THIS GRANT IS A CONTINUATION OF N000141510027 Harnessing Meso-scale Electrodynamics and Plasmonics for Enhanced Chemistry, Sensing and Quantum Optics
Abstract
The proposed research is to develop new concepts to create new functional materials using lightshaped by optical phase and polarization (in space and time) that tailor meso-scaleelectrodynamic interactions amongst the constituent nanoparticle (NP) elements. The research isat the nexus of nanoscience and photonics. The proposed research builds on recent work inScherer~s lab that has elucidated the ~rules~ for optical trapping of a range of metal NPs (e.g.spheres, cubes, bipyramids, rods, wires). More importantly, it builds on the electrodynamicinteractions, termed optical binding, amongst these metal NPs in shaped optical fields. Opticalbinding is a surprisingly under-developed topic in electrodynamics. The proposed research willuse these new insights in more advanced light shaping and interferometry configurations to: (1)create self-organized 3-D arrays of electrodynamically interacting metal NPs and semiconductorQ-dots with meso-scale spacings for fundamental studies in quantum optics (e.g. Purcell effect,creating photonically dark cavities); (2) enable phonon-free photon absorption across the indirectbandgap of Silicon for enhanced detector sensitivity; (3) create meso-scale arrays ofnanoparticle-based metamaterials (MM) and advance both the chemical synthesis of the nano-MM elements and their ordering and interactions in 3-Dimensions (3D); (4) use optical beamphase shaping in conjunction with interferometric multi-beam geometries to create interferenceantinodes with 3-D shapes such as hemi-spheres, parabolas, chiral helicoids etc. that serve as thetemplates for self-organization of optical matter-based optical elements. This last objective willcombine elements of the preceding ones for creating micron- to macro-scale shaped materialswith plasmonic or hybrid exciton-plasmonic or MM functional attributes. These optical mattermaterials, to be created in solution to allow self-organization and correction of defects, can befixed in space (by photopolymerization) and used in novel detector and sensing applications andwould be a significant advance toward creating ~cloaking~ materials and coatings.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 12, 2016
- Source ID
- N000141612502
Entities
People
- Norbert F. Scherer
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Chicago