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The ability to manipulate microlaser is highly desirable towards high-performance optoelectronic devices. Here we demonstrate feasible mode manipulation of Fabry-Pérot type microlasers of a perovskite nanowire via incorporation of single gold nanoparticles. The influences of resonant wavelength, quality factor and emission directions are successively investigated using a two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method. It is found that blueshift of resonant wavelength could be achieved together with either promoted or degraded quality factor of microlaser via single Au NPs with varied sizes. Unidirectional emission could also be realized that is favorable for on-chip integration. Our results provide useful reference for feasible manipulation of light-matter interactions and mode selection.

Raman spectra are often masked by strong fluorescence, which severely hinders the applications of Raman spectroscopy. Herein, for the first time, we report ionic-wind-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (IWERS) incorporated with photobleaching (PB) as a noninvasive approach to detect fluorescent and vulnerable samples without a substrate. In this study, ionic wind (IW) generated by needle-net electrodes transfers charges to the sample surface in air on the scale of millimeters rather than nanometers in surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the ionic particles in IW increase the susceptibility of the sample molecules, thus enhancing the Raman signals. Meanwhile, the incorporation of IW with PB yields a synergistic effect to quench fluorescence. Therefore, this approach can improve the signal-to-noise ratio of Raman peaks up to three times higher than that with only PB. At the same time, IWERS can avoid sample pollution and destruction without substrates as well as high laser power. For archeological samples and a red rock as an analogue to Mars geological samples, IWERS successfully identified weak but key Raman peaks, which were masked by strong florescence. It suggests that IWERS is a promising tool for characterizations in the fields of archeology, planetary science, biomedicine, and soft matter.

Chemically synthesized metal nanowires are promising building blocks for next-generation photonic integrated circuits, but technological implementation in monolithic integration will be severely hampered by the lack of controllable and precise manipulation approaches, due to the strong adhesion of nanowires to substrates in non-liquid environments. Here, we demonstrate this obstacle can be removed by our proposed earthworm-like peristaltic crawling motion mechanism, based on the synergistic expansion, friction, and contraction in plasmon-driven metal nanowires in non-liquid environments. The evanescently excited surface plasmon greatly enhances the heating effect in metal nanowires, thereby generating surface acoustic waves to drive the nanowires crawling along silica microfibres. Advantages include sub-nanometer positioning accuracy, low actuation power, and self-parallel parking. We further demonstrate on-chip manipulations including transporting, positioning, orientation, and sorting, with on-situ operation, high selectivity, and great versatility. Our work paves the way to realize full co-integration of various functionalized photonic components on single chips., Implementing metal nanowires in photonic circuits is challenging due to lack of suitable manipulation techniques. Here, the authors present an earthworm-like peristaltic crawling motion mechanism, based on surface plasmons and surface acoustic waves, and show on-chip manipulations of single nanowires.

Herein, we report a two-step solution-precipitation approach to synthesize perovskite CH3NH3PbBr3 polyhedral single crystals. Their formation mechanism was investigated, revealing the close relationship between reaction rate and crystallization of perovskite. Furthermore, such perovskite polyhedrons were demonstrated to be feasible for lasing with a high quality factor and for single-mode operation.

The nonlinear optical waveguide is one of the essential components of modern photonic integrated circuits. A high-quality lithium niobate (LN) waveguide has recently become available due to advances in thin-film LN materials and the associated fabrication techniques. In the past few years, LN waveguide-based nonlinear photonic devices have been intensively investigated due to their ultra-low loss and large index-contrast features. Here we review the recent progress in LN waveguide-based nonlinear photonics devices, including both passive and active components. We believe that LN-based nonlinear photonic devices will make a profound impact on modern photonic society.

Here we propose a hybrid polymer-LN waveguide for achieving phase-matched second-harmonic generation (SHG). From the aspect of super-mode theory, the geometric parameters of the hybrid semi-nonlinear waveguide were optimized to utilize both symmetric (even) and antisymmetric (odd) modes of the pump and SHG waves so as to facilitate phase matching with large modal overlap. Phase matching between a fundamental even (TE00-like) mode at 1320 nm and a fundamental odd (TE01-like) mode at 660 nm was found with a calculated modal overlap integral of 0.299, while utilizing the largest nonlinear coefficient d 33, and achieving an efficient calculated normalized conversion efficiency of 148% W−1⋅cm−2. Considering the fabrication feasibility of such hybrid waveguide with features including etchless, large dimension, and low structural sensitivity, we believe our findings would provide a useful reference for future on-chip efficient nonlinear conversion devices.

Further development of high-efficiency and low-cost organic fluorescent materials is intrinsically hampered by the energy gap law and spin statistics, especially in the near-infrared (NIR) region. Here we design a novel building block with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) activity for realizing highly efficient luminophores covering the deep-red and NIR region, which originates from an increase in the orbital overlap and electron-withdrawing ability. An organic donor–acceptor molecule (BPMT) with the building block is prepared and can readily form J-type molecular columns with multiple C–H⋯N/O interactions. Notably, such synthesized materials can emit fluorescence centered at 701 nm with extremely high photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQYs) of 48.7%. Experimental and theoretical investigations reveal that the formation of the hybridized local and charge-transfer (HLCT) state and substantial C–H⋯N/O interactions contribute to a fast radiative decay rate and a slow nonradiative decay rate, respectively, resulting in high PLQYs in the solid state covering the NIR range. Remarkably, such BPMT crystals, as a first example, reveal strong-penetrability piezochromism along with a distinct PL change from the deep-red (λmax = 704 nm) to NIR (λmax = 821 nm) region. Moreover, such typical AIE-active luminophores are demonstrated to be a good candidate as a lasing medium. Together with epoxy resin by a self-assembly method, a microlaser is successfully illustrated with a lasing wavelength of 735.2 nm at a threshold of 22.3 kW cm−2. These results provide a promising approach to extend the contents of deep-red/NIR luminophores and open a new avenue to enable applications ranging from chemical sensing to lasing., A HLCT-type luminophore is prepared with bright deep-red fluorescence, showing high-performance piezochromism and lasing.

Surface plasmons are coherent and collective electron oscillations confined at the dielectric–metal interface. Benefitting from the inherent subwavelength nature of spatial profile, surface plasmons can greatly accumulate the optical field and energy on the nanoscale and dramatically enhance various light–matter interactions. The properties of surface plasmons are strongly related to materials and structures, so that metals, semiconductors and two-dimensional materials with various morphologies and structures can have alternating plasmonic wavelengths ranging from ultraviolet, visible, near infrared to far infrared. Because the electric field can be enhanced by orders of magnitude within plasmonic structures, various light–matter interaction processes including fluorescence, Raman scattering, heat generation, photoacoustic effects, photocatalysis, nonlinear optical conversion, and solar energy conversion, can be significantly enhanced and these have been confirmed by both theoretical, computational and experimental studies. In this review, we present a concise introduction and discussion of various plasmon-enhanced light–matter interaction processes. We discuss the physical and chemical principles, influencing factors, computational and theoretical methods, and practical applications of these plasmon-enhanced processes and phenomena, with a hope to deliver guidelines for constructing future high-performance plasmonic devices and technologies.

Nanocrystal-in-glass (NIG) is an exciting class of composites, because it can not only combine the advantages of crystal and glass materials but also potentially generate new physical phenomenon in a cooperative manner. Herein, the nonlinear light-matter interaction processes in a broad range of NIG composites homogeneously embedded with LiNbO3 are investigated. It is shown that, by rational control of the organization manner of crystal and glass phases, second-harmonic generation (SHG) can be precisely tuned. Importantly, an unusual SHG phenomenon, transverse SHG (TSHG), can be realized in the special region of the microstructure map combined with the features of high loading, nanoscale size, and homogenous distribution of nanocrystals. Furthermore, NIG composites exhibit broadband optical response, allowing TSHG in a wide waveband region to be achieved. Based on the above effects, the applications of the constructed NIG composite for precise measurement of the group velocity and duration of ultrashort optical pulses with femtosecond time scales are demonstrated. Indeed, the findings outline a fundamental principle to design NIG configurations for creating new properties, providing new directions for expanding the scope of NIG functional materials.

Organic microlasers have attracted much attention due to their unique features such as high mechanical flexibility, facile doping of gain materials, high optical quality, simplicity and low-cost fabrication. However, organic gain materials usually suffer from aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ), preventing further advances of organic microlasers. Here, a new type of microlaser from aggregation-induced emission (AIE) material is successfully demonstrated. By introducing a typical noncrystalline AIE material, a high quality microlaser is obtained via a surface tension-induced self-assembly approach. Distinct from conventional organic microlasers, the organic luminescent material used here is initially nonluminescent but can shine after aggregation under optical pumping. Further investigations demonstrate that AIE-based microlasers exhibit advantages to enable much higher doping concentrations, which provides an alternative way to improved lasing performance including dramatically reduced threshold and favorable lasing stability. It is believed that these results could provide a promising way to extend the content of microlasers and open a new avenue to enable applications ranging from chemical sensing to biology.

It is highly desirable to design optical devices with diverse optomechanical functions. Here, we investigate lateral optical force exerted on subwavelength-diameter (SD) optical fibers harnessed by input light modes with different polarizations. It is interesting to find that input light modes of circular or elliptical polarizations would bring about lateral optical force in new directions, which has not been observed in previous studies. By means of finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations, detailed spatial distributions of the asymmetric transverse force density are revealed, meanwhile dependence of optical force on input light polarizations, fiber diameters, and inclination angles of fiber endfaces are all carefully discussed. It is believed that polarization-sensitive reflection, refraction, and diffraction of optical fields occur at the interface, i.e., fiber oblique endfaces, resulting in asymmetrically distributed optical fields and thereafter non-zero transverse optical force. We believe our new findings could be helpful for constructing future steerable optomechanical devices with more flexibility. Published version

Tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) offers a powerful means to enhance the Raman scattering signal of a molecule as the localized surface plasmonic resonance will induce a significant local electric field enhancement in the nanoscale hot spot located within the nanogap of the TERS system. In this work, we theoretically show that this nanoscale hot spot can also serve as powerful optical tweezers to tightly trap a molecule. We calculate and analyze the local electric field and field gradient distribution of this nanogap plasmon hot spot. Due to the highly localized electric field, a three-dimensional optical trap can form at the hot spot. Moreover, the optical energy density and optical force acting on a molecule can be greatly enhanced to a level far exceeding the conventional single laser beam optical tweezers. Calculations show that for a single H 2 TBPP organic molecule, which is modeled as a spherical molecule with a radius of r m = 1 nm , a dielectric coefficient ε = 3 , and a polarizability α = 4.5 × 10 − 38 C · m 2 / V , the stiffness of the hot-spot trap can reach a high value of about 2 pN / [ ( W / cm 2 ) · m ] and 40 pN / [ ( W / cm 2 ) · m ] in the direction perpendicular and parallel to the TERS tip axis, which is far larger than the stiffness of single-beam tweezers, ∼ 0.4 pN / [ ( W / cm 2 ) · m ] . This hard-stiffness will enable the molecules to be stably captured in the plasmon hot spot. Our results indicate that TERS can become a promising tool of optical tweezers for trapping a microscopic object like molecules while implementing Raman spectroscopic imaging and analysis at the same time.

The ability to manipulate microlaser performance is highly desirable so as to promote on-chip classical and quantum information-processing technology. Here, we demonstrate that mode manipulation of bottle microresonators is enabled by precise deposition of single gold nanoparticles in a reconfigurable and selective manner. Numerical investigation reveals the mechanism of introducing optical loss via single Au NP scattering. Experimental results show that the lasing action of cavity modes could be efficiently suppressed, and single mode lasing is successfully achieved with a high side mode suppression factor ∼13 dB.

Instantaneous control over the orientation of anisotropically shaped plasmonic nanostructures allows for selective excitation of plasmon modes and enables dynamic tuning of the plasmonic properties. Herein we report the synthesis of rod-shaped magnetic/plasmonic core-shell nanocomposite particles and demonstrate the active tuning of their optical property by manipulating their orientation using an external magnetic field. We further design and construct an IR-photoelectric coupling system, which generates an output voltage depending on the extinction property of the measured nanocomposite sample. We employ the device to demonstrate that the nanocomposite particles can serve as units for information encryption when immobilized in a polymer film and additionally when dispersed in solution can be employed as a new type of magnetic-field-direction sensor.

We investigate transverse optical forces exerted on the endface of subwavelength-diameter (SD) optical fiber by using a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. Detailed spatial distributions of transverse optical force along the fiber axis can now be accessible, based on which the dependence of transverse optical force on transverse cross sections, oblique-cut endfaces and high-order mode are carefully studied. Our numerical results demonstrate that either asymmetric cross section or oblique-cut endface would dominantly contribute to the transverse optical force and the corresponding sideways deflection of SD fiber, which is in good agreement with previous experimental observations. The novel behavior of transverse optical force by the high-order mode would give rise to new guidelines for constructing high-performance optomechanical devices.

Zigzag silicene nanoribbons (ZSiNRs) in the ferromagnetic edge ordering have a metallic behavior, which limits their applications in spintronics. Here a robustly half-metallic property is achieved by the boron substitution doping at the edge of ZSiNRs. When the impurity atom is replaced by the aluminum atom, the doped ZSiNRs possess a spin semiconducting property. Its band gap is suppressed with the increase of ribbon's width, and a pure thermal spin current is achieved by modulating ribbon's width. Moreover, a negative differential thermoelectric resistance in the thermal charge current appears as the temperature gradient increases, which originates from the fact that the spin-up and spin-down thermal charge currents have diverse increasing rates at different temperature gradient regions. Our results put forward a promising route to design multi-functional spintronic devices which may be applied in future low-power-consumption technologies.

Controlling nonlinear light-matter interaction is important from fundamental science point of view as well as a basis for future optoelectronic devices1,2. Recent advances in twodimensional crystals have created opportunities to manipulate nonlinear processes electrically3-8. Here we report a strong second-harmonic generation (SHG) in a 2D WSe2 bilayer crystal caused by a back gate field. This unusual process takes place only when the gate polarity causes charge accumulation rather than depletion. Analysis based on bondcharge model traces the origin of SHG to the non-uniform field distribution within a single monolayer, caused by the accumulated sub-monolayer screening charge in the tungsten plane. We name this phenomenon charge-induced SHG (CHISHG), which is fundamentally different from the field- or current-induced SHG3-11. Our findings provide a potentially valuable technique for understanding and noninvasive probing of charge and current distributions in future low dimensional electronic devices. NRF (Natl Research Foundation, S’pore) MOE (Min. of Education, S’pore) Accepted version

Integration of miniaturized elements has been a major driving force behind modern photonics. Nanowires have emerged as potential building blocks for compact photonic circuits and devices in nanophotonics. We demonstrate here a single nanowire optical correlator (SNOC) for ultrafast pulse characterization based on imaging of the second harmonic (SH) generated from a cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanowire by counterpropagating guided pulses. The SH spatial image can be readily converted to the temporal profile of the pulses, and only an overall pulse energy of 8 μJ is needed to acquire a clear image of 200 fs pulses. Such a correlator should be easily incorporated into a photonic circuit for future use of on-chip ultrafast optical technology.

Phase matching is crucial for effective nonlinear frequency conversion. Recent advances in photonic miniaturization greatly promote implementations of efficient nonlinear frequency conversion in integrated photonic devices. Here, we investigate second-harmonic generation in coupled nonlinear waveguides. We develop a nonlinear optical coupled-mode theory and implement the concept of supermode to analyze the phase-matching condition, which greatly facilitates deep understanding of physics therein and optimization of device design. We have successfully identified six phase-matching conditions for the first time. The dynamic nonlinear optical processes are analytically modeled, which explicitly demonstrates that the phase-matching condition can be realized by extra momentum compensating due to the interwaveguide coupling. The influences of input pump amplitude and relative phase difference are successively investigated. The theoretical model presented here should be readily generalized to other nonlinear optical processes (e.g., difference frequency generations) and will remain valid in asymmetric coupled waveguide structures or even beyond a weakly coupling regime. Our results will be useful for constructing highly efficient integrated nonlinear optical conversion devices with extended functionality.

Organometal halide perovskite has recently emerged as a very promising family of materials with augmented performance in electronic and optoelectronic applications including photovoltaic devices, photodetectors, and light-emitting diodes. Herein, we propose and demonstrate facile solution synthesis of a series of colloidal organometal halide perovskite CH3NH3PbX3 (X = halides) nanoparticles with amorphous structure, which exhibit high quantum yield and tunable emission from ultraviolet to near-infrared. The growth mechanism and photoluminescence properties of the perovskite amorphous nanoparticles were studied in detail. A high-efficiency green-light-emitting diode based on amorphous CH3NH3PbBr3 nanoparticles was demonstrated. The perovskite amorphous nanoparticle-based light-emitting diode shows a maximum luminous efficiency of 11.49 cdA-1, a power efficiency of 7.84 lmW-1, and an external quantum efficiency of 3.8%, which is 3.5 times higher than that of the best colloidal perovskite quantum-dot-based light-emitting diodes previously reported. Our findings indicate the great potential of colloidal perovskite amorphous nanoparticles in light-emitting devices. NRF (Natl Research Foundation, S’pore) ASTAR (Agency for Sci., Tech. and Research, S’pore) MOE (Min. of Education, S’pore)

We demonstrate single-mode laser emission in single nanowires. By folding a 200 nm diameter CdSe nanowire to form loop mirrors, single-mode laser emission around 738 nm wavelength is obtained with line width of 0.12 nm and low threshold. The mode selection is realized by the vernier effect of coupled cavities in the folded nanowire. In addition, the loop structure makes it possible to tune the nanowire cavity, opening an opportunity to realize a tunable single-mode nanowire laser.

We investigate the microscopic optical force density distributions respectively inside a subwavelength-diameter (SD) fiber with flat endface and inside one with oblique endface by using a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. Optical force density distributions at the fiber endfaces can now be readily available. The complete knowledge of optical force density distributions not only reveal features regarding the microscopic near-field optomechanical interaction, but also provide straightforward explanations for the sideway deflections and other mechanical motions. Our results can provide a useful reference for better understanding the mechanical influence when light transports in a microscale or nanoscale structure and for developing future highly-sensitive optomechanical devices.

Optical forces exerted upon the endface of optical nanofiber have been carefully investigated numerically. Detailed spatial optical force distributions along the fiber axis are obtained. Dependence of optical force on fiber diameters, input modal polarizations, oblique-cut endfaces are carefully taken into considerations. It is clear now that oblique-cut fiber endface should be responsible for sideways deflection of nanofiber.

We report direct coupling of plasmonic and photonic nanowires using ultracompact near-field interaction. Photon-plasmon coupling efficiency up to 80% with coupling length down to the 200 nm level is achieved between individual Ag and ZnO nanowires. Hybrid nanophotonic components, including polarization splitters, Mach-Zehnder interferometers, and microring cavities, are fabricated out of coupled Ag and ZnO nanowires. These components offer relatively low loss with subwavelength confinement; a hybrid nanowire microcavity exhibits a Q-factor of 520.

This chapter discusses the optical properties, in particular the luminescent properties, of II–VI compound semiconductor nanowires and their applications in nanophotonics. We will first review the various synthesis methods and especially the most recent advances in the van der Waals epitaxy in growing nonplanar vertically aligned nanowires. Then, we focus on the steady-state and time-resolved dynamics of the excitons in typical nanowires. Finally, various waveguides and resonator structures based on II–VI semiconductor nanowires, as well as different types of nanowire lasers, will be discussed.

By using a simple and low-cost nanoimprinting technique, polymer micro/nanofiber Bragg gratings (MNFBGs) are fabricated with a ~551-nm grating period and a grating depth >;10 dB around 1.5-μm wavelength. As-fabricated MNFBGs also show high compactness to optical fiber systems and large dynamic range. Using a 2.5-μm-wide and 1.4-μm-thick MNFBG, we demonstrate strain sensing with a high sensitivity of -2.5 pm/μe.

Bandgap engineering of semiconductor nanowires is important in designing nanoscale multifunctional optoelectronic devices. Here, we report a facile thermal evaporation method, and realize the spatial bandgap engineering in single CdS(1-x)Se(x) alloy nanowires. Along the length of these achieved nanowires, the composition can be continuously tuned from x = 0 (CdS) at one end to x = 1 (CdSe) at the other end, resulting in the corresponding bandgap (light emission wavelength) being modulated gradually from 2.44 eV (507 nm, green light) to 1.74 eV (710 nm, red light). In spite of the existing composition (crystal lattice) transition along the length, these multicolor nanowires still possess high-quality crystallization. These bandgap engineered nanowires will have promising applications in such as multicolor display and lighting, high-efficiency solar cells, ultrabroadly spectral detectors, and biotechnology.

Here we report efficient transverse sum-frequency generation in single semiconductor nanowires with low-power operation, which may serve as broadband tunable coherent light source for potential application in physics, chemistry, materials science and biology.

We report the first observation of supercontinuum (SC) generation in single semiconductor nanoribbons (NRs). By launching a continuous wave (CW) 532-nm pump light along a 200-μm-length CdS NR for waveguiding excitation, SC generation is realized with a threshold down to sub-milliwatt level, which is ~3 orders lower compared with previous CW-pumped SC generated in glass fibers. The low threshold is benefitted from the favorable material properties and waveguide geometries including high Raman gains, strong light confinement, more optical guided modes and phonon modes. Our work paves the way to low-threshold nanoscale SC sources and may find widespread applications ranging from spectroscopic analysis and biological imaging to material research.

We fabricate fiber Bragg grating (FBG) in microfibers (MFs) using focused ion beam milling technique. By periodically etching 100 nm-depth grooves on the surface of silica MFs with diameters less than 2 μm, evident grating features with transmission dip up to 15 dB are obtained. Because of the high-index contrast of the gratings structure, the length of the microfiber Bragg grating (MFBG) can be reduced to 500 μm level. Using a 518 μm-length 1.8 μm-diameter MFBG, we also demonstrate sensitivity up to 660 nm per refractive index unit (RIU) for refractive index (RI) sensing. The highly compact MFBGs demonstrated here may serve as low-dimensional building blocks for miniaturized photonic components and devices.

We demonstrate broadband optical quenching of photoconductivity in CdSe single nanowires with low excitation power. Using 1550-nm-wavelength light with 10-nW power for waveguiding excitation, we observe a typical responsivity of 0.5 A/W for quenching the photoconductivity established by 10-µW 660-nm-wavelength background light in a 403-nm-diameter CdSe nanowire, with detectable limit of the quenching power down to pW level at room temperature, which is several orders of magnitude lower than those reported previously. This large quenching effect originates from the enhanced light-defect interaction in the nanowires via waveguiding excitation. These results open new opportunities for noninvasive characterization of deep-level defect states in low-dimensional semiconductor nanomaterials, and novel optoelectronic applications of semiconductor nanowires such as high-sensitive broadband photodetection.

We analyze the longitudinal Lorentz forces that a propagating continuous-wave light exerts on a subwavelength-diameter optical fiber. Our theoretical results show that, during the propagating process, the guided light exerts no net time-averaged force on the fiber. Via numerical simulation, we find a significant overall pull force of 0.4 pN/mW acting on a 450-nm-diam fiber tip at a wavelength of 980 nm due to the scattering of the end face and a calculated force distribution reveals the feature of a near-field accumulation. Our results may be helpful to the configuration of optomechanical components or devices based on these fibers.

We demonstrate whispering gallery (WG) resonance of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) in a 2-dimensional confined Au cylinder by self interference. Despite the leakage of SPPs along the axis of the cylinder, Q factors of 375 are obtained in a cylinder with diameter of 30 μm. The coupling-angle-dependence of the WG resonance is also investigated. Our results open opportunities for a new category of plasmonic cavities with 2-dimensional confinement, and this may be applied to a variety of simple and natural metallic micro or nanostructures.