Enhanced and directional emission of semiconductor nanowires tailored through leaky/guided modes

Insight into refractive index modulation as route to enhanced light coupling in semiconductor nanowires

Recent developments in chemical processes to prepare single-crystalline nanowire (NW) superlattices (SLs) have discovered a range of unique nanophotonic properties. In particular, diameter-modulated silicon NW geometric SLs (GSLs) have shown their ability to produce complex interference effects through which enhanced light manipulation is achieved. Here, we re-imagine the origin of the complex interference effects occurring in shallow-modulated GSLs and present a refractive index modulation as a key deciding factor. We introduce the design of a NW refractive index SL (ISL), a hypothetical uniform-diameter NW in which the refractive index is periodically modulated, and explain the coupling effect between Mie resonance and bound guided state. We apply the ISL concept to other NW SL systems and suggest potential routes to bring substantial enhancements in lasing activities.

Anisotropic Radiation in Heterostructured "Emitter in a Cavity" Nanowire

Tailorable synthesis of axially heterostructured epitaxial nanowires (NWs) with a proper choice of materials allows for the fabrication of novel photonic devices, such as a nanoemitter in the resonant cavity. An example of the structure is a GaP nanowire with ternary GaPAs insertions in the form of nano-sized discs studied in this work. With the use of the micro-photoluminescence technique and numerical calculations, we experimentally and theoretically study photoluminescence emission in individual heterostructured NWs. Due to the high refractive index and near-zero absorption through the emission band, the photoluminescence signal tends to couple into the nanowire cavity acting as a Fabry–Perot resonator, while weak radiation propagating perpendicular to the nanowire axis is registered in the vicinity of each nano-sized disc. Thus, within the heterostructured nanowire, both amplitude and spectrally anisotropic photoluminescent signals can be achieved. Numerical modeling of the nanowire with insertions emitting in infrared demonstrates a decay in the emission directivity and simultaneous rise of the emitters coupling with an increase in the wavelength. The emergence of modulated and non-modulated radiation is discussed, and possible nanophotonic applications are considered.

Light-emitting metalenses and meta-axicons for focusing and beaming of spontaneous emission

Phased-array metasurfaces have been extensively used for wavefront shaping of coherent incident light. Due to the incoherent nature of spontaneous emission, the ability to similarly tailor photoluminescence remains largely unexplored. Recently, unidirectional photoluminescence from InGaN/GaN quantum-well metasurfaces incorporating one-dimensional phase profiles has been shown. However, the possibility of generating arbitrary two-dimensional waveforms—such as focused beams—is not yet realized. Here, we demonstrate two-dimensional metasurface axicons and lenses that emit collimated and focused beams, respectively. First, we develop off-axis meta-axicon/metalens equations designed to redirect surface-guided waves that dominate the natural emission pattern of quantum wells. Next, we show that photoluminescence properties are well predicted by passive transmission results using suitably engineered incident light sources. Finally, we compare collimating and focusing performances across a variety of different light-emitting metasurface axicons and lenses. These generated two-dimensional phased-array photoluminescence waveforms facilitate future development of light sources with arbitrary functionalities.

Controlling radiation emission using metamaterials is of interest for light sources and other applications. Here, the authors develop generalized phased-array metasurface equations and design metasurface axicons and lenses to collimate and focus the spontaneous emission, respectively.

Broadband optical spin dependent reflection in self-assembled GaAs-based nanowires asymmetrically hybridized with Au

Hybridization of semiconductor nanostructures with asymmetric metallic layers offers new paths to circular polarization control and chiral properties. Here we study, both experimentally and numerically, chiral properties of GaAs-based nanowires (NWs) which have two out of six sidewalls covered by Au. Sparse ensembles of vertical, free-standing NWs were fabricated by means of lithography-free self-assembled technique on Si substrates and subsequently covered by Au using tilted evaporation. We report on optical spin-dependent specular reflection in the 680–1000 nm spectral range when the orientation of the golden layers follows the rule of extrinsic chirality. The analysis shows reflection peaks of the chiral medium whose intensity is dependent on the light handedness. We further propose a novel, time-efficient numerical method that enables a better insight into the far-field intensity and distribution of the scattered light from a sparse NW ensembles. The measurements done on three different samples in various orientations show good agreement with theoretical predictions over a broad wavelength range.

Geometry Tailoring of Emission from Semiconductor Nanowires and Nanocones

Semiconductor nanowires are of interest as light emitters in applications such as light-emitting diodes and single-photon sources. Due to the three-dimensional geometry in combination with a size comparable to the wavelength of the emitted light, nanowires have shown strong scattering effects for the emitted light. Here, we demonstrate with electromagnetic modeling that the emission properties of nanowires/nanocones show a complicated dependence on the geometry of the nanowire/nanocone, the shape and position of the emitter region, and the polarization of the emitter. We show that with proper design, the extraction efficiency can close in on 80% for as-grown single nanowires/nanocones. Importantly, we demonstrate how the internal quantum efficiency of the emitter plays a large role in the design process. A considerably different geometry design approach should be undertaken at low and high internal quantum efficiency. Due to the complicated design optimization, we strongly recommend the use of electromagnetic modeling of the emission to give guidance for suitable designs before starting the fabrication and processing of nanowire/nanocone-based light emitters.

Tuning Spontaneous Emission through Waveguide Cavity Effects in Semiconductor Nanowires

The ability to tailor waveguide cavities and couple them with quantum emitters has developed a realm of nanophotonics encompassing, for example, highly efficient single photon generation or the control of giant photon nonlinearities. Opening new grounds by pushing the interaction of the waveguide cavity and integrated emitters further into the deep subwavelength regime, however, has been complicated by nonradiative losses due to the increasing importance of surface defects when decreasing cavity dimensions. Here, we show efficient suppression of nonradiative recombination for thin waveguide cavities using core-shell semiconductor nanowires. We experimentally reveal the advantages of such nanowires, which host mobile emitters, that is, free excitons, in a one-dimensional (1D) waveguide, highlighting the resulting potential for tunable, active, nanophotonic devices. In our experiment, controlling the nanowire waveguide diameter tunes the luminescence lifetime of excitons in the nanowires across 2 orders of magnitude up to 80 ns. At the smallest wire diameters, we show that this luminescence lifetime can be manipulated by engineering the dielectric environment of the nanowires. Exploiting this unique handle on the spontaneous emission of mobile emitters, we demonstrate an all-dielectric spatial control of the mobile emitters along the axis of the 1D nanowire waveguide.

Demonstration of extrinsic chirality of photoluminescence with semiconductor-metal hybrid nanowires

Chiral optical response is an inherent property of molecules and nanostructures, which cannot be superimposed on their mirror images. In specific cases, optical chirality can be observed also for symmetric structures. This so-called extrinsic chirality requires that the mirror symmetry is broken by the geometry of the structure together with the incident or emission angle of light. From the fabrication point of view, the benefit of extrinsic chirality is that there is no need to induce structural chirality at nanoscale. This paper reports demonstration extrinsic chirality of photoluminescence emission from asymmetrically Au-coated GaAs-AlGaAs-GaAs core-shell nanowires fabricated on silicon by a completely lithography-free self-assembled method. In particular, the extrinsic chirality of PL emission is shown to originate from a strong symmetry breaking of fundamental HE₁₁ waveguide modes due to the presence of the asymmetric Au coating, causing preferential emission of left and right-handed emissions in different directions in the far field.

Nanowires for Biosensing: Lightguiding of Fluorescence as a Function of Diameter and Wavelength

Semiconductor nanowires can act as nanoscaled optical fibers, enabling them to guide and concentrate light emitted by surface-bound fluorophores, potentially enhancing the sensitivity of optical biosensing. While parameters such as the nanowire geometry and the fluorophore wavelength can be expected to strongly influence this lightguiding effect, no detailed description of their effect on in-coupling of fluorescent emission is available to date. Here, we use confocal imaging to quantify the lightguiding effect in GaP nanowires as a function of nanowire geometry and light wavelength. Using a combination of finite-difference time-domain simulations and analytical approaches, we identify the role of multiple waveguide modes for the observed lightguiding. The normalized frequency parameter, based on the step-index approximation, predicts the lightguiding ability of the nanowires as a function of diameter and fluorophore wavelength, providing a useful guide for the design of optical biosensors based on nanowires.

Measurement of Nanowire Optical Modes Using Cross-Polarization Microscopy

A method to detect optical modes from vertical InGaAs nanowires (NWs) using cross-polarization microscopy is presented. Light scattered from the optical modes in the NWs is detected by filtering out the polarized direct reflection with a crossed polarizer. A spectral peak and a valley were seen to red-shift with increasing NW diameter in the measured spectra. The peak was assigned to scattering from the TE₀₁ optical mode and the valley was an indication of the HE₁₁ mode, based on finite-element and scattering matrix method simulations. The cross-polarization method can be used to experimentally determine the spectral positions of the TE₀₁ and HE₁₁ optical modes. The modes are significantly more visible in comparison to conventional reflectance measurements. The method can be beneficial in the characterization of NW solar cells, light-emitting diodes and lasers where precise mode control is required.

Near-Field Mapping of Optical Fabry-Perot Modes in All-Dielectric Nanoantennas

Subwavelength optical resonators and scatterers are dramatically expanding the toolset of the optical sciences and photonics engineering. By offering the opportunity to control and shape light waves in nanoscale volumes, recent developments using high-refractive-index dielectric scatterers gave rise to efficient flat-optical components such as lenses, polarizers, phase plates, color routers, and nonlinear elements with a subwavelength thickness. In this work, we take a deeper look into the unique interaction of light with rod-shaped amorphous silicon scatterers by tapping into their resonant modes with a localized subwavelength light source-an aperture scanning near-field probe. Our experimental configuration essentially constitutes a dielectric antenna that is locally driven by the aperture probe. We show how leaky transverse electric and magnetic modes can selectively be excited and form specific near-field distribution depending on wavelength and antenna dimensions. The probe's transmittance is furthermore enhanced upon coupling to the Fabry-Perot cavity modes, revealing all-dielectric nanorods as efficient transmitter antennas for the radiation of subwavelength emitters, in addition to constituting an elementary building block for all-dielectric metasurfaces and flat optics.

Epitaxial Nanoflag Photonics: Semiconductor Nanoemitters Grown with Their Nanoantennas

Semiconductor nanostructures are desirable for electronics, photonics, quantum circuitry, and energy conversion applications as well as for fundamental science. In photonics, optical nanoantennas mediate the large size difference between photons and semiconductor nanoemitters or detectors and hence are instrumental for exhibiting high efficiency. In this work we present epitaxially grown InP nanoflags as optically active nanostructures encapsulating the desired characteristics of a photonic emitter and an efficient epitaxial nanoantenna. We experimentally characterize the polarized and directional emission of the nanoflag-antenna and show the control of these properties by means of structure, dimensions, and constituents. We analyze field enhancement and light extraction by the semiconductor nanoflag antenna, which yield comparable values to enhancement factors of metallic plasmonic antennas. We incorporated quantum emitters within the nanoflag structure and characterized their emission properties. Merging of active nanoemitters with nanoantennas at a single growth process enables a new class of devices to be used in nanophotonics applications.

An Analytic Approach for Optimal Geometrical Design of GaAs Nanowires for Maximal Light Harvesting in Photovoltaic Cells

Semiconductor nanowires(NWs) with subwavelength scale diameters have demonstrated superior light trapping features, which unravel a new pathway for low cost and high efficiency future generation solar cells. Unlike other published work, a fully analytic design is for the first time proposed for optimal geometrical parameters of vertically-aligned GaAs NW arrays for maximal energy harvesting. Using photocurrent density as the light absorbing evaluation standard, 2 μm length NW arrays whose multiple diameters and periodicity are quantitatively identified achieving the maximal value of 29.88 mA/cm² under solar illumination. It also turns out that our method has wide suitability for single, double and four different diameters of NW arrays for highest photon energy harvesting. To validate this analytical method, intensive numerical three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain simulations of the NWs' light harvesting are also carried out. Compared with the simulation results, the predicted maximal photocurrent densities lie within 1.5% tolerance for all cases. Along with the high accuracy, through directly disclosing the exact geometrical dimensions of NW arrays, this method provides an effective and efficient route for high performance photovoltaic design.

The effects of nanocavity and photonic crystal in InGaN/GaN nanorod LED arrays

InGaN/GaN nanorod light-emitting diode (LED) arrays were fabricated using nanoimprint and reactive ion etching. The diameters of the nanorods range from 120 to 300 nm. The integral photoluminescence (PL) intensity for 120 nm nanorod LED array is enhanced as 13 times compared to that of the planar one. In angular-resolved PL (ARPL) measurements, there are some strong lobes as resonant regime appeared in the far-field radiation patterns of small size nanorod array, in which the PL spectra are sharp and intense. The PL lifetime for resonant regime is 0.088 ns, which is 40 % lower than that of non-resonant regime for 120 nm nanorod LED array. At last, three dimension finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulation is performed. The effects of guided modes coupling in nanocavity and extraction by photonic crystals are explored.

Dominant chiral optical forces in the vicinity of optical nanofibers

Transverse spin angular momentum (SAM) of light and associated transverse chiral optical forces have received tremendous attention recently, as the latter may lead to an optical separation of chiral biomolecules. In this context, the relative magnitude of chiral and non-chiral forces is a challenge when implementing chiral separation schemes. In this work we have demonstrated that, by spatially separating the maxima of transverse spin density from the gradient of field intensity, it is possible to dominate chiral-specific components of the force over non-chiral ones. To that end, we studied optical nanofibers and nanowires as candidates for such a scheme and demonstrated that in their vicinity, chiral optical forces can emerge that are stronger than gradient and scattering forces. This finding may be of significance in the design of improved optical separation schemes for chiral biomolecules.

Harnessing Leaky Modes for Fluorescence Enhancement in Gold-Tipped Silicon Nanowires

Hybrid structures containing plasmonic and photonic components can enhance light-matter interaction through both photonic and plasmonic modes and potentially their interactions. In this article, we systematically investigate the optical properties of nanoparticle-tipped silicon nanowires (NPTWs) and characterize their ability to enhance the fluorescence signal of two cyanine dyes (Cy3 and Cy5) selectively bound to the gold tip. Although both gold and silicon components contribute to the fluorescence signal enhancement, the experimentally observed strong morphology dependence of the fluorescence emission enhancement is demonstrated to depend on tunable leaky modes of the silicon nanowires. The ability to encode emission fluorescence enhancement in the structure of NPTWs is of high relevance for multiparametric biosensing and imaging.

Review on photonic properties of nanowires for photovoltaics

III-V semiconductor nanowires behave as optical antennae because of their shape anisotropy and high refractive index. The antennae like behavior modifies the absorption and emission properties of nanowires compared to planar materials. Nanowires absorb light more efficiently compared to an equivalent volume planar material, leading to higher short circuit current densities. The modified emission from the nanowires has the potential to increase the open circuit voltage from nanowire solar cells compared to planar solar cells. In order to achieve high efficiency nanowire solar cells it is essential to control the surface state density and doping in nanowires. We review the physics of nanowire solar cells and progress made in addressing the surface recombination and doping of nanowires, with emphasis on GaAs and InP materials.

Exact comprehensive equations for the photon management properties of silicon nanowire

Unique photon management (PM) properties of silicon nanowire (SiNW) make it an attractive building block for a host of nanowire photonic devices including photodetectors, chemical and gas sensors, waveguides, optical switches, solar cells, and lasers. However, the lack of efficient equations for the quantitative estimation of the SiNW’s PM properties limits the rational design of such devices. Herein, we establish comprehensive equations to evaluate several important performance features for the PM properties of SiNW, based on theoretical simulations. Firstly, the relationships between the resonant wavelengths (RW), where SiNW can harvest light most effectively, and the size of SiNW are formulized. Then, equations for the light-harvesting efficiency at RW, which determines the single-frequency performance limit of SiNW-based photonic devices, are established. Finally, equations for the light-harvesting efficiency of SiNW in full-spectrum, which are of great significance in photovoltaics, are established. Furthermore, using these equations, we have derived four extra formulas to estimate the optimal size of SiNW in light-harvesting. These equations can reproduce majority of the reported experimental and theoretical results with only ~5% error deviations. Our study fills up a gap in quantitatively predicting the SiNW’s PM properties, which will contribute significantly to its practical applications.

Emergence of transverse spin in optical modes of semiconductor nanowires

The transverse spin angular momentum of light has recently received tremendous attention as it adds a new degree of freedom for controlling light-matter interactions. In this work we demonstrate the generation of transverse spin angular momentum by the weakly-guided mode of semiconductor nanowires. The evanescent field of these modes in combination with the transversality condition rigorously accounts for the occurrence of transverse spin angular momentum. The intriguing and nontrivial spin properties of optical modes in semiconductor nanowires are of high interest for a broad range of new applications including chiral optical trapping, quantum information processing, and nanophotonic circuitry.

Connection between modeled blackbody radiation and dipole emission in large-area nanostructures

When modeling the emission of light from nanostructures, we typically study either (1) blackbody radiation or (2) dipole emission. For effective analysis, it is important to know how results from these two types of modeling are related. Here, we use Kirchoff's reciprocity to study how interference affects the emissivity and number of emitted blackbody photons from a thin film for varying thickness. Next, we use Lorentz's reciprocity to study how interference modifies the emission rate of a dipole placed within the same film. Finally, to find the connection between these two emission types, we use Kirchoff's and Lorentz's reciprocity simultaneously for an arbitrary three-dimensional large-area nanostructure. We show analytically how the blackbody radiation can be represented as the integrated emission from homogeneously distributed dipoles in the nanostructure. In this case, the dipole moment density is determined by the refractive index of the nanostructure.

Enhanced cell viability of hydroxyapatite nanowires by surfactant mediated synthesis and its growth mechanism

Hydroxyapatite (HA) nanowires were synthesized using cetyl-trimethyl-ammonium-bromide (CTAB) as a surfactant and exhibited enhanced cell viability over other HA nanostructures.

Optical design of nanowire absorbers for wavelength selective photodetectors

We propose the optical design for the absorptive element of photodetectors to achieve wavelength selective photo response based on resonant guided modes supported in semiconductor nanowires. We show that the waveguiding properties of nanowires result in very high absorption efficiency that can be exploited to reduce the volume of active semiconductor compared to planar photodetectors, without compromising the photocurrent. We present a design based on a group of nanowires with varying diameter for multi-color photodetectors with small footprint. We discuss the effect of a dielectric shell around the nanowires on the absorption efficiency and present a simple approach to optimize the nanowire diameter-dielectric shell thickness for maximizing the absorption efficiency.

Antenna resonances in low aspect ratio semiconductor nanowires

We present numerical simulations of low aspect ratio gallium phosphide nanowires under plane wave illumination, which reveal the interplay between transverse and longitudinal antenna-like resonances. A comparison to the limiting case of the semiconducting sphere shows a gradual, continuous transition of resonant electric and magnetic spherical Mie modes into Fabry-Pérot cavity modes with mixed electric and magnetic characteristics. As the length of the nanowires further increases, these finite-wire modes converge towards the leaky-mode resonances of an infinite cylindrical wire. Furthermore, we report a large and selective enhancement or suppression of electric and magnetic field in structures comprising two semiconducting nanowires. For an interparticle separation of 20 nm, we observe up to 300-fold enhancement in the electric field intensity and an almost complete quenching of the magnetic field in specific mode configurations. Angle-dependent extinction spectra highlight the importance of symmetry and phase matching in the excitation of cavity modes and show the limited validity of the infinite wire approximation for describing the response of finite length nanowires toward glancing angles.

Hybrid Semiconductor Nanowire-Metallic Yagi-Uda Antennas

We demonstrate the directional emission of individual GaAs nanowires by coupling this emission to Yagi-Uda optical antennas. In particular, we have replaced the resonant metallic feed element of the nanoantenna by an individual nanowire and measured with the microscope the photoluminescence of the hybrid structure as a function of the emission angle by imaging the back focal plane of the objective. The precise tuning of the dimensions of the metallic elements of the nanoantenna leads to a strong variation of the directionality of the emission, being able to change this emission from backward to forward. We explain the mechanism leading to this directional emission by finite difference time domain simulations of the scattering efficiency of the antenna elements. These results cast the first step toward the realization of electrically driven optical Yagi-Uda antenna emitters based on semiconductors nanowires.

Directional and Polarized Emission from Nanowire Arrays

Lighting applications require directional and polarization control of the emitted light, which is currently achieved by bulky optical components such as lenses, parabolic mirrors, and polarizers. Ideally, this control would be achieved without any external optics, but at the nanoscale, during the generation of light. Semiconductor nanowires are promising candidates for lighting devices due to their efficient light outcoupling and synthesis flexibility. In this work, we demonstrate a precise control of both the directionality and the polarization of the nanowire array emission by changing the nanowire diameter. We change the angular emission pattern from a large-angle doughnut shape to a narrow-angle beaming along the nanowire axis. In addition, we tune the polarization from unpolarized to either p- or s-polarized. Both the far-field emission pattern and its polarization are controlled by the number and type of guided or leaky modes supported by the nanowire, which are determined by the nanowire diameter.

Nanowire antenna absorption probed with time-reversed fourier microscopy

Understanding light absorption in individual nanostructures is crucial for optimizing the light-matter interaction at the nanoscale. Here, we introduce a technique named time-reversed Fourier microscopy that enables the measurement of the angle-dependent light absorption in dilute arrays of uncoupled semiconductor nanowires. Because of their large separation, the nanowires have a response that can be described in terms of individual nanostructures. The geometry of individual nanowires makes them behave as nanoantennas that show a strong interaction with the incident light. The angle-dependent absorption measurements, which are compared to numerical simulations and Mie scattering calculations, show the transition from guided-mode to Mie-resonance absorption in individual nanowires and the relative efficiency of these two absorption mechanisms in the same nanostructures. Mie theory fails to describe the absorption in finite-length vertical nanowires illuminated at small angles with respect to their axis. At these angles, the incident light is efficiently absorbed after being coupled to guided modes. Our findings are relevant for the design of nanowire-based photodetectors and solar cells with an optimum efficiency.

Molecular motor propelled filaments reveal light-guiding in nanowire arrays for enhanced biosensing

Semiconductor nanowire arrays offer significant potential for biosensing applications with optical read-out due to their high surface area and due to the unique optical properties of one-dimensional materials. A challenge for optical read-out of analyte-binding to the nanowires is the need to efficiently collect and detect light from a three-dimensional volume. Here we show that light from fluorophores attached along several μm long vertical Al2O3 coated gallium phosphide nanowires couples into the wires, is guided along them and emitted at the tip. This enables effective collection of light emitted by fluorescent analytes located at different focal planes along the nanowire. We unequivocally demonstrate the light-guiding effect using a novel method whereby the changes in emitted fluorescence intensity are observed when fluorescent cytoskeletal filaments are propelled by molecular motors along the wires. The findings are discussed in relation to nanobiosensor developments, other nanotechnological applications, and fundamental studies of motor function.