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We present a new optical biosensing integration approach with multifunctional capabilities using plasmonic and photonic components on the same chip and a new methodology to design interferometric b...

We provide the experimental proof of concept of on-chip 90° corner waveguide arrays based on ultra-long-range surface plasmon polariton waveguides working in TM-polarization at 1.55 μm. The single-mode waveguides comprise a thin gold-photoresist core embedded into SU-8 claddings and show typical propagation loss of ~1 dB/mm. A prismatic cavity integrated into the cladding layers and aligned with the waveguide's corner assures the total internal reflection. We present a fabrication method to integrate the waveguide corner mirror based on self-alignment of multiple lithography steps. This chip has potential as low-loss perpendicular interface for single-mode high speed communication interconnects.

We demonstrate a water cladded plasmo-photonic waveguide, by exploiting the directional coupling scheme to vertically divert light from a 360 × 800 nm (height × width) Si3N4 waveguide to a plasmonic slot waveguide, enabling the excitation of a pure plasmonic mode within a 210-nm-wide slot at 1550 nm. The 150-nm-thick plasmonic slot waveguide was deposited on the top of an oxide cladded Si3N4 waveguide exhibiting an experimental plasmonic-to-photonic insertion loss of 2.24 ± 0.3 dB and a plasmonic propagation length (Lspp) of 10.8 μm at 1550 nm. The proposed plasmo-photonic waveguide holds a promise as an optical transducer element for highly sensitive and low-cost interferometric biosensors due to the significant phase change achieved per unit propagation length.

Optical refractive index (RI) sensors exploiting selective co-integration of plasmonics with silicon photonics in Lab-on-achip configurations are expected to disrupt Point-of-Care (POC) diagnostics, delivering performance and economic breakthroughs. Propagating surface-plasmon-polariton modes offer superior sensitivity due to their extreme overlap with the surrounding medium. In parallel, low-loss photonics act as the hosting platform with which the plasmonic losses can be sustained while allowing for multiplexed layouts via in-plane SPP excitation schemes. However, merging plasmonics with silicon photonics in a cost-effective manner, requires a truly CMOS-compatible manufacturing process. Herein, we demonstrate experimentally, the highest bulk-sensitivity among all the plasmo-photonic interferometric RI sensors, while taking the leap forward in the development of a CMOS-manufactured plasmo-photonic sensing platform merging Si3N4 photonics and aluminum plasmonics. The proposed structure relies on a butt-coupled interface between Si3N4 waveguides and a 70 μm long plasmonic stripe, deployed in one branch of a Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) serving as the sensing transducer that detects local changes in the refractive index. The lower MZI arm (reference arm) exploits the low-loss Si3N4 platform to deploy a MZI-based variable optical attenuator followed by a thermo-optic phase shifter to optimize the sensor performance achieving resonance extinction ratio values at the MZI output of more than 35 dB. Experimental evaluation of a gold-based sensor revealed a bulk refractive index sensitivity of 1930 nm/RIU. In addition, we experimentally demonstrate that the proposed plasmo-photonic waveguide platform can migrate from gold (Au) to Aluminum (Al), demonstrating the first step towards a fully CMOS compatible plasmo-photonic interferometric sensor.

We demonstrate a CMOS compatible interferometric plasmo-photonic sensor exploiting SisN4 photonic and aluminum (Al) plasmonic stripe waveguides. Experimental evaluation revealed bulk sensitivity of 4764 nm/RIU, holding promise for ultra-sensitive and low cost sensing devices.

Optical refractive-index sensors exploiting selective co-integration of plasmonics with silicon photonics has emerged as an attractive technology for biosensing applications that can unleash unprecedented performance breakthroughs that reaps the benefits of both technologies. However, towards this direction, a major challenge remains their integration using exclusively CMOS-compatible materials. In this context, herein, we demonstrate, for the first time to our knowledge, a CMOS-compatible plasmo-photonic Mach-Zehnder-interferometer (MZI) based on aluminum and Si3N4 waveguides, exhibiting record-high bulk sensitivity of 4764 nm/RIU with clear potential to scale up the bulk sensitivity values by properly engineering the design parameters of the MZI. The proposed sensor is composed of Si3N4 waveguides butt-coupled with an aluminum stripe in one branch to realize the sensing transducer. The reference arm is built by Si3N4 waveguides, incorporating a thermo-optic phase shifter followed by an MZI-based variable optical attenuation stage to maximize extinction ratio up to 38 dB, hence optimizing the overall sensing performance. The proposed sensor exhibits the highest bulk sensitivity among all plasmo-photonic counterparts, while complying with CMOS manufacturing standards, enabling volume manufacturing.

Plasmonics have been identified as an ideal platform for ultra-sensitive, label-free biosensors mainly due to the high field confinement on a metal-dielectric interface and the resulting strong light-matter interaction offered by surface plasmon resonances (SPRs) that can be entirely exposed to test analytes. Well-established SPR-based biosensors exploiting propagating SPRs yield superior specifications regarding bulk sensitivity compared to localized counterparts leading to already commercial available sensor devices. However, most of these systems require bulky prism-based configurations to couple light into the Surface Plasmon Polariton (SPP) mode impeding system miniaturization. In addition, SPR-based sensors suffer from intrinsic high propagation losses restricting the potential for multiple on-chip functionalities. In this context, co-integration of plasmonics with a low-loss photonic platform emerges as a viable solution towards highly sensitive, low-loss and small footprint optical sensors. In this work, we present an ultra-compact, interferometric plasmonic sensor co-integrated on a TiO2 photonic waveguide platform. The device consists of two access TiO2 photonic waveguides separated by a gold-based metal stripe which is located on top of an appropriately shorter TiO2 waveguide layer. Two metal/insulator interfaces are formed at the top (sensing arm) and bottom surfaces (reference arm) of the metal able to support SPP modes which upon excitation through the input photonic waveguide propagate along the two metal surfaces and interfere at the output waveguide realizing a single-arm Mach-Zehnder Interferometer. After optimization of the device in aqueous environment, we achieved sensitivity values as high as 2430 nm/RIU at near-infrared spectrum region for a 65 um long plasmonic stripe.

Grating couplers are the most versatile mechanism to couple light efficiently into photonic interconnects, such as waveguides featuring submicronic cross-sections. Usually grating couplers are used in a tilted illumination configuration in order to obtain unidirectional excitation of the waveguide, requiring challenges in assembly and packaging. In practical applications, tilted illumination of the gratings is not always possible in particular for fully integrated electrooptical printed circuit board (EO-PCB) with a light source (Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VCSEL)) and an optical layer implanted on each side of the board. In this case, the incoming light hits the gratings couplers at normal incidence and specific strategies are needed to achieve unidirectional excitation of the guided mode. In this work, a novel unidirectional Data Center coupling concept based on the use of gap plasmon polariton (GPR) grating couplers sustained by Metal-Insulator-Metal (MIM) resonators is introduced. Unlike traditional challenging subwavelength coupling schemes based on plasmonics and Si-Photonics, we consider non-symmetric GPR featuring highly directional scattering efficiency. The plasmonic gratings have been modelled numerically employing a Fourier Modal Method and the results have been confirmed by FEM simulations.

Plasmonic sensors, leveraging the profound exposure of propagating Surface-Plasmon-Polariton (SPP) modes over metal stripes to test analytes, became so far the “gold-standard” in plasmonic biosensing resulting in commercial available devices. However, a series of challenges associated with their bulky prism-based coupling configuration as well as their high optical losses need to be overcome in order to allow for miniaturized and multiplexed sensor layouts. In this context, selective co-integration of plasmonics with low-loss silicon-nitride photonics emerges as a promising solution towards addressing these challenges yet reaping the benefits from both technologies. In this work, we present an interferometric sensor based on a Mach-Zehnder device, where a “plasmo-photonic” waveguide branch is utilized to interrogate changes in the refractive index of a test analyte exploiting the accumulated phase change of the SPP mode being exposed in an aqueous solution. More specifically, the “plasmo-photonic” Mach-Zehnder sensor incorporates a gold plasmonic stripe with a length of 70 μm and a width of 7 μm that has been interfaced with Si3N4 waveguides by means of a butt-coupled interface. By conducting numerical simulations and considering the dispersion properties of the involved materials, we optimized the structural parameters of the sensor aiming at ultra-high bulk sensitivity in the order of micrometres per Refractive Index Unit (RIU).

In biomedicine and biophysics, the discrimination of protein conformations is of critical importance for identifying the unfolding states in the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases. We develop a dynamic Raman spectroscopic approach based on a statistical analysis of the time series of spectral fingerprints of single protein. We show that the unfolded state of bovine serum albumin can be identified in the time series using the fluctuations of the Raman bands of some amino acids, tryptophan, tyrosine, leucine, and histidine, acting as biomarkers. The statistical analysis induces also the sorting between physisorption and chemisorption events. This is confirmed by the spectral analysis of the different characteristic spectra highlighted based on the amino acids fingerprints following, notably, the hydrophobicity

International audience; We report the development of titanium dioxide-based waveguides for applications in the near-and mid-infrared. Thanks to embedded metal grating couplers, we demonstrate error free 10 Gbit/s optical transmissions at 1.55 and 2 µm. With additional management of the dispersion profile, we also demonstrate octave spanning supercontinuum in cm-long TiO2 waveguides.

Integration of plasmonic waveguides with low-loss photonic platforms have attracted research efforts as the means to benefit from the extra-ordinary features of plasmonics while enhancing the functional portfolio of Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs). In this work, we review a technology platform that integrates water cladded plasmonic waveguides integrated in a low-loss Si 3 N 4 photonic platform, targeting biosensing applications. Results obtained experimentally and numerically will be presented with respect to propagation losses, interface coupling loss and accumulated phase change per unit length, showing how Surface Plasmon Polariton (SPP) waveguides can be effectively combined with photonic components in order to demonstrate low-cost and ultra-sensitive optical biosensors.

International audience; We report on the experimental generation of an octave-spanning supercontinuum in a 2.2 cm-long titanium dioxide optical waveguide with two zero dispersion wavelengths. The resulting on-chip supercontinuum reaches the visible wavelength range as well as the mid-infrared region by using a femtosecond fiber laser pump at 1.64 µm.

The Raman intensity fluctuations are the initial source of a lack of accuracy or reproducibility of SERS based nanosensors to reliably estimate the molecular concentration in microfluidics. Here, we show that the statistical analysis of the weighting of Raman scattering of the probed molecules compared to the photoluminescence of gold nanoparticles is particularly effective as a concentration indicator in a single molecule regime. We present a novel approach in the Fourier domain that is not limited by a multipoint precalibration or even the knowledge of the enhancement factor of the transducer. The analysis of pink noise in the frequency domain reveals a subdiffusion motion of individual adsorbed molecules in the hot-spot. The cutoff frequency between the white and pink noise is used to determine the in-line molecular concentration over a wide range between 10–11 and 10–6 M.

We present a $2\times 2$ hybrid silicon-plasmonic thermooptic (TO) asymmetric Mach–Zehnder interferometric (MZI) switch having only 40- $\mu \text{m}$ long active cyclomer-loaded plasmonic phase arms. It requires less than 12 mW of power and has 2/5- $\mu \text{s}$ ON/OFF-times, respectively, a modulation depth higher than 90% and a 13.2-dB extinction ratio. Data traffic evaluation has been carried out using 10-Gb/s nonreturn-to-zero streams, yielding error-free operation at both switching states with power penalties ranging between 1 to 4.8 dB. The use of the cyclomer loading having a higher TO coefficient than polymethyl methacrylate has resulted to the smallest footprint among plasmonic MZI TO switches reported so far.

Plasmonic technology has attracted intense research interest enhancing the functional portfolio of photonic integrated circuits (PICs) by providing Surface-Plasmon-Polariton (SPP) modes with ultra-high confinement at sub-wavelength scale dimensions and as such increased light matter interaction. However, in most cases plasmonic waveguides rely mainly on noble metals and exhibit high optical losses, impeding their employment in CMOS processes and their practical deployment in highly useful PICs. Hence, merging CMOS compatible plasmonic waveguides with low-loss photonics by judiciously interfacing these two waveguide platforms appears as the most promising route towards the rapid and costefficient manufacturing of high-performance plasmo-photonic integrated circuits. In this work, we present butt-coupled plasmo-photonic interfaces between CMOS compatible 7μm-wide Aluminum (Al) and Copper (Cu) metal stripes and 360×800nm Si3N4 waveguides. The interfaces have been designed by means of 3D FDTD and have been optimized for aqueous environment targeting their future employment in biosensing interferometric arrangements, with the photonic waveguides being cladded with 660nm of Low Temperature Oxide (LTO) and the plasmonic stripes being recessed in a cavity formed between the photonic waveguides. The geometrical parameters of the interface will be presented based on detailed simulation results, using experimentally verified plasmonic properties for the employed CMOS metals. Numerical simulations dictated a coupling efficiency of 53% and 68% at 1.55μm wavelength for Al and Cu, respectively, with the plasmonic propagation length Lspp equaling 66μm for Al and 75μm for Cu with water considered as the top cladding. The proposed interface configuration is currently being fabricated for experimental verification.

We demonstrate a butt-coupled interface between LPCVD Si 3 N 4 and gold based plasmonic waveguides in aqueous environment, exhibiting 2.3dB coupling loss and 75μm propagation length at 1550nm, towards future employment in biosensing applications.

In this contribution, we report the identification of the principal reference Raman spectra of a single cystein molecule. To that purpose, we design an active Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) template based on surfactant-less Chebyshev nanoparticles operating in a microfluidic platform. A principal component analysis is obtained from fluctuating spectra to sort the reference spectra of cystein. The assignment of Raman bands brings new insight into the conformation of an amino acid adsorbed onto gold nanoparticle.

We demonstrate a photonic integrated Mach-Zehnder interferometric sensor, utilizing a plasmonic stripe waveguide in the sensing branch and a photonic variable optical attenuator and a phase shifter in the reference arm to optimize the interferometer operation. The plasmonic sensor is used to detect changes in the refractive index of the surrounding medium exploiting the accumulated phase change of the propagating Surface-Plasmon-Polariton (SPP) mode that is fully exposed in an aqueous buffer solution. The variable optical attenuation stage is incorporated in the reference Si3N4 branch, as the means to counter-balance the optical losses introduced by the plasmonic branch and optimize interference at the sensor output. Bulk sensitivity values of 1930 nm/RIU were experimentally measured for a Mach Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) with a Free Spectral Range of 24.8 nm, along with extinction ratio of more than 35 dB, demonstrating the functional benefits of the co-integration of plasmonic and photonic waveguides.

Slot-based plasmonic waveguides have attracted significant attention owing to their unique ability to confine light within nanometer-scale. In this context, enhanced localized light-matter interaction and control have been exploited to demonstrate novel concepts in data communication and sensing applications revealing the immense potential of plasmonic slot waveguides. However, inherent light absorption in the metallic parts included is such structures hampers the scaling of plasmonic devices and limits their application diversity. A promising solution of such issues is the use of hybrid plasmo-photonic configurations. Hybrid slot waveguides have been introduced as the means to reduce such propagation losses while maintaining their functional advantages. In addition, their co-integration with low-loss photonic waveguides can enable the development of more complex structures with acceptable overall losses. In such scenario, light needs to be efficiently transferred from the photonic to the plasmonic components and/or backwards. Based on this rationale, in this work a hybrid slot-based structure is adopted to achieve highly efficient light transfer between photonic and plasmonic slot waveguides in the near-infrared spectrum region (λ=1550 nm). This transition is realized with the aid of a directional coupling scheme. For this purpose, a Si3N4 bus waveguide (photonic branch) is located below an Aubased metallic slot (plasmonic branch) forming a hybrid waveguide element. The combined configuration, as it is shown with the aid of numerical simulations , is capable of supporting two hybrid guided modes with quasi-even and odd symmetry allowing the development of a power exchange mechanism between the two branches. In this context, a new directional coupling structure has been designed which can achieve power transmission per transition over 68% within a coupling length of the order of just several microns.

The Purcell factor $F_p$ is a key quantity in cavity quantum electrodynamics (cQED) that quantifies the coupling rate between a dipolar emitter and a cavity mode. Its simple form $F_p\propto Q/V$ unravels the possible strategies to enhance and control light-matter interaction. Practically, efficient light-matter interaction is achieved thanks to either i) high quality factor $Q$ at the basis of cQED or ii) low modal volume $V$ at the basis of nanophotonics and plasmonics. In the last decade, strong efforts have been done to derive a plasmonic Purcell factor in order to transpose cQED concepts to the nanocale, in a scale-law approach. In this work, we discuss the plasmonic Purcell factor for both delocalized (SPP) and localized (LSP) surface-plasmon-polaritons and briefly summarize the expected applications for nanophotonics. On the basis of the SPP resonance shape (Lorentzian or Fano profile), we derive closed form expression for the coupling rate to delocalized plasmons. The quality factor factor and modal confinement of both SPP and LSP are quantified, demonstrating their strongly subwavelength behaviour., Comment: Journal of Optics (in press)

Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy becomes increasingly used in biosensors for its capacity to detect and identify single molecules. In practice, a large number of SERS spectra are acquired and reliable ranking methods are thus essential for analysing all these data. Supervised classification strategies, which are the most effective methods, are usually applied but they require pre-determined models or classes. In this work, we propose to sort SERS spectra in unknown groups with an alternative strategy called Fourier polar representation. This non-fitting method based on simple Fourier sine and cosine transforms produces a fast and graphical representation for sorting SERS spectra with quantitative information. The reliability of this method was first investigated theoretically and numerically. Then, its performances were tested on two concrete biological examples: first with single amino-acid molecule (cysteine) and then with a mixture of three distinct odorous molecules. The benefits of this Fourier polar representation were highlighted and compared to the well-established statistical principal component analysis method.

We demonstrate a 2 × 2 silicon-plasmonic router architecture with 320 Gb/s throughput capabilities for optical interconnect applications. The proposed router platform relies on a novel dual-ring Dielectric-Loaded Surface Plasmon Polariton (DLSPP) 2 × 2 switch heterointegrated on a Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) photonic motherboard that is responsible for traffic multiplexing and header processing functionalities. We present experimental results of a Poly-methyl-methacrylate (PMMA)-loaded dual-resonator DLSPP waveguide structure that uses two racetrack resonators of 5.5 μm radius and 4 μ m-long straight sections and operates as a passive add/drop filtering element. We derive its frequency-domain transfer function, confirm its add/drop experimental spectral response, and proceed to a circuit-level model for dual-ring DLSPP designs supporting 2 × 2 thermo-optic switch operation. The validity of our circuit-level modeled 2 × 2 thermo-optic switch is verified by means of respective full vectorial three-dimensional Finite Element Method (3D-FEM) simulations. The router setup is completed by means of two 4 × 1 SOI multiplexing circuits, each one employing four cascaded second order micro-ring configurations with 100 GHz spaced resonances. Successful interconnection between the DLSPP switching matrix and the SOI circuitry is performed through a butt-coupling design that, as shown via 3D-FEM analysis, allows for small coupling losses of as low as 2.6 dB. The final router architecture is evaluated through a co-operative simulation environment, demonstrating successful 2 × 2 routing for two incoming 4-wavelength Non-Return-to-Zero (NRZ) optical packet streams with 40 Gb/s line-rates.

In the present work, the combination of chemical immobilization with electron beam lithography enables the production of sensitive and reproducible SERS-active areas composed of stochastic arrangements of gold nanoparticles. The number of nanoparticles was varied from 2 to 500. Thereby a systematic analysis of these SERS-active areas allows us to study SERS efficiency as a function of the number of nanoparticles. We found that the experimental parameters are critical, in particular the size of the SERS-active area must be comparable to the effective area of excitation to obtained reproducible SERS measurements. The sensitivity has also been studied by deducing the number of NPs that generate the enhancement. With this approach we demonstrates that the maximum enhancement, the best sensitivity, is obtained with the smallest number of nanoparticles that is resonant at a given excitation wavelength.

We demonstrate wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) 200 Gb/s (8 × 25 Gb/s) data transmission over 100 μm long aluminum (Al) surface-plasmon-polariton (SPP) waveguides on a Si3N4 waveguide platform at telecom wavelengths. The Al SPP waveguide was evaluated in terms of signal integrity by performing bit-error-rate (BER) measurements that revealed error-free operation for all eight 25 Gb/s non-return-to-zero (NRZ) modulated data channels with power penalties not exceeding 0.2 dB at 10−9. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of WDM enabled data transmission over complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) SPP waveguides fueling future development of CMOS compatible plasmo-photonic devices for on-chip optical interconnections.

HF acid attack of SiO2 and Si3N4 substrates is analyzed to improve the sensitivity of a sensor based on microcantilever. Ex situ analysis of the etching using XPS, SIMS and AFM show significant changes in the anisotropy and the rate of the etching of the oxides on SiO2 and Si3N4 surface. Those differences influence the kinetic evolution of the plastic bending deflection of the cantilever coated with SiO2 and Si3N4 layer, respectively. The linear dependence between the HF concentration and the Si3N4 cantilever bending corresponds to a deep attack of the layer whereas the non-linear behavior observed for SiO2 layer can be explained by a combination of deep and lateral etching. The cantilever bending is discussed in terms of free surface energy, layer thickness and grain size.

By combining the field-susceptibility technique with the optical Bloch equations, a general formalism is developed for the investigation of molecular photophysical phenomena triggered by nanometer scale optical fields in the presence of complex environments. This formalism illustrate the influence of the illumination regime on the fluorescence signal emitted by a single molecule in a complex environment. In the saturated case, this signal is proportional to the optical local density of states, while it is proportional to the near-field intensity in the non-saturated case. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Photon unoccupied states tailored by nanostructures present at sample surfaces can be probed using a scanning near-field optical microscope including large detection angles (Chicanne C. et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 88 (2002) 097402-4). We demonstrate, theoretically and experimentally, how such setups equipped with a circularly polarized SNOM tip can deliver images of surface photonic states with a nanometer scale resolution.

The selective surface modification by phosphonic acids of SiO2−TiO2 supports at the micrometer and molecular scale was investigated. Under aqueous conditions, phosphonic acids bind to TiO2 and not to SiO2 surfaces. A micropatterned support was prepared by electron beam microlithography and selectivity, of the surface modification was evidenced using scanning Auger electron spectroscopy (SAES). The second support was a mesoporous SiO2−TiO2 mixed oxide (10 mol % Ti) epoxidation catalyst prepared by sol−gel processing. Selectivity was deduced from the decrease of the catalytic activity upon modification and from chemical analysis; bonding modes to the surface were investigated using solid-state 29Si and 31P MAS NMR. The possibility to introduce different organic groups by successive treatments with a phosphonic acid and a silylating agent was illustrated in the case of the mixed oxide.

In this paper we study the properties of microring resonator structures fabricated with high-index-of-refraction dielectric material. These structures concentrate light and can produce very strong optical potential gradients. They are of great interest for the trapping, manipulation and transport of cold atoms near surfaces. The study consists of two parts: in the first part we investigate the symmetry properties of the resonator response for simple models of the microring structures. In the second part we present detailed numerical calculations of the actual spectra for realistic microfabricated structures. We employ the direct space integral equation method (DSIEM). This method, based on a volume integral solving procedure, has already been found to cope successfully with nonresonant dielectric nanostructures. Such ab initio investigations of the optical near-field distributions only require a specification of the frequency-dependent dielectric constant and the precise shape of the fabricated structures. Consequently, these calculations can stand alone, or complement and inform anticipated experimental studies.

This letter reports near-field optical observations of light energy transport along micro-waveguides decorated by short chains of gold "nanodots". In spite of their subwavelength dimensions (100 nm diameter ×20 nm height), the metallic dots in the chain function as an efficient photonic band filter or a nanometric Bragg mirror. Numerical simulations reproduce the observed phenomenon and indicate that the occurrence of a band gap for light transport through the decorated guide corresponds to a selective absorption by the metallic chain.

We show that the spectral tailoring of optical local density of states (LDOS) may be achieved by lithographically designed nanostructures and that the subwavelength mapping of the spectral variation of the optical LDOS is feasible by varying the driving frequency of the effective dipole used in an illumination mode scanning near-field optical microscope.

Scanning near-field optical microscopy images of metal nanostructures taken with the tetrahedral tip (T-tip) show a distribution of dark and bright spots at distances in the order of 25-50 nm. The images are interpreted as photonic nanopatterns defined as calculated scanning near-field optical microscopy images using a dipole serving as a light-emitting scanning near-field optical microscopy probe. Changing from a positive to a negative value of the dielectric function of a sample leads to the partition of one spot into several spots in the photonic nanopatterns, indicating the excitation of surface plasmons of a wavelength in the order of 50-100 nm in metal nanostructures.

Display Omitted A lithography technique capable of printing submicron-sized features inside deep cavities is presented.A so-called recess photomask adapted to the wafer's topography is employed.Based on a standard mask aligner, Recess Photomask Contact Lithography has moderate cost.Its efficiency for a photonic/plasmonic switch application was demonstrated experimentally.The technique is extensible to any design and to wafers with multiple level recesses. A novel lithographic method is presented, based on the use of a mask aligner in the contact mode with a modified photomask, the so-called recess photomask; its goal is the printing of submicron-sized patterns into deep cavities of a chip, which is not manageable with conventional contact lithography. The photomask (initially a standard photomask) is etched in designated sections in order to obtain a surface nearly conformal to the topography of the wafer to be patterned and allowing to maintain the ultimate resolution of UV mask aligners in the contact mode, down to ~0.5µm critical dimension at 250nm wavelength in spite of the difficult topography of the chip. The technique is successfully applied to the integration of polymer and gold plasmonic structures in silicon photonic SOI chips with 1.9µm deep cavities intended to accommodate the plasmonic waveguide switching technology. In this specific application, coupling of silicon photonic waveguides with small-footprint plasmonic waveguides can assure ultrafast and low-power electrically-driven thermo-optical switching. The method is generic as it can be applied to any pre-existing resist process and has no theoretical recess depth limit. It is potentially widely applicable to emerging technologies in fields including optoelectronic and integrated optical communications devices, but also potentially MEMS and MOEMS.

Recent progress in near-field optics instrumentation led to a new class of subwavelength optical experiments in which it is intended to use either the optical tunnel effect (OTE) or the lower mode based transmission (LMBT) in order to control the optical transfer between several delocalized detection or injection centers. This paper presents a panel of new theoretical and experimental results computed or observed near various dielectric or metallic patterns, linear, curved, or dashed, integrated in coplanar geometry. In particular, we demonstrate, how an efficient control of light evanescent waves can allow structures of subwavelength cross sections to be addressed.

We report on the observation, in direct space, of both light localization and confinement effects near lithographically designed structures. The sample is observed in the optical near-field zone with a Photon Scanning Tunneling Microscope (PSTM). Several patterns composed of a few periods of TiO2 dots, arranged as a hexagonal lattice, have been investigated. When the central dot of the pattern is removed, a phenomenon of light localization above the vacancy can be observed in the PSTM image. The occurrence of this phenomenon can be related to the variation of the electromagnetic local density of state.

From numerical calculations based on Green's dyadic formalism, we show that a scanning near-field optical microscope (SNOM) working with a point-like illuminating probe delivers images that contain features directly related to the local density of photonic states (LDOS). More precisely, an unambiguous identification of the partial LDOSs (x, y or z polarized) can be made in the SNOM images when the solid angle of detection reaches 2π sr.

Photonic transfer through elongated optical structures of submicrometre section microfabricated at the surface of dielectric or semiconductor samples can be enhanced by an appropriate structuring of the local refraction index. We show from computerized simulations that both the light localization and the spectroscopic properties of such structures can be used to selectively excite, in coplanar geometry, individuals molecules located in the near-field.

The ability to sustain plasmon oscillations gives rise to unique properties of metal nanostructures, which can be exploited for the controlled manipulation of light fields on the nanoscale. In this context we investigate electromagnetic coupling effects within lithographically produced ensembles of gold nanoparticles with a photon scanning tunnelling microscope. To provide an interface between these nano-optical devices and classical far-field optics, we investigate surface plasmon propagation on microstructured metal thin films.

Reflectivity measurements in an attenuated total internal reflection (ATIR) geometry and the variation of the transmitted intensity associated to the total electric field in a frustrated ATIR configuration using a photon scanning tunneling microscope (PSTM) of multilayered metallic films are presented as a function of the angle of incidence. Eigenmodes for total reflection and absorption associated with the optical properties of magnetic and nonmagnetic materials are theoretically and experimentally determined from the reflected and the transmitted spectra. Good agreement between theory and experiment demonstrates that PSTM is a powerful technique to characterize accurately and locally drastic variations of the intensity around optical modes of a multilayer system.

We report on the influence of coating a sharpened optical fiber tip with Au when observing nanofabricated dielectric structures with a Photon Scanning Tunneling Microscope (PSTM) in constant-height mode. For well-defined incident wavelengths and coating thicknesses, we found that such tips detect the distribution of the magnetic field associated with the optical wave in the near-field zone. A simple tip model indicates that this phenomenon is related to the excitation of circular symmetry plasmons in Au coated tips.

This article studies, in the near-field zone, the magneto-optical Faraday effect of metallic multilayers illuminated under the condition of total internal reflection. We present numerical results obtained by the Green’s dyadic technique which depicts the distribution associated with each Cartesian component of the electric field inside, as well as outside, the magneto-optical structure. The Faraday rotation is found to increase significantly around the resonances associated either with plasmons or to interferences inside thin films.

This paper deals with the optimization of the factor of merit of the magneto-optical Kerr effect of a resonant multilayer cavity including a ferromagnetic film. This optimization is of interest in the context of optical storage technology. Using numerical simulations based on the Green's dyadic technique, we discuss a route to obtain magneto-optical multilayers with a vanishing ellipticity and factors of merit (with respect to the bulk magnetic material) larger than 3 on a broad range of wavelengths, significantly higher than the actual state of the art.

Laboratoire de Physique, Optique Submicronique, Universite´de Bourgogne, BP 47870, F-21078 Dijon, France~Received 29 April 1999!We use the Green dyadic technique to study the propagation of a local excitation along metallic nanowiresof a subwavelength cross section. The metallic nanowires are elongated parallelepipeds deposited on a trans-parent substrate. A tightly focused plane wave illuminates one end of the nanowires. The localized surface-plasmon resonances of the nanowires propagate the local excitations over distances larger than the incidentwavelength. The properties of the electromagnetic eigenmodes of the nanowires are analyzed in terms of thelocal density of states. @S0163-1829~99!02136-0#I. INTRODUCTION

This article presents a theoretical study of the near-field optical properties of subwavelength resonant metallic particles deposited on a surface. Using the Green’s dyadic method, we derive stable solutions for both electric and magnetic fields inside and outside metallic particles of arbitrary shape. To assess the reliability of the computational scheme applied to resonant particles, we compare our data with those produced by other models. Since the Green’s dyadic method allows us to cope with particles exhibiting sharp edges such as lithographically designed nanostructures, we explore mesoscopic optical effects which are out of reach of standard computational methods.

We report on the direct observation of localized surface plasmon coupling using a photon scanning tunneling microscope. The surface plasmons are excited in gold nanostructures tailored by electron beam lithography. Electromagnetic energy transfer from a resonantly excited nanoparticle to a nanowire, which is not directly excited by the incident light is observed. Our experimental results appear to be in good agreement with theoretical computations based on Green's dyadic technique.

We report on the experimental observation of near-field optical effects close to Au nanoparticles using a photon scanning tunneling microscope (PSTM). Constant height operation of the PSTM allowed an unprecedented direct comparison with theoretical computations of the distribution of the optical near-field intensity. An unexpected squeezing of the optical near field due to plasmon coupling was observed above a chain of Au nanoparticles.

This paper describes the magneto-optical effects of metallic multilayers under the condition of total internal reflection. In the framework of Green’s dyadic technique, we detail a practical and at time-consuming scheme to compute accurately the optical properties of anisotropic multilayers deposited on a substrate. We present numerical simulations which account for the variation of the angle of incidence at a fixed wavelength and for the variation of the wavelength at fixed angle of incidence. The Kerr rotation is found to increase significantly around the critical angle for total reflection. We also discuss the importance of plasmon effects in the structure of the Kerr rotation spectra. @S0163-1829~99!00708-0#

Optical tunneling effect through dielectric junctions with subwavelength transverse sizes has been demonstrated some years ago. In this letter, we demonstrate how similar effects can be exploited to perform photonic transfer through a subwavelength optical wave guide (SOW) by structuring its optical index along the direction of propagation. The optical transmittance of the SOW is computed self-consistently in direct space through the numerical solution of a Dyson equation. We apply this scheme to investigate the optical properties of different SOW architectures. Even under total internal reflection, in which the light is coupled to the SOW by an evanescent mode, an efficient optical transfer can be expected.