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In the last two decades, there has been growing interest in silicon-based photonic devices for many optical applications: telecommunications, interconnects and biosensors. In this work, an advance overview of our results in this field is presented. Proposed devices allow overcoming silicon intrinsic drawbacks limiting its application as a photonic substrate. Taking advantages of both non-linear and linear effects, size reduction at nanometric scale and new two-dimensional emerging materials, we have obtained a progressive increase in device performance along the last years. In this work we show that a suitable design of a thin photonic crystal slab realized in silicon nitride can exhibit a very strong field enhancement. This result is very promising for all photonic silicon devices based on nonlinear phenomena. Moreover we report on the fabrication and characterization of silicon photodetectors working at near-infrared wavelengths based on the internal photoemission absorption in a Schottky junction. We show as an increase in device performance can be obtained by coupling light into both micro-resonant cavity and waveguiding structures. In addition, replacing metal with graphene in a Schottky junction, a further improve in PD performance can be achieved. Finally, silicon-based microarray for biomedical applications, are reported. Microarray of porous silicon Bragg reflectors on a crystalline silicon substrate have been realized using a technological process based on standard photolithography and electrochemical anodization of the silicon. Our insights show that silicon is a promising platform for the integration of various optical functionalities on the same chip opening new frontiers in the field of low-cost silicon micro and nanophotonics.

In this paper, a new kind of approach to reveal the presence of well-defined impurities in isotropic materials is proposed and verified against actual measurements over real samples. The rationale lies in the different polarimetric symmetry properties of inhomogeneous and isotropic materials within well-defined impurities from homogeneous ones. The underpinning physical idea is to inspect the Mueller matrix of the material sample, obtained from an ellipsometric measure: its form, in terms of symmetry, can reveal whether or not if in there are well-defined impurities in the sample.

In this paper, experimental evidences about the resonance phenomena in a negative 2D photonic crystal are shown. Localized plasmon-like modes and guided mode resonances are detected in the reflectivity spectrum of a photonic crystal slab irradiated with out-of-plane incident radiation. The strong confinement of the radiation, in addition to the field enhancement, make photonic crystals a very appealing alternative to plasmonic substrates, avoiding the limits of absorption losses in metals.

The application of metamaterials and plasmonic structures in the visible and near infrared are strongly limited by the dissipative losses due to the low conductivity of the most used metals in this frequency range. High temperature superconductors are plasmonic materials at nonzero temperature that can provide a possible alternative approach to overcome this limit. Moreover, they can have zero or even negative dielectric constant, and a bipolar behavior. All these characteristics are attractive for plasmonic applications, and encourage further studies aimed at a more detailed knowledge of the parameters characterizing high temperature superconductors as possible optical materials. In this paper, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy analysis and ellipsometric measurements in the visible and infrared spectral regions on NdBa2Cu3O7-δ (Nd123) and ruthenocuprate superconductor GdSr2RuCu2O8-δ (Gd1212) are reported. As a matter of fact, Nd123 presents the highest transition temperature (Tc = 96 K) and the most interesting magnetic response properties among YBCO-like cuprate superconductors, whereas the coexistence in the same cell of superconductivity and magnetic order below Tc in Gd1212 can be an interesting feature for next metamaterial-like applications. The obtained results confirm the promising features of the considered materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porous silicon based one-dimensional photonic crystals, such as Bragg mirror and optical microcavity, has been modified by infiltration of a new biocompatible polymer, an amino functionalized poly([variant_greek_epsilon]-caprolactone) (PCL-NH2), and characterized as optical biochemical sensors. The entrapped polymer adds strong chemical stability to the nanocrystalline matrix on exposure to alkaline solutions preserving the device sensing abilities in monitoring volatile substances and chemical compounds. On the basis of these results, these hybrid structures can be proposed as a high performance platform for biochemical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plasmonic and Photonics applications of superconducting materials, suggested at first by the necessity to minimize the dissipative losses of conventional metals in the high frequency ranges, are topics of growing interest in Optics. In this perspective, GdSr2RuCu2O8-δ (Gd1212) Rutheno-Cuprate Superconductor presents very promising properties, showing both superconducting and magnetically ordered phases coexisting in the same cell. To investigate its features, the fabrication of macroscopic crystallographically oriented samples is necessary. The use of melt texturing techniques has shown to be among the most effective ways to achieve the best characteristics, although the fabrication of high-quality Gd1212 samples is intrinsically difficult. To reach a better understanding of Gd1212 incongruent melting reaction, a series of bulk samples annealed at temperatures below and above the melting temperature was prepared. Raman Microscopy and Mapping performed on molten and re-solidified samples revealed the presence of different phases, corresponding to those identified in our previous studies. These observations were also confirmed by XRD, TGA-DTA, and SEM+EDS characterisations. Secondary phases formation showed a strong dependence on the temperature of the annealing treatments. Susceptibility and magnetization measurements show both superconducting and magnetic transitions and a contribution of different spurious magnetic phases as suggested by EDS.

Large-area and transparent all-dielectric metasurfaces sustaining photonic bound states in the continuum (BICs) provide a set of fundamental advantages for ultrasensitive biosensing. BICs bridge the gap of large effective mode volume with large experimental quality factor. Relying on the transduction mechanism of reactive sensing principle, herein, we first numerically study the potential of subwavelength confinement driven by topological decoupling from free space radiation for BIC-based biosensing. Then, we experimentally combine this capability with minimal and low-cost optical setup, applying the devised quasi-BIC resonator for PNA/DNA selective biosensing with real-time monitoring of the binding event. A sensitivity of 20 molecules per micron squared is achieved, i.e. ≃0.01 pg. Further enhancement can easily be envisaged, pointing out the possibility of single-molecule regime. This work aims at a precise and ultrasensitive approach for developing low-cost point-of-care tools suitable for routine disease prescreening analyses in laboratory, also adaptable to industrial production control.