Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS March Meeting 2010
Volume 55, Number 2
Monday–Friday, March 15–19, 2010; Portland, Oregon
Session Z4: Plasmonics Applications |
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Sponsoring Units: FIAP Chair: Ernesto Marinero, Hitachi Research Center-San Jose Room: Oregon Ballroom 204 |
Friday, March 19, 2010 11:15AM - 11:51AM |
Z4.00001: Plasmonics for Photovoltaics Invited Speaker: Photovoltaics is transcending its former status as an elegant yet expensive boutique energy technology, and is developing the potential to significantly impact energy supply. Reaching this ultimate goal requires a reduction in the cost per Watt of generated electricity, which motivates both increased conversion efficiency and reduction in material utilization. Both are facilitated by enhancing the optical absorption in solar cell active layers. I will describe a plasmonic photovoltaic design approach in which metallic nanostructures can couple sunlight into guided modes of thin absorber films, enhancing photoabsorption and photocurrent. Recent progress has enabled quantitative understanding of enhanced absorption in plasmonic absorber structures. Full-field electromagnetic simulations are used to calculate spatially and spectrally-resolved photocurrents in plasmonic photovoltaic devices, which can be compared quantitatively with measured solar cell spectral response. Semi-analytic multiple scattering models also yield insights about scattering into guided and free space modes, and losses from parasitic metallic absorption. Experimentally we have observed short-circuit current and efficiency enhancements under AM1.5G solar irradiation for thin GaAs plasmonic solar cells. We will also discuss recent results for enhancement of absorption and photocurrent in thin film amorphous Si solar cells, which feature nanoscale plasmonic structures fabricated by nanoimprint lithography that outperform previously-designed light trapping structures for amorphous silicon cells. Finally, I will describe optical design of light scattering structures that are capable of exceeding previously anticipated absorption limits. Attention to fundamental light-matter interaction physics enables design of solar cells whose absorption surpasses `classical' light trapping limits for planar textured sheet absorbers, enabling new thin solar cell designs. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 19, 2010 11:51AM - 12:27PM |
Z4.00002: Active plasmonics and nano-scale laser light sources Invited Speaker: Active plasmonics is a fascinating emerging research area presenting the opportunity to match the length scale of light with those of molecular, solid state and atomic electron wave-functions for the first time. The natural mismatch of visible and infrared light-matter interactions is about three orders of magnitude leaving the majority inherently weak and slow. However, by squeezing light and matter into the same nano-scale volume the interaction not only becomes stronger and faster, weaker effects that were once difficult to detect are dramatically enhanced and more accessible to application. I will discuss how both optical confinement and the available degrees of freedom in plasmonic and meta-material systems give them the unique ability to drastically enhance naturally weak physical effects such as spontaneous emission, stimulated emission and optical non-linearity. I will then use plasmonic amplification as an example of how this physics can be applied. Our recent progress on the realization of laser action of sub-wavelength surface plasmons neatly illustrates how active plasmonics can help us efficiently excite highly localized optical fields, sustain them indefinitely and restore the coherence that is typically destroyed by plasmonic losses. I will summarize by discussing potential applications of plasmonic lasers, loss compensation in plasmonics and lasing of localized surface plasmons. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 19, 2010 12:27PM - 1:03PM |
Z4.00003: Plasmonics for Nanowaveguides, Nanoantennas, and Imaging Invited Speaker: There has been significant interest and development in the field of plasmonic optics in recent years due to the numerous breakthroughs in the areas of nanotechnology, nanooptics and exciting potentials for merging of nanooptics and nanoelectronics. By combining the plasmonic phenomena with the notion of metamaterials, in my group we have been developing the concept of `metactronics' in which properly arranged collections of plasmonic and non-plasmonic nanostructures can provide a platform for tailoring and manipulating optical signals at the nanoscale. This paradigm can provide `circuits with light at the nanoscale', bringing some of the concepts of microwaves, such as waveguiding, antennas, and imaging into the nanoscale optics, thus providing nanostructures that function as nanowaveguides, nanoantennas, etc. In my group, we have been extensively exploring these topics and some of their exciting potential applications. In this talk, we will give an overview of our recent results on this topic. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 19, 2010 1:03PM - 1:39PM |
Z4.00004: Biomedical Plasmonics Invited Speaker: The near infrared region of the optical spectrum provides a window into the human body that can be exploited for diagnostics and therapeutics, offering an opportunity to merge these concepts. We have shown that the strong light-absorbing and light-scattering properties of noble metal nanoparticles can be controlled by manipulating their shape: in a core-shell geometry, the metallic shell layer can be easily tuned to this spectral region. This `nanoshell' geometry has proven to be ideal for enhancing both diagnostic and therapeutic modalities for cancer. Nanoshells can serve as light scattering beacons, strong enhancers of fluorescent markers for optical tomography, and impart a highly effective, targeted therapeutic response via their unparalleled light-to-heat conversion properties. This latter effect has been used to induce cell death and tumor remission in animals at greater than 90{\%} efficacy, and is currently in clinical trials. This nanoparticle platform can be combined with MRI contrast agents for the enhancement of dual imaging modalities, and also shows promise as a light-controlled nonviral vector for intracellular gene delivery. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, March 19, 2010 1:39PM - 2:15PM |
Z4.00005: Plasmonics for data storage and photo-catalytic chemical reactor Invited Speaker: Applications of plasmonic effects for data storage and photo-catalytic chemical reactor will be discussed in this talk. Plasmonic near-field optical and thermal interactions are considered to be the novel methods to achieve ultrahigh capacity and density for data storage. The localized and enhanced electromagnetic field of plasmonic nanostructures provides ultrahigh spatial resolution for achieving nano recording marks size. The readout of nano recording marks closely relies on the plasmonic coupling effect as well. Responses of the local plasmonic nano-structures of the nano thin films are found to be the key of the nano storage. Similarly, local electromagnetic interactions of various plasmonic nanostructures for the photo-catalytic chemical process are useful as well. Measurement and analysis of the photo-catalytic process happened in the plasmonic photo-chemical reactors clearly demonstrate better efficiency of some photo-catalytic chemical process such as the decomposition of the Methyl Orange to carbon dioxide and water. Interesting and promising applications of the plasmonic nanostructures on data storage and photo-catalytic chemical reactor are demonstrated. [Preview Abstract] |
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