No Arabic abstract
We present an analytical model describing complex dynamics of a hybrid nonlinear system consisting of interacting carbon nanotubes (CNT) and a plasmonic metamaterial. Our model is based on the set of coupled equations, which incorporates well-established density matrix formalism appropriate for quantum systems (CNT are described as a two level system) and harmonic-oscillator approach ideal for modelling sub-wavelength plasmonic and optical resonators. We show that the saturation nonlinearity of CNT increases multifold in the resonantly enhanced near field of a metamaterial. In the framework of our model, we discuss the effect of inhomogeneity of the CNT layer (band gap value distribution) on the nonlinearity enhancement. It is shown, that the Purcell effect is indistinguishable from the field enhancement and is described by the same phenomenological constant.
Raman spectroscopy on carbon nanotubes (CNT) yields a rich variety of information owing to the close interplay between electronic and vibrational properties. In this paper, we review the properties of double wall carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs). In particular, it is shown that SWCNT encapsulating C$_{60}$, so-called peapods, are transformed into DWCNTs when subject to a high temperature treatment. The inner tubes are grown in a catalyst free environment and do not suffer from impurities or defects that are usually encountered for as-grown SWCNTs or DWCNTs. As a consequence, the inner tubes are grown with a high degree of perfection as deduced from the unusually narrow radial breathing mode (RBM) lines. This apostrophizes the interior of the SWCNTs as a nano-clean room. The mechanism of the inner nanotube production from C$_{60}$ is discussed. We also report recent studies aimed at the simplification and industrial scaling up of the DWCNT production process utilizing a low temperature peapod synthesis method. A splitting of the RBMs of inner tubes is observed. This is related to the interaction between the two shells of the DWCNTs as the same inner tube type can be encapsulated in different outer ones. The sharp appearance of the inner tube RBMs allows a reliable assignment of the tube modes to (n,m) indexes and thus provides a precise determination of the relation between the tube diameter and the RBM frequencies.
Plasmonics offers an enticing platform to manipulate light at the subwavelength scale. Currently, loss represents the most serious challenge impeding its progress and broad impact towards practical technology. In this regard, silver (Ag) is by far the preferred plasmonic material at optical frequencies, having the lowest loss among all metals in this frequency range. However, large discrepancies exist among widely quoted values of optical loss in Ag due to variations in sample preparation procedures that produce uncontrollable grain boundaries and defects associated with additional loss. A natural question arises: what are the intrinsic fundamental optical properties of Ag and its ultimate possibilities in the field of plasmonics? Using atomically-smooth epitaxial Ag films, we extracted new optical constants that reflect significantly reduced loss and measured greatly enhanced propagation distance of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) beyond what was previously considered possible. By establishing a new benchmark in the ultimate optical properties of Ag, these results will have a broad impact for metamaterials and plasmonic applications.
Highly efficient exciton-exciton annihilation process unique to one-dimensional systems is utilized for super-resolution imaging of air-suspended carbon nanotubes. Through the comparison of fluorescence signals in linear and sublinear regimes at different excitation powers, we extract the efficiency of the annihilation processes using conventional confocal microscopy. Spatial images of the annihilation rate of the excitons have resolution beyond the diffraction limit. We investigate excitation power dependence of the annihilation processes by experiment and Monte Carlo simulation, and the resolution improvement of the annihilation images can be quantitatively explained by the superlinearity of the annihilation process. We have also developed another method in which the cubic dependence of the annihilation rate on exciton density is utilized to achieve further sharpening of single nanotube images.
Plasmonics is a rapidly emerging platform for quantum state engineering with the potential for building ultra-compact and hybrid optoelectronic devices. Recent experiments have shown that despite the presence of decoherence and loss, photon statistics and entanglement can be preserved in single plasmonic systems. This preserving ability should carry over to plasmonic metamaterials, whose properties are the result of many individual plasmonic systems acting collectively, and can be used to engineer optical states of light. Here, we report an experimental demonstration of quantum state filtering, also known as entanglement distillation, using a metamaterial. We show that the metamaterial can be used to distill highly entangled states from less entangled states. As the metamaterial can be integrated with other optical components this work opens up the intriguing possibility of incorporating plasmonic metamaterials in on-chip quantum state engineering tasks.
Many calculations require a simple classical model for the interactions between sp^2-bonded carbon atoms, as in graphene or carbon nanotubes. Here we present a new valence force model to describe these interactions. The calculated phonon spectrum of graphene and the nanotube breathing-mode energy agree well with experimental measurements and with ab initio calculations. The model does not assume an underlying lattice, so it can also be directly applied to distorted structures. The characteristics and limitations of the model are discussed.