Topological-Plasmonics · Robust light manipulation in plasmonic nanostructures assisted by topological protection
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2016-05-01 → 2018-09-03
- EU contribution
- €183,455
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Robust light manipulation in plasmonic nanostructures assisted by topological protection
Materials such as nobel metals or doped graphene are able to strongly interact with light and concentrate it at very short length scales. This is thanks to the excitation of surface plasmons, a combination of light and electrons oscillating at the material’s surface akin to ripples on the surface of a pond. Their nature combining waves and matter allows for remarkable properties: surface plasmons can squeeze light to the nanometer scale, at dimensions much smaller than its wavelength, contrary to what can be achieved with conventional optics. This makes plasmonics a key tool for guiding and focusing light in the nanoscale, which is promising for current photonic technologies that need to be ever more compact. On the other hand, plasmonic platforms for guiding and focusing light are based on the nanoscale fabrication of the required structures. Importantly, fabrication imperfections and defects hinder the propagation of plasmons over long distances, a factor that adds to plasmon dissipation through material losses. In this context, the area of topological Physics is very promising to help in the design of plasmonic nanostructures capable of supporting robust surface plasmon modes that are not affected by imperfections. The framework of topology is currently a topic of great interest in various areas of Physics as it allows for designing protected states that are insensitive to material details and imperfections. Such states propagate along the edge between media characterized by different topological invariants and are said to be protected as their properties stem from the properties of the bulk structure and are not affected by the details on the edge. Thus, the possibility of light travelling along one-way routes at the nanoscale emerges by combining topology and plasmonics. The overall objective of this project was to design and characterize topologically protected light modes confined at the nanoscale.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Materials that present plasmonic resonances feature the unique capability of confining light in nanometer-scale volumes. Resonant metal nanostructures, such as gold or silver nanoparticles, support localized surface plasmon resonances upon light illumination. These are free electron oscillations coupled to the electromagnetic field that enable light concentration even beyond the diffraction limit. For this reason plasmonics is a key tool for guiding and focusing light in order to extend the use of optical techniques into the nanoscale, with current and potential applications ranging from ultrasensitive chemical and biological sensor devices to imaging, non-linear optics or enhanced light absorption in photovoltaic cells.On the other hand, the study of topological phases and protected states in solid state systems as well as in photonic crystals has been very successful in recent years, since electronic or photonic states protected by the global symmetries of the system can propagate without suffering from scattering at defects or disorder. This has raised interest both from a fundamental point of view, with new physics being developed and understood –such as topological insulators–, as well as with views to applied technologies, which would greatly benefit from dissipation-free transport of electrons or photons. While the field of plasmonics has reached a mature state, the performance of some plasmonic devices is affected by ohmic losses in the metal and fabrication defects. Novel and improved functionalities are needed in order to design efficient plasmonic devices. This research aims at adding novel capabilities to the field of plasmonics by designing topologically protected light modes sustained by plasmonic nanostructures. I will study periodic two-dimensional arrangements of metal nanoantennas (metasurfaces) as promising nanostructures to support topologically protected modes with applications in light manipulation in the nanoscale.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE · LondonCoordinatorUnited Kingdom
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union