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Full-Text Articles in Physics

Control Of Energy Transfer And Molecular Energetics Using Photonic Nanostructures, Rahul Deshmukh Feb 2019

Control Of Energy Transfer And Molecular Energetics Using Photonic Nanostructures, Rahul Deshmukh

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the last three decades, the design and fabrication of different types of photonic nanostructures have allowed us to control and enhance the interaction of light (or photons) with matter (or excitons). In this work, we demonstrate the use of three different nanostructures to control different material properties. The design and fabrication of the nanostructures is discussed along with the results obtained using characterization techniques of angle-resolved white light reflectivity and transmission, and time-resolved and steady-state photoluminescence experiments. Specifically, we demonstrate the use of Optical Topological Transitions (OTT) in metamaterials to show enhanced efficiency in the non-radiative transfer of energy …


Optical Forces Generated By Plasmonic Nanostructures, Matthew A. Moocarme Feb 2017

Optical Forces Generated By Plasmonic Nanostructures, Matthew A. Moocarme

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

For millennia, scientists have sought to uncover the secrets of what holds the world together. Optical physicists are often at the forefront, unraveling material properties through investigations of light-matter interactions. As the field has progressed, the smallest unit at which matter can be probed and manipulated has subsequently decreased. The resulting sub-field nanophotonics- which reflects the processing of light at the nanoscale- has blossomed into a vast design space for both applied and theoretical researchers. Plasmonics, the phenomena by which the electron-density of a material oscillates in response to incident electromagnetic radiation, is a subject that has excited nanophotonics researchers …


Control Of Spontanous Emission From Quantum Emitters Using Hyperbolic Metamaterial Substrates, Tal Galfsky Sep 2016

Control Of Spontanous Emission From Quantum Emitters Using Hyperbolic Metamaterial Substrates, Tal Galfsky

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Hyperbolic metamaterials (HMMs) are so named for possessing a hyperboloid-shaped dispersion which gives rise to a large photonic density of states. Quantum emitters placed inside or in the near-field of a HMM have been shown to exhibit strong enhancement of spontaneous emission due to the increase in available states. This thesis focuses on enhancing spontaneous emission of quantum emitters in optical frequencies by utilizing multilayered metal/dielectric composites that form these highly anisotropic metamaterials. In conjunction with the enhanced decay rate we experimentally demonstrate two methods for shaping and directing radiation trapped in the HMM into free space by employing a …


Photonic Topological Chern Insulators Based On Tellegen Metacrystals, Daniel A. Jacobs, Andrey E. Miroshnichenko, Yuri S. Kivshar, Alexander B. Khanikaev Dec 2015

Photonic Topological Chern Insulators Based On Tellegen Metacrystals, Daniel A. Jacobs, Andrey E. Miroshnichenko, Yuri S. Kivshar, Alexander B. Khanikaev

Publications and Research

We demonstrate that topologically nontrivial states of light can be engineered in periodic photonic structures containing media with a Tellegen-type bianisotropic response. Whilst in such bianisotropic materials the time-reversal symmetry is broken, they are characterized by an intrinsic magnetic order which does not require macroscopic magnetization. Our design can therefore be considered as a direct analog of the solid state Chern insulator which exhibits a topological order in the absence of an external bias. Numerical simulations of such Tellegen photonic crystals reveal the existence of one way edge transport at domain walls and perfectly conducting boundaries not sensitive to structural …


Control Of Light-Matter Interaction Via Dispersion Engineering, Harish Natarajan Swaha Krishnamoorthy Oct 2014

Control Of Light-Matter Interaction Via Dispersion Engineering, Harish Natarajan Swaha Krishnamoorthy

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis describes the design, fabrication and characterization of certain nanostructures to engineer light-matter interaction. These materials have peculiar dispersion properties owing to their structural design, which is exploited to control spontaneous emission properties of emitters such as quantum dots and dye molecules. We will discuss two classes of materials based on the size of their unit cell compared to the wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation they interact with. The first class are hyperbolic metamaterials (HMM) composed of alternate layers of a metal and a dielectric of thicknesses much smaller than the wave- length. Using a HMM composed of silver …