和手性材料集成在一起，可以实现强极化相关的光磁响应手性材料。

Chirality describes the structural handedness of objects which are distinct from their own mirror images. Chirality is ubiquitous in nature and best known in looking at our own left and right hands. It is also found in many sugar molecules, amino acids and in larger proteins, nucleic acids and viruses, where chirality has a profound effect on function; for example chiral molecules behave differently in chemical reactions and in their interaction with polarized light. Inspired by natural chiral molecules, artificial chiral plasmonic nanostructures are explored to exploit their strong light interaction and realize 'giant' optical responses for applications including biosensing, light emission, and light manipulation. The realization of chiral plasmonic nanostructures requires plasmonic materials to be shaped into complex, subwavelength, three-dimensional architectures. However, it is not trivial to fabricate high densities of these nanostructures over the large areas required. This award will unite top-down fabrication and bottom-up assembly to realize chiral plasmonic nanostructures that have strong, polarization-dependent optical properties. By exploiting the disparate physical properties of bulk and nanocrystalline materials, chiral materials that are responsive to optical and magnetic stimuli will be created. The team will utilize the simplicity of these fabrication technologies to design a new optical device fabrication lab to make the field accessible to K-12 and undergraduate students participating in science festivals, camps, and formal curricula. The team will also share career experiences to encourage women to pursue careers in science and engineering. Optical metamaterials enable unprecedented control of light by engineering the size, shape, and physical properties of matter, artificially structured from plasmonic and non-plasmonic building-blocks with nanometer scale precision. Among them, chiral plasmonic metamaterials combine strong light-matter interactions with the unique polarization selectivity created by their structural handedness. This award aims to advance the nanoscale manufacturing of large-area, multi-functional, three-dimensional, chiral plasmonic nanostructures by exploiting size- and shape-engineered templates defined by nanoimprint lithography and the different deposition processes and properties of bulk and nanocrystal thin films. By combining angle-selective, shadow evaporation of bulk metal thin films with the isotropic deposition of colloidal nanocrystal thin films, hierarchal, chiral nanostructures will be created. Taking advantage of the distinct chemical and structural properties of bulk and nanocrystal thin films, stress will be exploited to drive buckling of bulk metal/nanocrystal nanostructures and thereby turn planar two-dimensional into three-dimensional, chiral nanostructures. By integrating different bulk and nanocrystal materials, strong polarization-dependent and optically and magnetically responsive chiral materials will be realized.