Nanophotonics:  Interactions, Materials, and Applications

Abstract

This article presents our comprehensive study in the new area of nanophotonics, which deals with optical processes at the nanoscale, much smaller than the wavelength of optical radiation. Nanoscale matter-radiation interactions, which include nanoscale confinement of radiation, nanoscale confinement of matter, and nanoscale photophysical or photochemical transformation, offer numerous opportunities for both fundamental research and technological applications. We present here selected examples of our studies in each of these areas. Nonlinear optical interactions involving nanoscale confinement of radiation are theoretically analyzed and experimentally probed using a near-field geometry. Nanoscale confined optical domains to control excitation dynamics and energy transfer and to produce photon localization are illustrated by examples of nanostructured rare-earth-doped glasses, multiphasic nanocomposites, and photonic band gap materials. One application of nanophotonics presented here is the utilization of spatially localized photochemistry using a near-field excitation for nanofabrication and nanoscale memory. The article concludes with a discussion of the future outlook for nanophotonics.

Shape-Controlled Synthesis and Surface Plasmonic Properties of Metallic Nanostructures

“…Furthermore, the enhancement of local field has also been used to amplify the weak signals from nonlinear optical processes such as second-harmonic generation (SHG). 28 It is expected that surfaceenhanced spectroscopy will play an important role in single-molecule detection.…”

Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles with antimicrobial and azo dye (Congo red) degradation properties using Amaranthus gangeticus Linn leaf extract

“…Over the past few years, synthesis of metal nanoparticles is one of the upcoming areas of research in the field of material science owing to their wide variety of applications in the field of catalysis (Kalidindi and Jadirdar 2012), photonics (Shen et al 2000), chemical and bio-sensing (Zayats et al 2003), medicine (Jotterand and Alexander 2011;Etheridge et al 2013) etc. Nano crystalline silver is well known for possessing an inhibitory effect towards many bacterial stains and microorganisms (Zhang et al 2012;Prabhu and Poulose 2012).…”

Effect of the CTAB concentration on the upconversion emission of ZrO2:Er3+ nanocrystals

“…In the last years, nanocrystalline phosphors have received great attention due to the changes of the optical properties as the size is reduced [1] and by their potential application for solid state lighting [2], displays [3] and biophotonics [4]. A wide range of nanocrystalline phosphors, both semiconductors and rare earth doped dielectrics, have been actively studied [5,6].…”