New Frontiers in Plasmonic Metamaterials: Flat-Lens Microscopy and Tractor Beaming

光学的复兴是由最近的一种可能性引发的，这种可能性是从头开始创造具有自然界中不可能找到的光学特性的材料。这种材料，被称为超材料，是基于“人造原子”的原理，具有由远低于光波长的尺度上雕刻的形态特征定义的特性。 当波长只有几百纳米时，很难制造出具有足够空间分辨率的人造原子。克服这一限制的一个有希望的途径是使用“等离子体”超材料，将光转换为被称为表面等离子体激元（SPP）的较短波长振荡-光波束缚在金属表面上。 这些材料提供了令人兴奋的新方法，可以将紫外光转换为可见光频率，这是一个对人类视觉、显示器、太阳能技术和显微镜至关重要的光谱区域。 最近的工作已经表明，等离子体超材料可以量身定制，以模仿与假设的负折射率介质相关的奇异特性，例如光以“错误”的方式弯曲或光压力拉而不是推。 我的研究计划使用等离子体超材料来实现基于超薄金属和介电层配置的新形式的负折射率行为。 我过去的工作表明，这样的系统提供了一个平台，以了解SPP如何合谋引起负折射率行为，并可用作构建模块，以制造独特的光学元件，如平面透镜。拟议的研究有两个目标。第一个是找到新型平面镜片的配方，这些镜片具有典型镜片中的一些理想特性，例如在可见光谱上的透明度。第二个是探索等离子体超材料如何以及为什么可以重新卷曲到光源，这是一种尚未完全理解的牵引光束形式。该方法包括模拟等离子体超材料中的光学和光机相互作用，以及验证其用于成像和牵引光束的实验。 拖拉机光束测量将基于在扫描电子显微镜中可视化微小的光驱动位移，这是加拿大的第一个此类实验。 平面透镜为创新的显微镜提供了希望，这种显微镜可以用于大面积成像，但使用喷涂制造成本低。更好地理解拖拉机光束的努力将为光在物质中的动量提供新的视角，这是一个挥之不去的辩论话题，使电动力学理论的基础悬而未决。 HQP获得对加拿大不断增长的技术部门有价值的高技术技能，并支持其资源部门的现代化。创业培训机会将使HQP具备领导他人和建立公司的技能。

A renaissance in optics has been sparked by the recent possibility of creating materials from the ground up with optical properties that are impossible to find in nature. Such materials, known as metamaterials, are based on the principle of "artificial atoms" having properties defined by morphological features sculpted on scales well below the wavelength of light.   When wavelengths are just hundreds of nanometres, it becomes difficult to fabricate artificial atoms with sufficient spatial resolution. A promising route to overcome this limitation is to use "plasmonic" metamaterials that transform light into shorter-wavelength oscillations known as surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs)– light waves bound on metallic surfaces.  These materials offer exciting new ways to mould light at UV to visible frequencies, a spectral region fundamentally important for human vision, displays, solar technologies, and microscopy.  Recent work has already shown that plasmonic metamaterials can be tailor-made to mimic exotic properties linked to a hypothetical negative-index medium, such as light bending the "wrong" way or light pressure that pulls rather than pushes.   My research program uses plasmonic metamaterials to realize new forms of negative-index behaviour based on the configuration of ultra-thin metallic and dielectric layers.  My past work has shown that such systems provide a platform to understand how SPPs conspire to elicit negative-index behaviour and can be used as a building block to make unique optical elements such as flat lenses. The proposed research has two goals. The first is to find recipes for new types of flat lenses having some of the desirable traits found in typical lenses, such as transparency over the visible spectrum. The second is to explore how and why plasmonic metamaterials can re-coil towards a light source, a form of tractor beaming yet to be fully understood. The methodology consists of simulations to model optical and opto-mechanical interactions in plasmonic metamaterials and experiments to validate their use for imaging and tractor beaming.  Tractor-beaming measurements will be based on visualizing tiny, light-driven displacements in a scanning electron microscope, the first experiment of its kind in Canada. Flat lenses hold promise for innovative microscopes that can be used to image over large areas, yet made at a low cost using spray-on fabrication. Efforts to better understand tractor beaming will provide new perspectives on the momentum of light in matter, the topic of a lingering debate that leaves the foundations of electrodynamic theory unsettled.  HQP gain high-technology skills that are valuable to Canada's growing technology sector and support modernization of its resource sector. Entrepreneurship training opportunities will equip HQP with the skills to lead others and build companies.