Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Commons^™

Wave Propagation And Imaging In Structured Optical Media, Zun Huang

Open Access Dissertations

Structured optical media, usually characterized by periodic patterns of inhomogeneities in bulk materials, provide a new approach to ultimate control of wave propagation with possible practical applications: from distributed feedback lasers by diffraction gratings, to highly nonlinear performance for super-continuum generation, to fiber-optic telecommunications by microstructured photonic crystal fibers, to invisibility cloaking, to super-resolution imaging with metamaterials etc.

In particular, structured optical media allow to manipulate the wave propagation and dispersion. In this thesis, we focus on engineering the propagation phase dispersion by modulating the compositions and dimensions of the periodic elements. By tailoring the dispersion in momentum space, we …

Synthesis, Characterization, And Fabrication Of All Inorganic Quantum Dot Leds, Haider Baqer Salman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Quantum Dot LEDs with all inorganic materials are investigated in this thesis. The research was motivated by the potential disruptive technology of core shell quantum dots in lighting and display applications. These devices consisted of three main layers: hole transport layer (HTL), electron transport layer (ETL), and emissive layer where the emission of photons occurs. The latter part was formed of CdSe / ZnS core-shell quantum dots, which were synthesized following hot injection method. The ETL and the HTL were formed of zinc oxide nanocrystals and nickel oxide, respectively. Motivated by the low cost synthesis and deposition, NiO and ZnO …

Interactive Physics And Characteristics Of Photons And Photoelectrons In Hyperbranched Zinc Oxide Nanostructures, Garrett Edward Torix

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As is commonly known, the world is full of technological wonders, where a multitude of electronic devices and instruments continuously help push the boundaries of scientific knowledge and discovery. These new devices and instruments of science must be utilized at peak efficiency in order to benefit humanity with the most advanced scientific knowledge. In order to attain this level of efficiency, the materials which make up these electronics, or possibly more important, the fundamental characteristics of these materials, must be fully understood. The following research attempted to uncover the properties and characteristics of a selected family of materials. Herein, zinc …

Nanophotonics For Dark Materials, Filters, And Optical Magnetism, Mengren Man

Open Access Dissertations

Research on nanophotonic structures for three application areas is described, a near perfect optical absorber based on a graphene/dielectric stack, an ultraviolet bandpass filter formed with an aluminum/dielectric stack, and structures exhibiting homogenizable magnetic properties at infrared frequencies. The graphene stack can be treated as a effective, homogenized medium that can be designed to reflect little light and absorb an astoundingly high amount per unit thickness, making it an ideal dark material and providing a new avenue for photonic devices based on two-dimensional materials. Another material stack arrangement with thin layers of metal and insulator forms a multi-cavity filter that …

Photoluminescence Measurement On Low-Temperature Metal Modulation Epitaxy Grown Gan, Yang Wu

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A low-temperature photoluminescence (PL) study was conducted on low-temperature metal modulation epitaxy (MME) grown GaN. By comparing the PL signal from high temperature grown GaN buffer layers, and MME grown cap layers on top of the buffer layers, it was found that MME grown GaN cap has a significantly greater defect-related emission. The band edge PL from MME grown GaN found to be 3.51eV at low temperature. The binding energy of the exciton in GaN is determined to be 21meV through temperature dependence analysis. A PL peak at 3.29eV was found in the luminescence of the MME grown cap layer, …

Study Of Plasmonic Properties Of The Gold Nanorods In The Visible To Near Infrared Light Regime, Pijush Kanti Ghosh

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nanostructures of noble metals show unique plasmonic behavior in the visible to near-infrared light range. Gold nanostructures exhibit a particularly strong plasmonic response for these wavelengths of light. In this study we have investigated optical enhancement and absorption of gold nanorods with different thickness using finite element method simulations. This study reports on the resonance wavelength of the sharp-corner and round-corner rectangles of constant length 100 nm and width 60 nm. The result shows that resonance wavelength depends on the polarization of the incident light; there also exists a strong dependence of the optical enhancement and absorption on the thickness …

Tunable Controlled Release Of Molecular Species From Halloysite Nanotubes, Divya Narayan Elumalai

Doctoral Dissertations

Encouraged by potential applications in rust coatings, self-healing composites, selective delivery of drugs, and catalysis, the transport of molecular species through Halloysite nanotubes (HNTs), specifically the storage and controlled release of these molecules, has attracted strong interest in recent years. HNTs are a naturally occurring biocompatible nanomaterial that are abundantly and readily available. They are alumosilicate based tubular clay nanotubes with an inner lumen of 15 nm and a length of 600-900 nm. The size of the inner lumen of HNTs may be adjusted by etching. The lumen can be loaded with functional agents like antioxidants, anticorrosion agents, flame-retardant agents, …

Tailoring Optical And Plasmon Resonances In Core-Shell And Core-Multishell Nanowires, Sarath Ramadurgam

Open Access Dissertations

Semiconductor nanowires (NWs) are sub-wavelength structures which exhibit strong optical (Mie) resonances in the visible range. In addition to such optical resonances, the localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPR) in metal and semiconductor (or dielectric) based core-shell (CS) and core-multishell (CMS) NWs can be tailored to achieve novel negative-index metamaterials (NIM), extreme absorbers, invisibility cloaks and sensors. Particularly, in this dissertation, the versatility of CS and CMS NWs for the design of negative-index metamaterials in the visible range and, plasmonic light harvesting in ultrathin photocatalyst layers for water splitting are studied.

Utilizing the LSPR in the metal layer and the magnetic …