Self-Driven Graphene Photodetector Arrays Enabled by Plasmon-Induced Asymmetric Electric Field.

Gap surface plasmon (GSP) modes enhance graphene photodetectors (GPDs)' performance by confining the incident light within nanogaps, giving rise to strong light absorption. Here, we propose an asymmetric plasmonic nanostructure array on planar graphene comprising stripe- and triangle-shaped sharp tip arrays. Upon light excitation, the noncentrosymmetric metallic nanostructures show strong light-matter interactions with localized field close to the surface of tips, causing an asymmetric electric field.

A low-loss molybdenum plasmonic waveguide: perfect single-crystal preparation and subwavelength grating optimization.

Plasmonic waveguides have attracted tremendous interest due to efficiently confining photons on the subwavelength spatial scale to be beating the propagation diffraction limit. Transition metal molybdenum (Mo) exhibits outstanding properties in light trapping and electromagnetic field confining, making it potentially valuable in 1.55 μm plasmonic waveguide applications.

Néel-type optical target skyrmions inherited from evanescent electromagnetic fields with rotational symmetry.

Optical skyrmions have recently attracted growing interest due to their potential applications in deep-subwavelength imaging and nanometrology. While optical skyrmions have been successfully demonstrated using different field vectors, the study of their generation and control, as well as their general correlation with electromagnetic (EM) fields, is still in its infancy. Here, we theoretically propose that evanescent transverse-magnetic-polarized (TM-polarized) EM fields with rotational symmetry are actually Néel-type optical target skyrmions of the electric field vectors.

In-plane hyperbolic polariton tuners in terahertz and long-wave infrared regimes.

One of the main bottlenecks in the development of terahertz (THz) and long-wave infrared (LWIR) technologies is the limited intrinsic response of traditional materials. Hyperbolic phonon polaritons (HPhPs) of van der Waals semiconductors couple strongly with THz and LWIR radiation. However, the mismatch of photon - polariton momentum makes far-field excitation of HPhPs challenging.

Engineering Graphene Grain Boundaries for Plasmonic Multi-Excitation and Hotspots.

Surface plasmons, merging photonics and electronics in nanoscale dimensions, have been the cornerstones in integrated informatics, precision detection, high-resolution imaging, and energy conversion. Arising from the exceptional Fermi-Dirac tunability, ultrafast carrier mobility, and high-field confinement, graphene offers excellent advantages for plasmon technologies and enables a variety of state-of-the-art optoelectronic applications ranging from tight-field-enhanced light sources, modulators, and photodetectors to biochemical sensors. However, it is challenging to co-excite multiple graphene plasmons on one single graphene sheet with high density, a key step toward plasmonic wavelength-division multiplexing and next-generation dynamical optoelectronics.

Controlling and Focusing In-Plane Hyperbolic Phonon Polaritons in α-MoO with a Curved Plasmonic Antenna.

Hyperbolic phonon polaritons (HPhPs) sustained in polar van der Waals (vdW) crystals exhibit extraordinary confinement of long-wave electromagnetic fields to the deep subwavelength scale. In stark contrast to uniaxial vdW hyperbolic materials, recently emerged biaxial hyperbolic materials, such as α-MoO and α-V O , offer new degrees of freedom for controlling light in two-dimensions due to their distinctive in-plane hyperbolic dispersions. However, the control and focusing of these in-plane HPhPs remain elusive.

Polariton waveguide modes in two-dimensional van der Waals crystals: an analytical model and correlative nano-imaging.

Two-dimensional van der Waals (vdW) crystals can sustain various types of polaritons with strong electromagnetic confinements, making them highly attractive for nanoscale photonic and optoelectronic applications. While extensive experimental and numerical studies have been devoted to the polaritons of the vdW crystals, analytical models are sparse. Particularly, applying the model to describe polariton behaviors that are visualized by state of the art near-field optical microscopy requires further investigations.

High-Quality All-Inorganic Perovskite CsPbBr Microsheet Crystals as Low-Loss Subwavelength Exciton-Polariton Waveguides.

Nanostructured all-inorganic metal halide perovskites have attracted considerable attention due to their outstanding photonic and optoelectronic properties. Particularly, they can exhibit room-temperature exciton-polaritons (EPs) capable of confining electromagnetic fields down to the subwavelength scale, enabling efficient light harvesting and guiding. However, a real-space nanoimaging study of the EPs in perovskite crystals is still absent.

Phonon Polaritons in Twisted Double-Layers of Hyperbolic van der Waals Crystals.

Controlling the twist angle between two stacked van der Waals (vdW) crystals is a powerful approach for tuning their electronic and photonic properties. Hyperbolic media have recently attracted much attention due to their ability to tailor electromagnetic waves at the subwavelength-scale which, however, usually requires complex patterning procedures. Here, we demonstrate a lithography-free approach for manipulating the hyperbolicity by harnessing the twist-dependent coupling of phonon polaritons in double-layers of vdW α-MoO, a naturally biaxial hyperbolic crystal.

A mid-infrared biaxial hyperbolic van der Waals crystal.

Hyperbolic media have attracted much attention in the photonics community due to their ability to confine light to arbitrarily small volumes and their potential applications to super-resolution technologies. The two-dimensional counterparts of these media can be achieved with hyperbolic metasurfaces that support in-plane hyperbolic guided modes upon nanopatterning, which, however, poses notable fabrication challenges and limits the achievable confinement. We show that thin flakes of a van der Waals crystal, α-MoO, can support naturally in-plane hyperbolic polariton guided modes at mid-infrared frequencies without the need for patterning.

Tailoring of electromagnetic field localizations by two-dimensional graphene nanostructures.

Graphene has great potential for enhancing light-matter interactions in a two-dimensional regime due to surface plasmons with low loss and strong light confinement. Further utilization of graphene in nanophotonics relies on the precise control of light localization properties. Here, we demonstrate the tailoring of electromagnetic field localizations in the mid-infrared region by precisely shaping the graphene into nanostructures with different geometries.

Tetragonal Single-Crystalline Boron Nanowires with Strong Anisotropic Light Scattering Behaviors and Photocurrent Response in Visible-Light Regime.

Boron is a narrow-bandgap (1.56 eV) semiconductor with high melting-point, low-density, large Young's modulus and very high refractive index (3.03) close to silicon.

Highly Confined and Tunable Hyperbolic Phonon Polaritons in Van Der Waals Semiconducting Transition Metal Oxides.

2D van der Waals (vdW) layered polar crystals sustaining phonon polaritons (PhPs) have opened up new avenues for fundamental research and optoelectronic applications in the mid-infrared to terahertz ranges. To date, 2D vdW crystals with PhPs are only experimentally demonstrated in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) slabs. For optoelectronic and active photonic applications, semiconductors with tunable charges, finite conductivity, and moderate bandgaps are preferred.

A Simple Method for Synthesis of High-Quality Millimeter-Scale 1T' Transition-Metal Telluride and Near-Field Nanooptical Properties.

The controlled synthesis of MoTe and WTe is crucial for their fundamental research and potential electronic applications. Here, a simplified ambient-pressure chemical vapor deposition (CVD) strategy is developed to synthesize high-quality and large-scale monolayer and few-layer 1T'-phase MoTe (length ≈ 1 mm) and WTe (length ≈ 350 µm) crystals by using ordinary salts (KCl or NaCl) as the growth promoter combining with low-cost (NH ) Mo O ·4H O and hydrate (NH ) W O ·xH O as the Mo and W sources, respectively. Atomic force microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy confirm the high-quality nature and the atomic structure of the as-grown 1T' MoTe and WTe flakes.

Molybdenum Nanoscrews: A Novel Non-coinage-Metal Substrate for Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering.

Abstract: For the first time, Mo nanoscrew was cultivated as a novel non-coinage-metal substrate for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). It was found that the nanoscrew is composed of many small screw threads stacking along its length direction with small separations. Under external light excitation, strong electromagnetic coupling was initiated within the gaps, and many hot-spots formed on the surface of the nanoscrew, which was confirmed by high-resolution scanning near-field optical microscope measurements and numerical simulations using finite element method.

Resonance Coupling in Silicon Nanosphere-J-Aggregate Heterostructures.

Due to their optical magnetic and electric resonances associated with the high refractive index, dielectric silicon nanoparticles have been explored as novel nanocavities that are excellent candidates for enhancing various light-matter interactions at the nanoscale. Here, from both of theoretical and experimental aspects, we explored resonance coupling between excitons and magnetic/electric resonances in heterostructures composed of the silicon nanoparticle coated with a molecular J-aggregate shell. The resonance coupling was originated from coherent energy transfer between the exciton and magnetic/electric modes, which was manifested by quenching dips on the scattering spectrum due to formation of hybrid modes.

Chemically-doped graphene with improved surface plasmon characteristics: an optical near-field study.

One of the most fascinating and important merits of graphene plasmonics is their tunability over a wide range. While chemical doping has proven to be a facile and effective way to create graphene plasmons, most of the previous studies focused on the macroscopic behaviors of the plasmons in chemically-doped graphene and little was known about their nanoscale responses and related mechanisms. Here, to the best of our knowledge, we present the first experimental near-field optical study on chemically-doped graphene with improved surface plasmon characteristics.

Nanoscale Insights into the Hydrogenation Process of Layered α-MoO3.

The hydrogenation process of the layered α-MoO3 crystal was investigated on a nanoscale. At low hydrogen concentration, the hydrogenation can lead to formation of HxMoO3 without breaking the MoO3 atomic flat surface. For hydrogenation with high hydrogen concentration, hydrogen atoms accumulated along the <101> direction on the MoO3, which induced the formation of oxygen vacancy line defects.

A centimeter-scale sub-10 nm gap plasmonic nanorod array film as a versatile platform for enhancing light-matter interactions.

Strongly coupled plasmonic nanostructures with sub-10 nm gaps can enable intense electric field enhancements which greatly benefit the various light-matter interactions. From the point view of practical applications, such nanostructures should be of low-cost, facile fabrication and processing, large-scale with high-yield of the ultrasmall gaps, and easy for integration with other functional components. However, nowadays techniques for reliable fabrication of these nanostructures usually involve complex, time-consuming, and expensive lithography procedures, which are limited either by their low-throughput or the small areas obtained.

The effects of structural variations of thiophene-containing Ru(II) complexes on the acid-base and DNA binding properties.

A phenylthiophenyl-bearing Ru(II) complex of [Ru(bpy)₂(Hbptip)](PF₆)₂ {bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine, Hbptip = 2-(4-phenylthiophen-2-yl)-1H-imidazo[4,5-f][1,10]phenanthroline} was synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, ¹H NMR spectroscopy, and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. The ground- and excited-state acid-base properties of the complex were studied by UV-visible absorption and photoluminescence spectrophotometric pH titrations and the negative logarithm values of the ground-state acid ionization constants were derived to be pK(a1) = 1.31 ± 0.