Excitation and tuning of Fano-like cavity plasmon resonances in dielectric-metal core-shell resonators

Multiple Sharp Fano Resonances in a Deep-Subwavelength Spherical Hyperbolic Metamaterial Cavity

We theoretically study the multiple sharp Fano resonances produced by the near-field coupling between the multipolar narrow plasmonic whispering-gallery modes (WGMs) and the broad-sphere plasmon modes supported by a deep-subwavelength spherical hyperbolic metamaterial (HMM) cavity, which is constructed by five alternating silver/dielectric layers wrapping a dielectric nanosphere core. We find that the linewidths of WGMs-induced Fano resonances are as narrow as 7.4–21.7 nm due to the highly localized feature of the electric fields. The near-field coupling strength determined by the resonant energy difference between WGMs and corresponding sphere plasmon modes can lead to the formation of the symmetric-, asymmetric-, and typical Fano lineshapes in the far-field extinction efficiency spectrum. The deep-subwavelength feature of the proposed HMM cavity is verified by the large ratio (~5.5) of the longest resonant wavelength of WGM_1,1 (1202.1 nm) to the cavity size (diameter: 220 nm). In addition, the resonant wavelengths of multiple Fano resonances can be easily tuned by adjusting the structural/material parameters (the dielectric core radius, the thickness and refractive index of the dielectric layers) of the HMM cavity. The narrow linewidth, multiple, and tunability of the observed Fano resonances, together with the deep-subwavelength feature of the proposed HMM cavity may create potential applications in nanosensors and nanolasers.

Narrow-band asymmetric transmission based on the dark mode of Fano resonance on symmetric trimeric metasurfaces

Asymmetric transmission (AT) is useful for polarization manipulation. We report narrowband AT that utilizes a triple-layered symmetric trimeric metasurface with near-field coupling of the dark mode of the Fano resonance. The coupling strength of the dark mode was tuned by using a mid-layer to break the dim AT between two slit layers. The peak transmission of linearly polarized waves and percentage bandwidth reached 0.7719 and 1.26% (numerical simulations) and 0.49 and 1.9% (experiments), respectively. Coupled-mode theory and field patterns are utilized to explain the underlying physical mechanisms of the mid-layer assisted field coupling. These results are useful for Fano-resonance-based devices.

Generation of unconventional Fano-comb resonances in multilayered core-shell nanoparticles

We theoretically propose a design of core-shell nanoparticles consisting of a dielectric core coated by several alternating plasmonic and dielectric shell layers for the generation of comb-like scattering resonances. We demonstrate that the obtained scattering resonances are independent of the polarization, observation angle and background medium, since they originate from the unconventional Fano interference between Mie modes with the same multipole moment inside each plasmonic shell layer. Furthermore, we also demonstrate that controlling either the core or the shell parameters can precisely tune the spectral positions of the comb-like resonances. At last, we show that the comb-like resonances can be well maintained even for the non-perfect spherical core-shell nanoparticles. All these features make the proposed multilayered core-shell nanoparticles attractive candidates for multichannel and ultrasensitive optical tags.

Highly tunable multiple narrow emissions of dyed dielectric-metal core-shell resonators: towards efficient fluorescent labels

We report a potential efficient fluorescent label based on the dyed dielectric-metal core-shell resonators (DMCSRs). By utilizing the near-field coupling between the dyes and the multipolar sharp cavity plasmon resonances, the dyed DMCSRs with diameter of 1.02 μm are demonstrated to be capable of supporting multiple spontaneous emission peaks with the linewidths as narrow as ∼ 10 nm in visible range, and these reshaped fluorescent emissions are insensitive to the surrounding dielectric environment. Furthermore, these multiple narrow emission peaks show a precise tunability on the spectrum by simply separating a nanometric dielectric layer between the dielectric core and the metallic shell, which may provide an attractive spectral multiplexing strategy in the fields of cell biology and medical sciences.

Double Fano resonances in an individual metallic nanostructure for high sensing sensitivity

In this paper, we report on the design and observation of double Fano resonances (DFRs) in an individual symmetry-reduced nanostructure and the induced high sensing sensitivity. Such a plasmonic nanostructure consists of a partially overlapped double-metallic nanotriangles with unequal sizes fabricated by using fast and low-cost angle-resolved nanosphere lithography. Symmetry breaking generates two narrow quadrupolar dark modes, which further enhance the coupling with fundamental bright dipole modes within the same structure, manifesting the effect of DFRs. The resonance wavelength and line shape of DFRs can be tailored by changing the degree of asymmetry as well as the size of the designed nanostructure. Based on DFRs, a high sensitivity to dielectric environment with a maximum figure of merit of 35 is measured. Due to a fast manufacturing process with high reproducibility and high structural tunability, the fabricated individual metallic nanostructure provides an opportunity for significant potential applications in localized surface plasmon resonance based single or double-wavelength sensors in the near-infrared region.

Magnetic Fano resonance of heterodimer nanostructure by azimuthally polarized excitation

The optical properties of a Si-Au heterodimer nanostructure, which is composed of an Au split nanoring surrounded by a Si nanoring with a larger diameter, are investigated both theoretically and numerically. It is found that a pure magnetic plasmon Fano resonance can be achieved in the Si-Au heterodimer nanostructure when it is excited by an azimuthally polarized beam. It is revealed that the pure magnetic Fano resonance is generated by the destructive interference between the magnetic dipole resonance of the Si nanoring and the magnetic dipole resonance of the Au split nanoring. A coupled oscillator model is employed to analyze the Fano resonance of the Si-Au heterodimer nanostructure. The pure magnetic response of the Si-Au heterodimer nanostructure is verified by the current density distributions and the scattering powers of the electric and magnetic multipoles. The Fano resonance in the Si-Au heterodimer nanostructure exhibits potential applications of low-loss magnetic plasmon resonance in the construction of artificial magnetic metamaterials.

Broad-Range Electrically Tunable Plasmonic Resonances of a Multilayer Coaxial Nanohole Array with an Electroactive Polymer Wrapper

Plasmonic assemblies featuring high sensitivity that can be readily shifted by external fields are the key for sensitive and versatile sensing devices. In this paper, a novel fast-responsive plasmonic nanocomposite composed of a multilayer nanohole array and a responsive electrochromic polymer is proposed with the plasmonic mode appearance vigorously cycled upon orthogonal electrical stimuli. In this nanocomposite, the coaxially stacked plasmonic nanohole arrays can induce multiple intense Fano resonances, which result from the crosstalk between a broad surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and the designed discrete transmission peaks with ultrahigh sensitivity; the polymer wrapper could provide the sensitive nanohole array with real-time-varied surroundings of refractive indices upon electrical stimuli. Therefore, a pronounced pure electroplasmonic shift up to 72 nm is obtained, which is the largest pure electrotuning SPR range to our knowledge. The stacked nanohole arrays here are also directly used as a working electrode, and they ensure sufficient contact between the working electrode (plasmonic structure) and the electroactive polymer, thus providing considerably improved response speed (within 1 s) for real-time sensing and switching.

Comparative studies on the quality factors of whispering gallery modes and hybrid plasmon photon modes

We theoretically and experimentally investigate the multipolar hybrid plasmon-photon modes supported by a dielectric-metal core-shell resonator consisting of a dielectric core wrapped by a thin silver shell and the whispering-gallery modes in its pure dielectric counterpart (the dielectric sphere with the same size). We theoretically demonstrate that in a certain wavelength range the achievable maximum Q-factors of hybrid modes could be either larger or smaller than that of whispering-gallery modes, depending on the size of the resonator. By means of the coupling of the dye molecules to the hybrid and whispering-gallery modes, the reshaped fluorescence spectra are measured for resonators containing two different sized dye-doped dielectric spheres, which allow us to compare the Q-factors of hybrid and whispering-gallery modes, providing direct experimental support to the theoretical predictions. Our results provide guidance for appropriately choosing plasmonic core-shell (hybrid modes) or dielectric resonators (whispering-gallery modes) in applications such as ultrasensitive bio-sensors, low-threshold lasing, slow-light and nonlinear optical devices.

Strong tunable absorption enhancement in graphene using dielectric-metal core-shell resonators

We theoretically investigate light absorption by a graphene monolayer that is coated on the outside of dielectric-metal core-shell resonators (DMCSRs). We demonstrate that light absorption of graphene can be greatly enhanced in such multi-layered core-shell architectures as a result of the excitation of the hybridized bonding plasmon resonance supported by the DMCSRs. We also demonstrate that the absorption enhancement in graphene can be easily tuned over a wide range from the visible to the near-infrared, and particularly the enhancement factor can be optimally maximized at any selective wavelength, by simultaneously varying the dielectric core size and the metal shell thickness. Our results suggest that the graphene-wrapped DMCSRs with strong and highly wavelength-tunable absorption enhancement in graphene could be attractive candidates for applications in graphene-based photodetectors and image sensors.

Strong coupling between few molecular excitons and Fano-like cavity plasmon in two-layered dielectric-metal core-shell resonators

We theoretically investigate the coupling between molecular excitons and dipolar Fano-like cavity plasmon resonance in two-layered core-shell resonators consisting of a dielectric core with high refractive index and a thin metal outer shell gapped by a low refractive index thin dielectric layer containing molecules. We demonstrate that associated with the excitation of the dipolar Fano-like cavity plasmon, the electric fields can be highly localized within the dielectric gap shell, leading to very small mode volumes. By using the three-oscillator temporal coupled model to describe the proposed plasmon-exciton system, we are able to demonstrate that the coupling between molecular excitons and cavity plasmon resonance can reach the strong coupling regime. Furthermore, we also demonstrate that reducing the thickness or the refractive index of the dielectric gap shell layer can result in further compression of the mode volumes, and consequently decrease the minimum number of the coupled excitons that are required to fulfill the criteria for strong coupling.