Electromagnetics and Photonics Commons^™

Designing Enhanced Nonlinearity In Plasmonic Devices With Epsilon-Near-Zero Films, Kevin Tran Le

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (MS) Theses

The growing demand for energy-efficient optical information processing motivates compact nonlinear photonic devices that can operate at low power. Silicon photonics is a mature platform for linear optical functions, but nonlinear operation remains challenging because of its weak Kerr response, two-photon absorption at telecommunication wavelengths, and limited compatibility with deeply subwavelength plasmonic confinement. This thesis computationally investigates epsilon-near-zero thin films integrated into plasmonic waveguide architectures as a route toward stronger light–matter interaction in compact nonlinear devices.

Two waveguide geometries are examined: a hybrid metal-insulator-metal plasmonic slab waveguide incorporating an ultrathin indium tin oxide epsilon-near-zero layer (5–50 nm), and a dielectric-loaded …

Measurements Of Magnetic Field Penetration Of Materials For Superconducting Radiofrequency Cavities, Iresha Harshani Senevirathne

Physics Theses & Dissertations

Superconducting Radio Frequency (SRF) cavities used in particle accelerators are typically formed from or coated with superconducting materials. Currently high purity niobium is the material of choice for SRF cavities which have been optimized to operate near their theoretical field limits. This brings about the need for significant R&D efforts to develop next generation superconducting materials which could outperform Nb and keep up with the demands of new accelerator facilities. To achieve high quality factors and accelerating gradients, the cavity material should be able to remain in the superconducting Meissner state under high RF magnetic field without penetration of quantized …

Nonlinearities And Carrier Dynamics In Refractory Plasmonic Tin Thin Films, Heather George, Jennifer Reed, Manuel R. Ferdinandus, Clayton Devault, Alexei Lagutchev, Augustine Urbas, Theodore B. Norris, Vladimir M. Shalaev, Alexandra Boltasseva, Nathaniel Kinsey

Faculty Publications

Titanium nitride is widely used in plasmonic applications, due to its robustness and optical properties which resemble those of gold. Despite this interest, the nonlinear properties have only recently begun to be investigated. In this work, beam deflection and non-degenerate femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy (800 nm pump and 650 nm probe) were used to measure the real and imaginary transient nonlinear response of 30-nm-thick TiN films on sapphire and fused silica in the metallic region governed by Fermi-smearing nonlinearities. In contrast to other metals, it is found that TiN exhibits non-instantaneous positive refraction and reverse saturable absorption whose relaxation is dominated …

Imaging The Three-Dimensional Orientation And Rotational Mobility Of Fluorescent Emitters Using The Tri-Spot Point Spread Function, Oumeng Zhang, Jin Lu, Tianben Ding, Matthew D. Lew

Electrical & Systems Engineering Publications and Presentations

Fluorescence photons emitted by single molecules contain rich information regarding their rotational motions, but adapting single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) to measure their orientations and rotational mobilities with high precision remains a challenge. Inspired by dipole radiation patterns, we design and implement a Tri-spot point spread function (PSF) that simultaneously measures the three-dimensional orientation and the rotational mobility of dipole-like emitters across a large field of view. We show that the orientation measurements done using the Tri-spot PSF are sufficiently accurate to correct the anisotropy-based localization bias, from 30 nm to 7 nm, in SMLM. We further characterize the emission anisotropy …

Vector Magneto-Optical Generalized Ellipsometry For Determining Magneto-Optical Properties Of Thin Films, Chad Briley

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Modern growth techniques allow for highly complex nano scale thin films to be created. These new films possess highly anisotropic properties structurally, optically, and magnetically that are significantly different from that of their bulk counterparts and must be accurately characterized in order to optimize desired properties for applications in next generation devices. Current magnetometry techniques focus on high symmetry characterization, namely in and out of the sample plane, and therefore do not possess the capabilities to fully explore these anisotropic properties without complicated setups and multiple sample manipulations. The author describes a setup that combines generalized ellipsometry with an octu-pole …

Properties Of Exchange Coupled All-Garnet Magneto-Optic Thin Film Multilayer Structures, Mohammed Nur-E-Alam, Mikhail Vasilev, Viacheslav A. Kotov, Dmitry Balabanov, Ilya Akimov, Kamal Alameh

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The effects of exchange coupling on magnetic switching properties of all-garnet multilayer thin film structures are investigated. All-garnet structures are fabricated by sandwiching a magneto-soft material of composition type Bi_1.8Lu_1.2Fe_3.6Al_1.4O₁₂ or Bi₃Fe₅O₁₂:Dy₂O₃ in between two magneto-hard garnet material layers of composition type Bi₂Dy₁Fe₄Ga₁O₁₂ or Bi₂Dy₁Fe₄Ga₁O₁₂:Bi₁₂O₃. The fabricated RF magnetron sputtered exchange-coupled all-garnet multilayers demonstrate a very attractive combination of …

The Impact Of Growth Conditions On Cubic Znmgo Ultraviolet Sensors, Ryan Boutwell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cubic Zn1-xMgxO (c-Zn1-xMgxO) thin films have opened the deep ultraviolet (DUV) spectrum to exploration by oxide optoelectronic devices. These extraordinary films are readily wet-etch-able, have inversion symmetric lattices, and are made of common and safe constituents. They also host a number of new exciting experimental and theoretical challenges. Here, the relation between growth conditions of the c-Zn1-xMgxO film and performance of fabricated ultraviolet (UV) sensors is investigated. Plasma-Enhanced Molecular Beam Epitaxy was used to grow Zn1-xMgxO thin films and formation conditions were explored by varying the growth temperature, Mg source flux, oxygen flow rate, and radio-frequency (RF) power coupled into …

Plasmonic And Photonic Designs For Light Trapping In Thin Film Solar Cells, Liming Ji

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Thin film solar cells are promising to realize cheap solar energy. Compared to conventional wafer cells, they can reduce the use of semiconductor material by 90%. The efficiency of thin film solar cells, however, is limited due to insufficient light absorption. Sufficient light absorption at the bandgap of semiconductor requires a light path more than 10x the thickness of the semiconductor. Advanced designs for light trapping are necessary for solar cells to absorb sufficient light within a limited volume of semiconductor. The goal is to convert the incident light into a trapped mode in the semiconductor layer.

In this dissertation, …

Giant Magnetostriction In Annealed Co1-XFeX Thin-Films, Dwight Hunter, Will Osborn, Ke Wang, Nataliya Kazantseva, Jason R. Hattrick-Simpers, Richard Suchoski, Ryota Takahashi, Marcus L. Young, Apurva Mehta, Leonid A. Bendersky, Same E. Lofland, Manfred Wuttig, Ichiro Takeuchi

Faculty Publications

Chemical and structural heterogeneity and the resulting interaction of coexisting phases can lead to extraordinary behaviours in oxides, as observed in piezoelectric materials at morphotropic phase boundaries and relaxor ferroelectrics. However, such phenomena are rare in metallic alloys. Here we show that, by tuning the presence of structural heterogeneity in textured Co_1−xFe_x thin films, effective magnetostriction λeff as large as 260 p.p.m. can be achieved at low-saturation field of ~10 mT. Assuming λ100 is the dominant component, this number translates to an upper limit of magnetostriction ofλ100≈5λeff >1,000 p.p.m. Microstructural analyses …

Reflection High-Energy Electron-Diffraction Study Of Melting And Solidification Of Pb On Graphite, Z. H. Zhang, P. Kulatunga, H. E. Elsayed-Ali

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The melting and solidification of Pb thin films on pyrolytic graphite are investigated in situ by reflection high-energy electron diffraction. Thin films with thicknesses of 4-150 monolayers are investigated. The surface morphology of the thin films were studied by scanning electron microscopy. Superheating of the Pb thin films by 4±2 to 12±2 K is observed from diffraction intensity measurements. Upon cooling the substrate, the Pb on graphite is seen to supercool by ∼69±4 K.