Near-field focusing properties of zone plates are investigated in the visible regime by a 3-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method. It is shown that Frensel zone plates (FZPs) with metallic coatings can achieve subwavelength focusing in the visible wavelength. The characteristics of subwavelength focusing are found to be independent of the type of metal coatings used. All the FZPs exhibit similar shift in focal length and depth of focus when compared with classical calculations. These results indicate that plasmonic waves do not contribute to subwavelength focusing. Instead the subwavelength focusing characteristic is attributed to the interference of diffracted evanescent waves from a large numerical aperture. It is found that the near-field focusing of FZPs suppresses higher order foci such that the corresponding diffraction efficiency is improved. The use of phase zone plate structured on glass without opaque coating is proposed to improve the diffraction efficiency of subwavelength focusing.

An analytical model is developed to study the subwavelength focusing characteristics of a binary phase Fresnel zone plate (FZP). The model shows that high numerical-aperture phase FZP under the illumination of linear polarized light produces rotationally asymmetric focal spot with beamwidth varying from 0.36λ to 0.79λ, where λ is the wavelength. On the other hand, rotationally symmetric focal spot with minimum beamwidth of 0.39λ can be obtained from the illumination of radial polarized light.

In this paper, we demonstrate enhanced light trapping by self-organized nanoripples on the germanium surface. The enhanced light trapping leading to high absorption of light is confirmed by the experimental studies as well as the numerical simulations using the finite-difference time-domain method. We used gallium ion (Ga+) focused ion beam to enable the formation of the self-organized nanoripples on the germanium (100) surface. During the fabrication, the overlap of the scanning beam is varied from zero to negative value and found to influence the orientation of the nanoripples. Evolution of nanostructures with the variation of beam overlap is investigated. Parallel, perpendicular, and randomly aligned nanoripples with respect to the scanning direction are obtained via manipulation of the scanning beam overlap. 95% broadband absorptance is measured in the visible electromagnetic region for the nanorippled germanium surface. The reported light absorption enhancement can significantly improve the efficiency of germanium-silicon based photovoltaic systems.

Weaving nanostructures with site-specific ion induced bidirectional bending and a typical 3D folded nanostructure in the form of a mesh.

Characterization issues of plasmonic structures are highlighted and investigated in detail in this paper. Combining with the plasmonic structures functioning for sub-wavelength focusing, optical characterization was carried out using a near-field scanning optical microscope (NSOM) system. Characterization errors that originated from both the nanofabrication using a focused ion beam (FIB) direct milling technique and misalignment of the NSOM system were analyzed in comparison to the theoretical computational results. Our experimental results demonstrated that the focusing function of the structures is in agreement with that of the designed structure. However, the measured beam spot size is larger than the designed value due to the direct measurement error originating from the NSOM and the indirect error from the FIB fabrication process.

Color filtering via interaction of visible light with nanostructured surfaces offers high resolution printing of structural colors. A novel approach for color filtering in reflection mode via direct fabrication of subwavelength nanostructures on high‐index, low‐loss, and inexpensive silicon (Si) substrate is developed. Nanostructures having a unique geometry of tapered holes are fabricated exploiting the Gaussian nature of a gallium source focused ion beam (FIB). The fabrication process is rapid and single‐step, i.e., without any pre‐ or postprocessing or mask preparation in contrast to previously reported nanostructures for color filtering. These nanostructures are tunable via FIB parameters and a wide color palette is created. Finite‐difference time‐domain (FDTD) calculations reveal that the unique tapered nanohole geometry facilitates enhanced color purity via selective absorption of a narrow band of incident light wavelengths and makes it possible to obtain a wide variety of colors suitable for realistic color printing applications. The proposed approach is demonstrated for color printing applications via fabrication of butterflies and letters on Si.

Optical spectrometers have propelled scientific and technological advancements in a wide range of fields. While sophisticated systems with excellent performance metrics are serving well in controlled laboratory environments, many applications require systems that are portable, economical, and robust to optical misalignment. Here, we propose and demonstrate a spectrometer that uses a planar one-dimensional photonic crystal cavity as a dispersive element and a reconstructive computational algorithm to extract spectral information from spatial patterns. The simple fabrication and planar architecture of the photonic crystal cavity render our spectrometry platform economical and robust to optical misalignment. The reconstructive algorithm allows miniaturization and portability. The intensity transmitted by the photonic crystal cavity has a wavelength-dependent spatial profile. We generate the spatial transmittance function of the system using finite-difference time-domain method and also estimate the dispersion relation. The transmittance function serves as a transfer function in our reconstructive algorithm. We show accurate estimation of various kinds of input spectra. We also show that the spectral resolution of the system depends on the cavity linewidth that can be improved by increasing the number of periodic layers in distributed Bragg mirrors. Finally, we experimentally estimate the center wavelength and linewidth of the spectrum of an unknown light emitting diode. The estimated values are in good agreement with the values measured using a commercial spectrometer.

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