The role of leaky plasmon waves in the directive beaming of light through a subwavelength aperture

Leaky-Wave Radiations by Modulating Surface Impedance on Subwavelength Corrugated Metal Structures

One-dimensional (1D) subwavelength corrugated metal structures has been described to support spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs). Here we demonstrate that a periodically modulated 1D subwavelength corrugated metal structure can convert spoof SPPs to propagating waves. The structure is fed at the center through a slit with a connected waveguide on the input side. The subwavelength corrugated metal structure on the output surface is regarded as metasurface and modulated periodically to realize the leaky-wave radiation at the broadside. The surface impedance of the corrugated metal structure is modulated by using cosine function and triangle-wave function, respectively, to reach the radiation effect. Full wave simulations and measuremental results are presented to validate the proposed design.

New approach for extraordinary transmission through an array of subwavelength apertures using thin ENNZ metamaterial liners

Extraordinary transmission (ET) through a periodic array of subwavelength apertures on a perfect metallic screen has been studied extensively in recent years, and has largely been attributed to diffraction effects, for which the periodicity of the apertures, rather than their dimensions, dominates the response. The transmission properties of the apertures at resonance, on the other hand, are not typically considered 'extraordinary' because they may be explained using more conventional aperture-theoretical mechanisms. This work describes a novel approach for achieving ET in which subwavelength apertures are made to resonate by lining them using thin, epsilon-negative and near-zero (ENNZ) metamaterials. The use of ENNZ metamaterials has recently proven successful in miniaturizing circular waveguides by strongly reducing their natural cutoff frequencies, and the theory is adapted here for the design of subwavelength apertures in a metallic screen. We present simulations and proof-of-concept measurements at microwave frequencies that demonstrate ET for apertures measuring one-quarter of a wavelength in diameter and suggest the potential for even more dramatic miniaturization simply by engineering the ENNZ metamaterial dispersion. The results exhibit a fano-like profile whose frequency varies with the properties of the metamaterial liner, but is independent of period. It is suggested that similar behaviour can be obtained at optical frequencies, where ENNZ metamaterials may be realized using appropriately arranged chains of plasmonic nanoparticles.

Electric field enhancement and far-field radiation pattern of the nanoantenna with concentric rings

The optical antennas have the potential in various applications because of their field enhancement and directivity control. The directivity of a dipole antenna can be improved by directivity-enhanced Raman scattering structure, which is a combination of a dipole antenna and a ring reflector layer on a ground plane. The concentric rings can collect the light into the center hole. Depending upon the geometry of the antenna inside the hole, different electric field enhancements can be achieved. In this paper, we propose to combine the concentric rings with the directivity-enhanced Raman scattering structure in order to study its electric field enhancement and the far-field radiation pattern by finite-difference time-domain simulations. Compared with the structure without the concentric rings over the ground plane, it is found that our proposed structure can obtain stronger electric field enhancements and narrower radiation beams because the gold rings can help to couple the light into the nanoantenna and they also scatter light into the far field and modify the far-field radiation pattern. The designed structures were fabricated and the chemical molecules of thiophenol were attached on the structures for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) measurements. The measured results show that the structure with concentric rings can have stronger SERS signals. The effects of the dielectric layer thickness in our proposed structure on the near-field enhancements and far-field radiation are also investigated. The proposed structure can be useful for several nanoantenna applications, such as sensing or detecting.

Beaming Visible Light with a Plasmonic Aperture Antenna

We investigate experimentally the parameter space defining, in the visible range, the far-field diffraction properties of a single circular subwavelength aperture surrounded by periodic circular grooves milled on a metallic film. Diffraction patterns emerging from such an antenna are recorded under parallel- and perpendicular-polarized illumination at a given illumination wavelength. By monitoring the directivity and the gain of the antenna with respect to a single aperture, we point out the role played by the near-field surface plasmon excitations. The results can be analyzed through a Huygens-Fresnel model, accounting for the coherent interaction between the field radiated by the hole and the plasmonic field, propagating along the antenna surface and diffracted away in free space.

Photonic crystal lab-on-a-chip for detecting staphylococcal enterotoxin B at low attomolar concentration

Nanoscale wells have been fabricated in a chip to construct a photonic crystal that is used for enhanced immunoassays of a common food-borne toxin, Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB). The nanostructure of the photonic crystal (PC) in the array enhanced the fluorescent signal due to a guided mode resonance. Nanoparticles were used as the solid substrate for attachment of capture antibodies; the particles were then isolated in individual wells of the chip by using an electrophoretic particle entrapment system (EPES). The standard curve generated from the chip consisted of two log-linear regions: the first region with a greater sensitivity, limited by the Kd of the antibody, resembling the 96-well plate ELISA and the other that shows greater than six orders of linearity extending to attomolar concentrations, which is unique to the device we have developed. SEB dissolved in phosphate buffered saline was resolved to levels as low as 35 aM with 10(6)-fold better limit of detection than a conventional 96-well-ELISA. Different concentrations of SEB spiked into milk were tested to assess the reliability of the device and the efficacy of the extended log-linear regime in a "real" food matrix. The presence of the milk did not significantly alter the limit of detection. With very low amounts of sample (less than 10 μL) and fast read-out time, the PC-based system shows great promise for the detection of a wide range of target molecules with close to a single molecule level of sensitivity.

An optical leaky wave antenna with Si perturbations inside a resonator for enhanced optical control of the radiation

We investigate the directive radiation at 1550 nm from an optical leaky wave antenna (OLWA) with semiconductor perturbations made of silicon (Si). We study the radiation pattern dependence on the physical dimensions, number of perturbations and carrier densities in these semiconductor perturbations through optical excitations at a visible wavelength, 625 nm. In this detailed theoretical study we show the correlation between the pump power absorbed in the perturbations, the signal guided in the waveguide and the radiation through leakage. To overcome the limited control of the radiation intensity through excess carrier generation in Si, we present a new design with the OLWA integrated with a Fabry-Pérot resonator (FPR). We provide analytical and numerical studies of the enhanced radiation performance of the OLWA antenna inside the FPR, and derive closed-form formulas accounting for LW reflection at the edges of the FPR. A discussion on the constructive and destructive radiation by the direct and reflected leaky waves in the FPR resonator is provided. Results shown in this paper exhibit 3 dB variation of the radiation and pave the way for further optimization and theoretical developments.

Wideband plasmonic beam steering in metal gratings

We demonstrate controllable light deflection in thick metal gratings with periodic subwavelength slits filled with an active material. Under specific illumination conditions, the grating becomes nearly transparent and acts as a uniform optical phased-array antenna where the phase of the radiating elements is controlled by modifying the index of refraction of the material that fills each slit. The beam-steering operational regime occurs in a wide wavelength band, and it is relatively insensitive to the input angle.

Silicon-based optical leaky wave antenna with narrow beam radiation

We propose a design of a dielectric (silicon nitride) optical leaky wave antenna (OLWA) with periodic semiconductor (silicon) corrugations, capable of producing narrow beam radiation. The optical antenna radiates a narrow beam because a leaky wave (LW) with low attenuation constant is excited at one end of the corrugated dielectric waveguide. We show that pointing angle, beam-width, and operational frequency are all related to the LW complex wavenumber, whose value depends on the amount of silicon perturbations in the waveguide. In this paper, the propagation constant and the attenuation coefficient of the LW in the periodic structure are extracted from full-wave simulations. The far-field radiation patterns in both glass and air environments predicted by LW theory agree well with the ones obtained by full-wave simulations. We achieve a directive radiation pattern in glass environment with about 17.5 dB directivity and 1.05 degree beam-width at the operative free space wavelength of 1.55 μm, pointing at a direction orthogonal to the waveguide (broadside direction). We also show that the use of semiconductor corrugations facilitate electronic tuning of the radiation pattern via carrier injection.

Active control of focal length and beam deflection in a metallic nanoslit array lens with multiple sources

We propose an all-optical method to actively control the transmission of nanoslit arrays for scanning and lensing applications. We show that by utilizing two lateral control slits, the transmitted beam can be actively steered.

Wavevector-resolved monochromatic spectral imaging of extraordinary optical transmission through subwavelength aperture arrays

A technique for wavevector-resolved spectroscopic imaging of extraordinary optical transmission (EOT) is developed and tested. The approach allows a large fraction of the first Brillouin zone to be mapped at a single wavelength, thereby greatly increasing the efficiency of sensitivity mapping experiments. An axially opposed, matched pair of microscope objectives constitutes the core of the apparatus. The condensing lens defines a broad range of wavevectors incident upon the sample, while the second objective with a higher numerical aperture collects all of the light transmitted through the sample. In this way, information related to transmission efficiency over a broad range of in-plane wavevectors is preserved at different spatial coordinates in the final image. A periodically structured gold film, consisting of a square array of cylindrical pores, measuring 90 x 90 pores, 100 nm in diameter, with a lattice constant of 1.1 microm, was chosen for detailed study. Direct imaging of the EOT efficiency simultaneously across the range 0 < kx < 0.001 nm(-1), or 20% of the first Brillouin zone, was accomplished, although this was not the limit of the instrument. The experiment was repeated across 21 values of the wavelength and 7 values of the refractive index, to construct a 4-dimensional data set of transmission efficiency with respect to lambda, kx, and n. This technique is compatible with any of the subwavelength aperture array-based chemical sensing methods reported in the literature, however it offers faster transduction of the full spectrum of plasmonic resonant shifts.

Frequency dependent steering with backward leaky waves via photonic crystal interface layer

A Photonic Crystal (PC) with a surface defect layer (made of dimers) is studied in the microwave regime. The dispersion diagram is obtained with the Plane Wave Expansion Method. The dispersion diagram reveals that the dimer-layer supports a surface mode with negative slope. Two facts are noted: First, a guided (bounded) wave is present, propagating along the surface of the dimer-layer. Second, above the light line, the fast traveling mode couple to the propagating spectra and as a result a directive (narrow beam) radiation with backward characteristics is observed and measured. In this leaky mode regime, symmetrical radiation patterns with respect to the normal to the PC surface are attained. Beam steering is observed and measured in a 70 degrees angular range when frequency ranges in the 11.88-13.69 GHz interval. Thus, a PC based surface wave structure that acts as a frequency dependent leaky wave antenna is presented. Angular radiation pattern measurements are in agreement with those obtained via numerical simulations that employ the Finite Difference Time Domain Method (FDTD). Finally, the backward radiation characteristics that in turn suggest the existence of a backward leaky mode in the dimer-layer are experimentally verified using a halved dimer-layer structure.