Metal dimer, slot-cavity, and nanoparticle chain optical structures that operate based on resonant gap modes will be designed and compared using numerical electromagnetic simulations, in order to arrive at candidate designs for fabrication. Dielectric gratings with 2-10 nm line width will be fabricated with high-resolution lithography, atomic layer deposition and selective etching. Such gratings will be imprinted into metal films to form smooth and narrow trenches, thereby achieving designed resonant slot and chain waveguides. Fabricated structures will be tested using near-field and far-field approaches as a function of wavelength, in order to evaluate field enhancement and guiding performance. Raman measurements will be performed to determine the enhancement.

Intellectual Merit: Nanoparticles with resonant gaps can provide large field enhancement for nonlinear optics and spectroscopy. The fabrication techniques to be developed will achieve line widths of a few nanometers, a length scale of tremendous interest yet not accessible with standard top-down lithography.

Broader Impacts: Two Ph.D. students will be supported, and this research will constitute a substantial part of their theses. An undergraduate research student will be invited to work on this project each year. Material from this research will be used as demonstrations in entry-level graduate and senior-level undergraduate classes taught by Webb and Qi, and incorporated, as appropriate, into Purdue EPICS (engineering projects in community service), a design experience for undergraduates. Simulation tools developed will be accessible through the investigators Purdue web sites.

Agency
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Institute
Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems (ECCS)
Type
Standard Grant (Standard)
Application #
0901383
Program Officer
Dominique M. Dagenais
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2009-07-01
Budget End
2014-06-30
Support Year
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$400,000
Indirect Cost
Name
Purdue University
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
West Lafayette
State
IN
Country
United States
Zip Code
47907