No Arabic abstract
The accurate calculation of laser energy absorption during femto- or picosecond laser pulse experiments is very important for the description of the formation of periodic surface structures. On a rough material surface, a crack or a step edge, ultrashort laser pulses can excite surface plasmon polaritons (SPP), i.e. surface plasmons coupled to a laser-electromagnetic wave. The interference of such plasmon wave and the incoming pulse leads to a periodic modulation of the deposited laser energy on the surface of the sample. In the present work, within the frames of a Two Temperature Model we propose the analytical form of the source term, which takes into account SPP excited at a step edge of a dielectric-metal interface upon irradiation of an ultrashort laser pulse at normal incidence. The influence of the laser pulse parameters on energy absorption is quantified for the example of gold. This result can be used for nanophotonic applications and for the theoretical investigation of the evolution of electronic and lattice temperatures and, therefore, of the formation of surfaces with predestined properties under controlled conditions.
Ultrafast plasmonics of novel materials has emerged as a promising field of nanophotonics bringing new concepts for advanced optical applications. Ultrafast electronic photoexcitation of a diamond surface and subsequent surface plasmon-polaritons (SPPs) excitation are studied both theoretically and experimentally - for the first time. After photoexcitation on the rising edge of the pulse, transient surface metallization was found to occur for laser intensity near 18 TW/cm$^2$ due to enhancement of the impact ionization rate; in this regime, the dielectric constant of the photoexcited diamond becomes negative in the trailing edge of the pulse thereby increasing the efficacy with which surface roughness leads to inhomogeneous energy absorption at the SPP wave-vector. These transient SPP waves imprint permanent fine and coarse surface ripples oriented perpendicularly to the laser polarization. The theoretical modeling is supported by the experiments on the generation of laser-induced periodic surface structure on diamond surface with normally incident 515-nm, 200-fs laser pulses. Sub-wavelength ($Lambda approx 100$ nm) and near wavelength ($Lambda approx 450$ nm) surface ripples oriented perpendicularly to the laser polarization emerged within the ablative craters with the increased number of laser shots; the spatial periods of the surface ripples decrease with the increasing exposure following known cumulative trends. The comparison between experimental data and theoretical predictions makes evident the role of transient changes of the dielectric permittivity of diamond during the initial stage of periodic surface ripple formation upon irradiation with ultrashort laser pulses.
To enable an exploration of the initiation mechanism of nanosecond laser damage on a potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) surface, a defect-assisted energy deposition model is developed that involves light intensity enhancement and a sub-band gap energy level structure. The simulations provide an explanation on why the laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) of the KDP crystal is two orders of magnitude lower than the theoretical value. The model is verified by use of the transient images that appear during the laser damage. In addition, the dimensions of the dangerous surface defects that are the most sensitive to the laser damage are proposed. This work enables clarification on the initial energy deposition (IED) and initiation mechanism of the nanosecond laser damage caused by the KDP surface defects on micro-nano scale. It is helpful in understanding the laser-matter interactions and to improve the processing technique for high quality optical components.
We present a non-Markovian quantum jump approach for simulating coherent energy transfer dynamics in molecular systems in the presence of laser fields. By combining a coherent modified Redfield theory (CMRT) and a non-Markovian quantum jump (NMQJ) method, this new approach inherits the broad-range validity from the CMRT and highly efficient propagation from the NMQJ. To implement NMQJ propagation of CMRT, we show that the CMRT master equation can be casted into a generalized Lindblad form. Moreover, we extend the NMQJ approach to treat time-dependent Hamiltonian, enabling the description of excitonic systems under coherent laser fields. As a benchmark of the validity of this new method, we show that the CMRT-NMQJ method accurately describes the energy transfer dynamics in a prototypical photosynthetic complex. Finally, we apply this new approach to simulate the quantum dynamics of a dimer system coherently excited to coupled single-excitation states under the influence of laser fields, which allows us to investigate the interplay between the photoexcitation process and ultrafast energy transfer dynamics in the system. We demonstrate that laser-field parameters significantly affect coherence dynamics of photoexcitations in excitonic systems, which indicates that the photoexcitation process must be explicitly considered in order to properly describe photon-induced dynamics in photosynthetic systems. This work should provide a valuable tool for efficient simulations of coherent control of energy flow in photosynthetic systems and artificial optoelectronic materials.
We have observed laser-like emission of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) decoupled to the glass prism in an attenuated total reflection setup. SPPs were excited by optically pumped molecules in a polymeric film deposited on the top of the silver film. Stimulated emission was characterized by a distinct threshold in the input-output dependence and narrowing of the emission spectrum. The observed stimulated emission and corresponding to it compensation of the metallic absorption loss by gain enables many applications of metamaterials and nanoplasmonic devices.
This paper proposes a low-profile and highly efficient endfire radiating travelling-wave antenna based on spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SSPPs) transmission line. The aperture is approximately $0.32lambda_0times0.01lambda_0$ where $lambda_0$ is the space wavelength at the operational frequency 8 GHz. This antenna provides an endfire radiation beam within 7.5-8.5 GHz. The maximum gain and total efficiency reaches 9.2 dBi and $96%$, respectively. In addition to the endfire operation, it also provides a beam scanning functionality within 9-12 GHz. Measurement results are finally given to validate the proposed SSPPs antenna.