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Register a new userBreakthroughs in Photonics 2014: Relaxed Total Internal Reflection
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Total internal reflection (TIR) is a ubiquitous phenomenon used in photonic devices ranging from waveguides and resonators to lasers and optical sensors. Controlling this phenomenon and light confinement are keys to the future integration of nanoelectronics and nanophotonics on the same silicon platform. We introduced the concept of relaxed total internal reflection in 2014 to control evanescent waves generated during TIR. These unchecked evanescent waves are the fundamental reason photonic devices are inevitably diffraction-limited and cannot be miniaturized. Our key design concept is the engineered anisotropy of the medium into which the evanescent wave extends thus allowing for skin depth engineering without any metallic components. In this article, we give an overview of our approach and compare it to key classes of photonic devices such as plasmonic waveguides, photonic crystal waveguides and slot waveguides. We show how our work can overcome a long standing issue in photonics nanoscale light confinement with fully transparent dielectric media.
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A non-invasive, in-situ calibration method for Total Internal Reflection Microscopy (TIRM) based on optical tweezing is presented which greatly expands the capabilities of this technique. We show that by making only simple modifications to the basic TIRM sensing setup and procedure, a probe particles absolute position relative to a dielectric interface may be known with better than 10 nm precision out to a distance greater than 1 $mu$m from the surface. This represents an approximate 10x improvement in error and 3x improvement in measurement range over conventional TIRM methods. The techniques advantage is in the direct measurement of the probe particles scattering intensity vs. height profile in-situ, rather than relying on calculations or inexact system analogs for calibration. To demonstrate the improved versatility of the TIRM method in terms of tunability, precision, and range, we show our results for the hindered near-wall diffusion coefficient for a spherical dielectric particle.
In the present work we theoretically investigated the excitation of surface plasmon-polaritons (SPPs) in deformed graphene by attenuated total reflection method. We considered the Otto geometry for SPPs excitation in graphene. Efficiency of SPPs excitation strongly depends on the SPPs propagation direction. The frequency and the incident angle of the most effective excitation of SPPs strongly depend on the polarization of the incident light. Our results may open up the new possibilities for strain-induced molding flow of light at nanoscales.
Single particle tracking has found broad applications in the life and physical sciences, enabling the observation and characterisation of nano- and microscopic motion. Fluorescence-based approaches are ideally suited for high-background environments, such as tracking lipids or proteins in or on cells, due to superior background rejection. Scattering-based detection is preferable when localisation precision and imaging speed are paramount due to the in principle infinite photon budget. Here, we show that micromirror-based total internal reflection dark field microscopy enables background suppression previously only reported for interferometric scattering microscopy, resulting in nm localisation precision at 6 $mu$s exposure time for 20 nm gold nanoparticles with a 25 x 25 $mu$m$^{2}$ field of view. We demonstrate the capabilities of our implementation by characterizing sub-nm deterministic flows of 20 nm gold nanoparticles at liquid-liquid interfaces. Our results approach the optimal combination of background suppression, localisation precision and temporal resolution achievable with pure scattering-based imaging and tracking of nanoparticles at regular interfaces.
In situ observation of precipitation or phase separation induced by solvent addition is important in studying its dynamics. Combined with optical and fluorescence microscopy, microfluidic devices have been leveraged in studying the phase separation in various materials including biominerals, nanoparticles, and inorganic crystals. However, strong scattering from the subphases in the mixture is problematic for in situ study of phase separation with high temporal and spatial resolution. In this work, we present a quasi-2D microfluidic device combined with total internal reflection microscopy as an approach for in situ observation of phase separation. The quasi-2D microfluidic device comprises of a shallow main channel and a deep side channel. Mixing between a solution in the main channel (solution A) and another solution (solution B) in the side channel is predominantly driven by diffusion due to high fluid resistance from the shallow height of the main channel, which is confirmed using fluorescence microscopy. Moreover, relying on diffusive mixing, we can control the composition of the mixture in the main channel by tuning the composition of solution B. We demonstrate the application of our method for in situ observation of asphaltene precipitation and beta-alanine crystallization.
Topological photonics has emerged as a novel route to engineer the flow of light. Topologically-protected photonic edge modes, which are supported at the perimeters of topologically-nontrivial insulating bulk structures, have been of particular interest as they may enable low-loss optical waveguides immune to structural disorder. Very recently, there is a sharp rise of interest in introducing gain materials into such topological photonic structures, primarily aiming at revolu-tionizing semiconductor lasers with the aid of physical mechanisms existing in topological physics. Examples of re-markable realizations are topological lasers with unidirectional light output under time-reversal symmetry breaking and topologically-protected polariton and micro/nano-cavity lasers. Moreover, the introduction of gain and loss provides a fascinating playground to explore novel topological phases, which are in close relevance to non-Hermitian and parity-time symmetric quantum physics and are in general difficult to access using fermionic condensed matter systems. Here, we review the cutting-edge research on active topological photonics, in which optical gain plays a pivotal role. We discuss recent realizations of topological lasers of various kinds, together with the underlying physics explaining the emergence of topological edge modes. In such demonstrations, the optical modes of the topological lasers are deter-mined by the dielectric structures and support lasing oscillation with the help of optical gain. We also address recent researches on topological photonic systems in which gain and loss themselves essentially influence on topological prop-erties of the bulk systems. We believe that active topological photonics provides powerful means to advance mi-cro/nanophotonics systems for diverse applications and topological physics itself as well.
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