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Spectrally-selective nanophotonic and plasmonic structures enjoy widespread interest for application as color filters in imaging devices, due to their potential advantages over traditional organic dyes and pigments. Organic dyes are straightforward to implement with predictable optical performance at large pixel size, but suffer from inherent optical cross-talk and stability (UV, thermal, humidity) issues and also exhibit increasingly unpredictable performance as pixel size approaches dye molecule size. Nanophotonic and plasmonic color filters are more robust, but often have polarization- and angle-dependent optical response and/or require large-range periodicity. Herein, we report on design and fabrication of polarization- and angle-insensitive CYM color filters based on a-Si nanopillar arrays as small as 1 µm^2, supported by experiment, simulation, and analytic theory. Analytic waveguide and Mie theories explain the color filtering mechanism-- efficient coupling into and interband transition-mediated attenuation of waveguide-like modes—and also guided the FDTD simulation-based optimization of nanopillar array dimensions. The designed a-Si nanopillar arrays were fabricated using e-beam lithography and reactive ion etching; and were subsequently optically characterized, revealing the predicted polarization- and angle-insensitive (±40°) subtractive filter responses. Cyan, yellow, and magenta color filters have each been demonstrated. The effects of nanopillar array size and inter-array spacing were investigated both experimentally and theoretically to probe the issues of ever-shrinking pixel sizes and cross-talk, respectively. Results demonstrate that these nanopillar arrays maintain their performance down to 1um2 pixel sizes with no inter-array spacing. These concepts and results along with color-processed images taken with a fabricated color filter array will be presented and discussed.

A method for fabricating scalable antireflective nanostructures on polymer surfaces (polycarbonate) is demonstrated. The transition from small scale fabrication of nanostructures to a scalable replication technique can be quite challenging. In this work, an area per print corresponding to a 2-inch-wafer, is presented. The initial nanopatterning is performed on SiC in a 2-step process. Depending on the nanostructures the transmission of the SiC surface can be increased or suppressed (average height of nanostructures ~300nm and ~600nm, respectively) while the reflectance is decreased, when compared to a bare surface. The reflectance of SiC can be reduced down to 0.5% when the ~600nm nanostructures are applied on the surface (bare surface reflectance 25%). The texture of the green SiC color is changed when the different nanostructures are apparent. The ~600nm SiC nanostructures are replicated on polymer through a process flow that involved hot embossing and galvanization. The resulted polymer structures have similar average height and exhibit more rounded edges than the initial SiC nanostructures. The polymer surface becomes antireflective and hydrophobic after nanostructuring. The contact angle changes from 68 (bare) to 123 (nanostructured) degrees. The optical effect on the polymer surface can be maximized by applying a thin aluminum (Al) layer coating on the nanostructures (bare polymer reflectance 11%, nanostructured polymer reflectance 5%, Al coated nanostructured polymer reflectance 3%). The optical measurements were performed with an integrating sphere and a spectrometer. The contact angles were measured with a drop shape analyzer. The nanostructures were characterized with scanning electron microscopy.

A new generation of surface plasmonic optical fibre sensors is fabricated using multiple coatings deposited on a lapped section of a single mode fibre. Post-deposition UV laser irradiation using a phase mask produces a nano-scaled surface relief grating structure, resembling nano-wires. The overall length of the individual corrugations is approximately 14 μm with an average full width half maximum of 100 nm. Evidence is presented to show that these surface structures result from material compaction created by the silicon dioxide and germanium layers in the multi-layered coating and the surface topology is capable of supporting localised surface plasmons. The coating compaction induces a strain gradient into the D-shaped optical fibre that generates an asymmetric periodic refractive index profile which enhances the coupling of the light from the core of the fibre to plasmons on the surface of the coating. Experimental data are presented that show changes in spectral characteristics after UV processing and that the performance of the sensors increases from that of their pre-UV irradiation state. The enhanced performance is illustrated with regards to change in external refractive index and demonstrates high spectral sensitivities in gaseous and aqueous index regimes ranging up to 4000 nm/RIU for wavelength and 800 dB/RIU for intensity. The devices generate surface plasmons over a very large wavelength range, (visible to 2 μm) depending on the polarization state of the illuminating light.

Magnetic force microscope Co spike tips with lateral magnetic resolution of 10 nm have been prepared. The Co spikes are grown by electron beam induced deposition of Co from Co-2(CO)(8) gas precursor. The high resolution Co spikes are fabricated at the spot of a tightly focused electron beam on the tip of commercial atomic force microscope cantilevers. Qualitative investigations indicate that a spike grown on a planar base of Co improves the signal to noise., QC 20121114

In this work, we generate and probe the shortest wavelength surface acoustic waves to date, at 45 nm, by diffracting coherent extreme ultraviolet beams from a suboptical phononic crystal. The short acoustic wavelengths correspond to penetration depths of approximately 10 nm. We also measure the acoustic dispersion in two-dimensional nanostructured phononic crystals down to this wavelength for the first time, showing that it is strongly influenced by the ultrashort acoustic penetration depth, and that advanced finite-element analysis is required to model the dispersion. Finally, we use pulse sequences to control surface acoustic wave generation in one-dimensional nanostructured gratings, to preferentially enhance higher-order surface waves, while suppressing lower frequency waves. This allows us to reduce the generated surface acoustic wavelength by a factor of two for a defined nanostructure period.

The aim of present paper is to present the latest results on investigations of the carbon thin film deposited by Thermionic Vacuum Arc (TVA) method and laser pyrolysis. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray generated Auger electron spectroscopy (XAES) were used to determine composition and sp2 to sp3 ratios in the outer layers of the film surfaces. The analyses were conducted in a Thermoelectron ESCALAB 250 electron spectrometer equipped with a hemispherical sector energy analyser. Monochromated Al K X-radiation was employed for the XPS examination, at source excitation energy of 15 KeV and emission current of 20 mA. Analyzer pass energy of 20 eV with step size of 0.1 eV and dwell time of 100 ms was used throughout.