Tutorial EM7

Instructors

• Andrea Alù, The University of Texas at Austin
• Oleg Gang, Brookhaven National Laboratory
• Harald Giessen, University of Stuttgart
  

Following fast development in several decades, plasmonics has stepped into a new horizon, where not only the intriguing optical properties of plasmonic structures and systems matter but also their functionalities, especially promising applications in different spectral regimes are of paramount importance. A better understanding of the profound properties from the molecular to submicron level opens a new pathway to designing functional plasmonic materials and devices.

This tutorial will focus on both the fundamentals and applications of functional plasmonics from the visible to the microwave regime. The tutorial will be divided into three parts.

Part One: Andrea Alù
Overview of the Physics and Development of Plasmonics

Alù will discuss the most recent theoretical and experimental results, including plasmonic nanostructures and metasurfaces to control wave propagation, scattering, and radiation, large nonreciprocal responses without magnetic bias, active meta-atoms, and metasurfaces. Physical insights into these exotic phenomena, new devices based on these concepts, and their impact on technology will be discussed during the talk. He will also outline the exciting venues for functional devices in the microwave and optical regime.

Part Two: Harald Giessen
Advanced Top-Down Fabrications and Applications of Functional Plasmonics in the Near-Infrared and Visible Regimes

Giessen will discuss advanced top-down fabrications and applications of functional plasmonics in the near-infrared and visible regimes, which provide a promising path to practicality. Complex plasmonic structures allow for tailoring resonances and functionality. Gold and silver with atomically flat surfaces and single crystalline atomic arrangements represent ultimate material quality. Hybrid materials enable chiral as well as nonreciprocal responses. Active switching is enabled by phase change materials as well as metal-¬to-¬insulator transitions. New materials for plasmonics include Yttrium and its hydrides, refractory materials such as TiN, as well as the highly reactive magnesium, whose particle plasmons can be switched on and off by hydrogen and oxygen. Novel fabrication methods such as two-photon femtosecond direct laser writing, colloidal-etching lithography and interference lithography allow for low-cost and large-area fabrication of functional plasmonic devices.

Part Three: Oleg Gang
Advanced Bottom-Up Fabrications using DNA Nanotechnology for Functional Plasmonics in the Visible Regime

Gang will provide insights into the DNA-driven assembly of optically active nano-objects into well-defined architectures: ideas, methods, and realizations. Approaches based on self-assembly offer tremendous advantages in nanomaterial fabrication and address tasks that are intrinsically difficult for conventional fabrication methods. He will present DNA assembly of plasmonic clusters and extended arrays from nanoscale components of multiple types driven by DNA recognition, chain effects and geometrical factors. Based on the expertise in assembly, optical and mechanical effects in plasmonic nanosystems can be controlled well and this allows for rationalizing all aspects of nanomaterial fabrication.