No abstract

Plasmonic waveguides can guide light along metal-dielectric interfaces with propagating wave vectors of greater magnitude than are available in free space and hence with propagating wavelengths shorter than those in vacuum. This is a necessary, rather than sufficient, condition for subwavelength confinement of the optical mode. By use of the reflection pole method, the two-dimensional modal solutions for single planar waveguides as well as adjacent waveguide systems are solved. We demonstrate that, to achieve subwavelength pitches, a metal-insulator-metal geometry is required with higher confinement factors and smaller spatial extent than conventional insulator-metal-insulator structures. The resulting trade-off between propagation and confinement for surface plasmons is discussed, and optimization by materials selection is described.

In nanomaterials, optical anisotropies reveal a fundamental relationship between structural and optical properties. Directional optical properties can be exploited to enhance the performance of optoelectronic devices, optomechanical actuators and metamaterials. In layered materials, optical anisotropies may result from in-plane and out-of-plane dipoles associated with intra- and interlayer excitations, respectively. Here, we resolve the orientation of luminescent excitons and isolate photoluminescence signatures arising from distinct intra- and interlayer optical transitions. Combining analytical calculations with energy- and momentum-resolved spectroscopy, we distinguish between in-plane and out-of-plane oriented excitons in materials with weak or strong interlayer coupling-MoS₂ and 3,4,9,10-perylene tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA), respectively. We demonstrate that photoluminescence from MoS₂ mono-, bi- and trilayers originates solely from in-plane excitons, whereas PTCDA supports distinct in-plane and out-of-plane exciton species with different spectra, dipole strengths and temporal dynamics. The insights provided by this work are important for understanding fundamental excitonic properties in nanomaterials and designing optical systems that efficiently excite and collect light from exciton species with different orientations.

Tremendous advances in the study of magnetic light-matter interactions have recently been achieved using man-made nanostructures that exhibit and exploit an optical magnetic response. However, naturally occurring emitters can also exhibit magnetic resonances in the form of optical-frequency magnetic-dipole transitions. Here we quantify the magnetic nature of light emission using energy-and momentum-resolved spectroscopy, and leverage a pair of spectrally close electric-and magnetic-dipole transitions in trivalent europium to probe vacuum fluctuations in the electric and magnetic fields at the nanometre scale. These results reveal a new tool for nano-optics: an atomic-size quantum emitter that interacts with the magnetic component of light.

Lead-free double perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) have emerged as a new category of materials that hold the potential for overcoming the instability and toxicity issues of lead-based counterparts. Doping chemistry represents a unique avenue toward tuning and optimizing the intrinsic optical and electronic properties of semiconductor materials. In this study, we report the first example of doping Yb 3+ ions into lead-free double perovskite Cs 2 AgBiX 6 (X = Cl − , Br − ) NCs via a hot injection method. The doping of Yb 3+ endows the double perovskite NCs with a newly emerged near-infrared emission band (sensitized from the NC hosts) in addition to their intrinsic trap-related visible photoluminescence. By controlling the Yb-doping concentration, the dual emission profiles and photon relaxation dynamics of the double perovskite NCs can be systematically tuned. Furthermore, we have successfully inserted divalent Mn 2+ ions in Cs 2 AgBiCl 6 NCs and observed emergence of dopant emission. Our work illustrates an effective and facile route toward modifying and optimizing optical properties of double perovskite Cs 2 AgBiX 6 (X = Cl − , Br − ) NCs with an indirect bandgap nature, which can broaden a range of their potential applications in optoelectronic devices.

Given growing interest in optical-frequency magnetic dipole transitions, we use intermediate coupling calculations to identify strong magnetic dipole emission lines that are well suited for experimental study. The energy levels for all trivalent lanthanide ions in the 4f n configuration are calculated using a detailed free ion Hamiltonian, including electrostatic and spin-orbit terms as well as two-body, three-body, spin-spin, spin-other-orbit, and electrostatically correlated spin-orbit interactions. These free ion energy levels and eigenstates are then used to calculate the oscillator strengths for all ground-state magnetic dipole absorption lines and the spontaneous emission rates for all magnetic dipole emission lines including transitions between excited states. A large number of strong magnetic dipole transitions are predicted throughout the visible and near-infrared spectrum, including many at longer wavelengths that would be ideal for experimental investigation of magnetic light-matter interactions with optical metamaterials and plasmonic antennas.

Silicon carbide particles exhibit both electric and magnetic optical resonances, allowing unexplored dielectric metamaterial designs. Experimental extinction spectra and Mie theory calculations of single microscale rod-shaped particles reveal three observable midinfrared resonant modes. Two of the modes are degenerate, with a frequency that can be tuned according to a resonance condition derived within the Letter. The existence of both electric and magnetic resonances may enable a novel negative refractive index metamaterial design.

We demonstrate that magnetic dipole transitions provide an additional degree of freedom for engineering emission spectra. Without the need for a high-quality optical cavity, we show how a simple gold mirror can strongly tune the emission of trivalent europium. We exploit the differing field symmetries of electric and magnetic dipoles to selectively direct the majority of emission through each of three major transitions (centered at 590, 620, and 700 nm), and present a model that accurately predicts this tuning from the local electric and magnetic density of optical states.