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Different imaging modalities are used to extract the diverse information carried in an optical field. Two prominent modalities include bright field and phase contrast microscopy that can visualize the amplitude and phase features of a sample, respectively. However, capturing both of these images on the same camera typically requires interchanging optical components. Metasurfaces are ultra-thin nanostructures that can merge both of these operations into a single miniaturized device. Here, a silicon-based metasurface that supports a Mie resonance is demonstrated to perform near-infrared phase contrast and bright field multi-modal microscopy that can be tuned by changing the polarization of the illumination. We performed experiments using optical fields with phase variations synthesized by a spatial light modulator and introduced by propagation through semi-transparent samples, including C. elegans, unstained human prostate cancer cells and breast tissue. The results demonstrate the potential of metasurfaces for label-free point-of-care testing., Comment: Main text 18 pages, 5 main figures, Supplementary information 19 pages, 19 supplementary figures, 2 supplementary videos

Optical metasurfaces have been enabling reduced footprint and power consumption, as well as faster speeds, in the context of analog computing and image processing. While various image processing and optical computing functionalities have been recently demonstrated using metasurfaces, most of the considered devices are static and lack reconfigurability. Yet, the ability to dynamically reconfigure processing operations is key for metasurfaces to be able to compete with practical computing systems. Here, we demonstrate a passive edge-detection metasurface operating in the near-infrared regime whose image processing response can be drastically modified by temperature variations smaller than 10{\deg} C around a CMOS-compatible temperature of 65{\deg} C. Such reconfigurability is achieved by leveraging the insulator-to-metal phase transition of a thin buried layer of vanadium dioxide which, in turn, strongly alters the nonlocal response of the metasurface. Importantly, this reconfigurability is accompanied by performance metrics - such as high numerical aperture, high efficiency, isotropy, and polarization-independence - close to optimal, and it is combined with a simple geometry compatible with large-scale manufacturing. Our work paves the way to a new generation of ultra-compact, tunable, passive devices for all-optical computation, with potential applications in augmented reality, remote sensing and bio-medical imaging., Comment: Main text (18 pages, 5 figures), followed by high-resolution vector-graphic versions of the figures and by the Supplementary Information

Many image processing operations involve the modification of the spatial frequency content of images. Here we demonstrate object-plane spatial frequency filtering utilizing the angular sensitivity of a commercial spectral bandstop filter. This approach to all-optical image processing is shown to generate real-time pseudo-3D images of transparent biological and other samples, such as human cervical cancer cells. This work demonstrates the potential of non-local, non-interferometric approaches to image processing for uses in label-free biological cell imaging and dynamical monitoring., Comment: manuscript 14 pages, 5 figures, supplementary material 7 pages, 4 supplementary figures

The conversion of phase variations in an optical wavefield into intensity information is of fundamental importance for optical imaging technology including microscopy of biological cells. While conventional approaches to phase-imaging commonly rely on bulky optical components or computational post processing, meta-optical devices have recently demonstrated all-optical, ultracompact image processing methods. Here we describe a metasurface that exploits photonic spin-orbit coupling to create an asymmetric optical transfer function for real time phase-imaging. The effect of the asymmetry on transmission through the device is demonstrated experimentally with the generation of high contrast pseudo-3D intensity images of phase variations in an optical wavefield without the need for post-processing. This non-interferometric method has potential applications in biological live cell imaging and real-time wavefront sensing., Comment: manuscript 11 pages, supplement 7 pages

Spatial frequency filtering is a fundamental enabler of information processing methods in biological and technical imaging. Most filtering methods, however, require either bulky and expensive optical equipment or some degree of computational processing. Here we experimentally demonstrate on-chip, all-optical spatial frequency filtering using a thin-film perfect absorber structure. We give examples of edge enhancement in an amplitude image as well as conversion of a phase gradient in a wave field into an intensity modulation., Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures

Near-perfect absorbers (NPAs) efficiently absorb visible light with a layered nanostructure that is thinner than the diffusion lengths of photogenerated charge carriers. We overcame existing limitations in fabricating their nanoparticulate surface by depositing \textit{plasmene}, a tightly-packed two-dimensional lattice of metal nanoparticles formed through self-assembly. The plasmene NPAs absorb up to 98\% of incident visible light, with modelling showing the improvement on existing NPAs arises from the structural ordering of the plasmene. We also demonstrate control of NPAs' absorption profile through the use of anisotropic building blocks in plasmene. These property enhancements may broaden the application of NPAs to structural colour, sensing and photocatalysis.

When plasmonic nanoparticles are coupled with semiconductors, highly energetic hot carriers can be extracted from the metal-semiconductor interface for various applications in light energy conversion. Hot charge-carrier extraction upon plasmon decay using such an interface has been argued to occur after the formation of an intermediate electron population with a uniform momentum distribution. The efficiency of the charge separation process is thus discussed to be limited by this spatial homogeneity in certain plasmon-induced applications. Here we demonstrate using visible pump, near-infrared probe transient absorption spectroscopy that increases in the contact area between metal and semiconductor leads to an increase in the quantum yield for hot electron injection that is inconsistent with the homogeneous energy-momentum distribution of hot-electrons. Instead, further analysis of the experimental data suggests that the highly energetic electrons are emitted across the interface via a surface charge emission mechanism that occurs via a plasmon excitation

We consider periodic arrangements of metal nanostructures and study the effect of periodicity on the localised surface plasmon resonance of the structures within an electrostatic eigenmode approximation. We show that within this limit, the collective surface plasmon resonances of the periodic structures can be expressed in terms of superpositions of the eigenmodes of uncoupled nanostructures that exhibit a standing--wave character delocalised across the entire periodic structure. The formalism derived successfully enables the design and accounts for the observation of plasmonic edge-states in periodic structures.

Here we report a method for visualization of volumetric structural information of live biological samples with no exogenous contrast agents. The process is made possible through a technique that involves generation, synthesis and analysis of three-dimensional (3D) Fourier components of light diffracted by the sample. This leads to the direct recovery of quantitative cellular morphology with no iterative procedures for reduced computational complexity. Combing with the fact that the technique is easily adaptive to any imaging platform and requires minimum sample preparation, our proposed method is particularly promising for observing fast, volumetric and dynamic events previously only accessible through staining methods., Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures

Hot charge carrier extraction from metallic nanostructures is a very promising approach for applications in photo-catalysis, photovoltaics and photodetection. One limitation is that many metallic nanostructures support a single plasmon resonance thus restricting the light-to-charge-carrier activity to a spectral band. Here we demonstrate that a monolayer of plasmonic nanoparticles can be assembled on a multi-stack layered configuration to achieve broad-band, near-unit light absorption, which is spatially localised on the nanoparticle layer. We show that this enhanced light absorbance leads to $\sim$ 40-fold increases in the photon-to-electron conversion efficiency by the plasmonic nanostructures. We developed a model that successfully captures the essential physics of the plasmonic hot-electron charge generation and separation in these structures. This model also allowed us to establish that efficient hot carrier extraction is limited to spectral regions where the photons possessing energies higher than the Schottky junctions and the localised light absorption of the metal nanoparticles overlap., Comment: submitted

Reversible exchange of photons between a material and an optical cavity can lead to the formation of hybrid light--matter states where material properties such as the work function\cite{Hutchison_AM2013a}, chemical reactivity\cite{Hutchison_ACIE2012a}, ultra--fast energy relaxation \cite{Salomon_ACIE2009a,Gomez_TJOPCB2012a} and electrical conductivity\cite{Orgiu_NM2015a} of matter differ significantly to those of the same material in the absence of strong interactions with the electromagnetic fields. Here we show that strong light--matter coupling between confined photons on a semiconductor waveguide and localised plasmon resonances on metal nanowires modifies the efficiency of the photo--induced charge--transfer rate of plasmonic derived (hot) electrons into accepting states in the semiconductor material. Ultra--fast spectroscopy measurements reveal a strong correlation between the amplitude of the transient signals, attributed to electrons residing in the semiconductor, and the hybridization of waveguide and plasmon excitations., Comment: submitted for publication

We have used the classical Hall effect to electrically characterize Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) films grown by two different techniques on silica substrates. ITO films have the unique property that they can be both electrically conducting (and to be used for a gate electrode for example) as well as optically transparent (at least in the visible part of the spectrum). In the near infrared (NIR) the transmission typically reduces. However, the light absorption can in principle be compensated by growing thinner films., Comment: 2 pages Optoelectronic and Microelectronic Materials & Devices (COMMAD), 2014 Conference

The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether the nature of leadership in Ohio Title I Schoolwide Project Schools that were deemed effective by the U.S. Department of Education differed from leadership in those Ohio Title I Schoolwide Project schools that were considered ineffective. The specific focus was to determine whether effective and ineffective schools differed with respect to the extent to which principals and the schools as a whole evidenced a bifocal, symbolic, technical, or unfocused leadership orientation. The Principal Behavior Inventory (PBI), developed to elicit principals' perceptions of their leadership styles, and the PBI-T, designed to measure teachers' perceptions of the same variables, were administered to 70 principals and 40 teachers respectively to determine construct validity. Four schools were selected from the entire sample for the district, and the principals and three teachers from each school completed the instruments. Two had bifocal (balanced between symbolic and technical leadership) principals, according to the PBI and PBI-T, and two had unfocused principals. The four schools are described in detail. In the effective school headed by a bifocal principal, both the principal and the teachers showed a bifocal orientation and worked together for technical and symbolic dimensions of their work. In the effective school with an unfocused principal, the school as a whole was bifocal, and leadership was diffused. In the ineffective school headed by a bifocal principal, the school was characterized by confusion and mistrust stemming from its previous administration. The ineffective school with the unfocused principal demonstrated an overall unfocused leadership orientation. Overall, findings show that both of the effective schools evidenced a bifocal schoolwide leadership orientation and both of the ineffective schools evidenced an unfocused schoolwide leadership orientation. Appendixes contain the principal and teacher interview protocols. (Contains 9 tables and 27 references.) (SLD)