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AbstractThe coupling between light and collective oscillations of free carriers at metallic surfaces and nanostructures is at the origin of one of the main fields of nanophotonics: plasmonics. The potential applications offered by plasmonics range from biosensing to solar cell technologies and from nonlinear optics at the nanoscale to light harvesting and extraction in nanophotonic devices. Heavily doped semiconductors are particularly appealing for the infrared spectral window due to their compatibility with microelectronic technologies, which paves the way toward their integration in low-cost, mass-fabricated devices. In addition, their plasma frequency can be tuned chemically, optically, or electrically over a broad spectral range. This review covers the optical properties of the heavily doped conventional semiconductors such as Ge, Si, or III–V alloys and how they can be successfully employed in plasmonics. The modeling of their specific optical properties and the technological processes to realize nanoantennas, slits, or metasurfaces are presented. We also provide an overview of the applications of this young field of research, mainly focusing on biosensing and active devices, among the most recent developments in semiconductor plasmonics. Finally, an outlook of further research directions and the potential technological transfer is presented.

Light-matter interaction at the atomic scale rules fundamental phenomena such as photoemission and lasing while enabling basic everyday technologies, including photovoltaics and optical communications. In this context, plasmons, the collective electron oscillations in conducting materials, are important because they allow the manipulation of optical fields at the nanoscale. The advent of graphene and other two-dimensional crystals has pushed plasmons down to genuinely atomic dimensions, displaying appealing properties such as a large electrical tunability. However, plasmons in these materials are either too broad or lying at low frequencies, well below the technologically relevant near-infrared regime ; This work has been supported inpart by ERC (Advanced Grant 789104-eNANO), the SpanishMINECO (grant nos. MAT2017-88492-R, SEV2015-0522,PCIN-2015-155, and MAT2016-78293-C6-6-R), the CatalanCERCA Program, the Basque Government (grant no. IT-1255-19), FundacióPrivada Cellex, and the U.S. NationalScience Foundation CAREER Award (grant no. 1552461). ; Postprint (published version)

In recent decades, both academia and industry have shown noteworthy interest in investigating the semiconducting properties of graphene. Nevertheless, the lack of a suitable bandgap in graphene has restricted its practical applications in the current semiconductor industry. To overcome this limitation, graphene micro/nano-strips have been actively explored. The focus of the present study centers on modeling the electronic and plasmonic characteristics of graphene strips with varying widths: 2.7, 100, 135 nm, and 4 m. This analysis is conducted at ultralow energies (0.3 eV, or ~73 THz). We employ conventional density functional computations to estimate the Fermi velocity of graphene, refining the results via the GW approximation. Utilizing the accurate Fermi velocity, we employ a semi-analytical model to explore the ground state and plasmon properties (frequency and dispersion) of these graphene strips. Notably, this approach effectively replicates the density of states observed in narrow experimental graphene nano-strips (2.7 nm) grown on Ge(001) and, similarly, reproduces the plasmon spectrum found in synthesized graphene microstrips (4 μm) on Si/SiO2. Interestingly, our study also offers insights into the potential application of this approach in comprehending the plasmon frequency and plasmon dispersion of graphene nano-strips (~135 nm) acquired through liquid-phase exfoliation. The outcomes of this investigation present compelling evidence that the properties of graphene-based strips can be customized to fulfill specific requirements and applications. These findings hold significant promise for advancing graphene-based technologies, bridging the gap between fundamental research and tangible applications. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2023-07-05-01 Full Text: PDF

Light-matter interaction in plasmonic nanostructures is often treated within the realm of classical optics. However, recent experimental findings show the need to go beyond the classical models to explain and predict the plasmonic response at the nanoscale. A prototypical system is a nanoparticle dimer, extensively studied using both classical and quantum prescriptions. However, only very recently, fully ab initio time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) calculations of the optical response of these dimers have been carried out. Here, we review the recent work on the impact of the atomic structure on the optical properties of such systems. We show that TDDFT can be an invaluable tool to simulate the time evolution of plasmonic modes, providing fundamental understanding into the underlying microscopical mechanisms. ; We thankfully acknowledge the financial support by the European Research Council (ERC-2010-AdG Proposal No. 267374 and ERC-2011-AdG Proposal No. 290891), the Spanish Government (grants MAT2011-28581-C02-01, FIS2013-46159-C3-1-P, and MAT2014-53432-C5-5-R), the Basque Country Government (Grupos Consolidados IT-578-13), and COST Action MP1306 (EUSpec)]. PGG, JF, and FJGV acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, through the "María de Maeztu" Programme for Units of Excellence in R&D (MDM-2014-0377). ; Peer reviewed

Optical methods are driving a revolution in neuroscience. Ignited by optogenetic techniques, a set of strategies has emerged to control and monitor neural activity in deep brain regions using implantable photonic probes. A yet unexplored technological leap is exploiting nanoscale light-matter interactions for enhanced bio-sensing, beam-manipulation and opto-thermal heat delivery in the brain. To bridge this gap, we got inspired by the brain cells' scale to propose a nano-patterned tapered-fiber neural implant featuring highly-curved plasmonic structures (30 μm radius of curvature, sub-50 nm gaps). We describe the nanofabrication process of the probes and characterize their optical properties. We suggest a theoretical framework using the interaction between the guided modes and plasmonic structures to engineer the electric field enhancement at arbitrary depths along the implant, in the visible/near-infrared range. We show that our probes can control the spectral and angular patterns of optical transmission, enhancing the angular emission and collection range beyond the reach of existing optical neural interfaces. Finally, we evaluate the application as fluorescence and Raman probes, with wave-vector selectivity, for multimodal neural applications. We believe our work represents a first step towards a new class of versatile nano-optical neural implants for brain research in health and disease. ; M.D.V., M.G., and Fe.P. jointly supervised and are co-last authors in this work. Fi.P., A.B., and Fe.P. acknowledge funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under Grant Agreement No. 677683. F.D.A., L.M.d.l.P., M.V., M.D.V., and Fe.P. acknowledge funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under Grant Agreement No. 828972. Fi.P., M.D.V., and Fe.P. acknowledge that this project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under Grant Agreement No. 101016787. M.P., Fe.P., ...

Nanoscale devices in which the interaction with light can be configured using external control signals hold great interest for next-generation optoelectronic circuits. Materials exhibiting a structural or electronic phase transition offer a large modulation contrast with multi-level optical switching and memory functionalities. In addition, plasmonic nanoantennas can provide an efficient enhancement mechanism for both the optically induced excitation and the readout of materials strategically positioned in their local environment. Here, we demonstrate picosecond all-optical switching of the local phase transition in plasmonic antenna-vanadium dioxide (VO2) hybrids, exploiting strong resonant field enhancement and selective optical pumping in plasmonic hotspots. Polarization- and wavelength-dependent pump–probe spectroscopy of multifrequency crossed antenna arrays shows that nanoscale optical switching in plasmonic hotspots does not affect neighboring antennas placed within 100 nm of the excited antennas. The antenna-assisted pumping mechanism is confirmed by numerical model calculations of the resonant, antenna-mediated local heating on a picosecond time scale. The hybrid, nanoscale excitation mechanism results in 20 times reduced switching energies and 5 times faster recovery times than a VO2 film without antennas, enabling fully reversible switching at over two million cycles per second and at local switching energies in the picojoule range. The hybrid solution of antennas and VO2 provides a conceptual framework to merge the field localization and phase-transition response, enabling precise, nanoscale optical memory functionalities. ; This work was financially supported by EPSRC through research grant EP/J011797/1. OLM acknowledges support through an EPSRC Early Career Fellowship EP/J016918/1. LB, NZ and JA acknowledge financial support from Project No. FIS2013-41184-P of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, project ETORTEK IE14-393 NANOGUNE'14 of the Department of Industry of the Government of the Basque Country, and support from the Basque Department of Education and the UPV-EHU (Grant No. IT-756-13). ; Peer reviewed

Luminescent molecules attached to resonant colloidal particles are an important tool to study light-matter interaction. A traditional approach to enhance the photoluminescence intensity of the luminescent molecules in such conjugates is to incorporate spacer-coated plasmonic nanoantennas, where the spacer prevents intense non-radiative decay of the luminescent molecules. Here, we explore the capabilities of an alternative platform for photoluminescence enhancement, which is based on low-loss Mie-resonant colloidal silicon particles. We demonstrate that resonant silicon particles of spherical shape are more efficient for photoluminescence enhancement than their plasmonic counterparts in spacer-free configuration. Our theoretical calculations show that significant enhancement originates from larger quantum yields supported by silicon particles and their resonant features. Our results prove the potential of high-index dielectric particles for spacer-free enhancement of photoluminescence, which potentially could be a future platform for bioimaging and nanolasers. ; Russian Science Foundation 17-19-01637 ; Ministry of Education 14.Y26.31.0010 ; Science of Russian Federation 14.Y26.31.0010 ; Junta de Andalucía 267226 ; European Union 267226 ; German Research Society 794/28-1

UPNa. Departamento de Ingeniería Eléctrica y Electrónica. Laboratorio de fotónica TERALAB ; We present a mid-infrared inductor that when applied to an extraordinary transmission hole array produces a strong redshift of the resonant peak accompanied by an unprecedented enlargement of the operation bandwidth. The importance of the result is twofold: from a fundamental viewpoint, the direct applicability of equivalent circuit concepts borrowed from microwaves is demonstrated, in frequencies as high as 17â€.THz upholding unification of plasmonics and microwave concepts and allowing for a simplification of structure design and analysis; in practical terms, a broadband funnelling ofinfrared radiation with fractional bandwidth and efficiency as high as 97% and 48%, respectively, is achieved through an area less than one hundredth the squared wavelength, which leads to an impressive accessible strong field localization that may be of great interest in sensing applications. ; Effort sponsored by Spanish Government under contracts Consolider EngineeringMetamaterials CSD2008-00066, TEC2011-28664-C01 and TEC2011-28664-C02. V.T. acknowledges funding from Universidad Pública de Navarra. P.R.-U. is sponsored by the Government of Navarra under funding program Formación de tecnólogos 055/01/11. M.N.-C. is supported by the Imperial College Junior Research Fellowship. M.B. acknowledges funding by the Spanish Government under the research contract program Ramón y Cajal RYC-2011-08221.

Plasmonic cavities can confine electromagnetic radiation to deep sub-wavelength regimes. This facilitates strong coupling phenomena to be observed at the limit of individual quantum emitters. Here, we report an extensive set of measurements of plasmonic cavities hosting one to a few semiconductor quantum dots. Scattering spectra show Rabi splitting, demonstrating that these devices are close to the strong coupling regime. Using Hanbury Brown and Twiss interferometry, we observe non-classical emission, allowing us to directly determine the number of emitters in each device. Surprising features in photoluminescence spectra point to the contribution of multiple excited states. Using model simulations based on an extended Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian, we find that the involvement of a dark state of the quantum dots explains the experimental findings. The coupling of quantum emitters to plasmonic cavities thus exposes complex relaxation pathways and emerges as an unconventional means to control dynamics of quantum states. ; S.N.G. thanks the Government of Israel for a Planning and Budgeting Committee Fellowship. G.H. is the incumbent of the Hilda Pomeraniec Memorial Professorial Chair. R.E., T.N. and J.A. acknowledge funding from projects FIS2016-80174-P and PID2019-107432GB-I00 of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities MICINN, as well as funding from grant IT1164-19 for consolidated groups of the Basque University, through the Department of Universities of the Basque Government. This project received partial support from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 861950, project POSEIDON, and grant agreement no. 810626, project SINNCE. We thank Garnett W. Bryant and Peter Nordlander for stimulating discussions.

6 páginas, 5 figuras.-- El pdf del artículo es la versión pre-print.-- et al. ; We propose and explore theoretically a new concept of ultrafast optical switches based on nonlinear plasmonic nanoantennas. The antenna nanoswitch operates on the transition from the capacitive to conductive coupling regimes between two closely spaced metal nanorods. By filling the antenna gap with amorphous silicon, progressive antenna-gap loading is achieved due to variations in the free-carrier density in the semiconductor. Strong modification of the antenna response is observed both in the far-field response and in the local near-field intensity. The large modulation depth, low switching threshold, and potentially ultrafast time response of antenna switches holds promise for applications ranging from integrated nanophotonic circuits to quantum information devices. ; O.L.M. acknowledges support from EPSRC through Grant EP/H019669/1 and from HEFCE through a lectureship funded by SEPnet. M.A. is supported by HEFCE though a PhD studentship funded by SEPnet. J.A. acknowledges funding from the ETORTEK project inanoGUNE from the Basque Government and project FIS2007-66711-C01-01 of the Spanish Ministry of Innovation and Science. ; Peer reviewed

We developed a nanostructure to enhance the photoluminescence intensity of two-dimensional monolayers of transition metal dichalcogenides based on plasmonic supercrystal arrays. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 840064

We developed a nanostructure to enhance the photoluminescence intensity of two-dimensional monolayers of transition metal dichalcogenides based on plasmonic supercrystal arrays. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 840064

This Accepted Manuscript is available for reuse under a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 licence after the 12 month embargo period provided that all the terms of the licence are adhered to ; The effect of the oxidation of gallium nanoparticles (Ga NPs) on their plasmonic properties is investigated. Discrete dipole approximation has been used to study the wavelength of the out-of-plane localized surface plasmon resonance in hemispherical Ga NPs, deposited on silicon substrates, with oxide shell (Ga2O3) of different thickness. Thermal oxidation treatments, varying temperature and time, were carried out in order to increase experimentally the Ga2O3 shell thickness in the NPs. The optical, structural and chemical properties of the oxidized NPs have been studied by spectroscopic ellipsometry, scanning electron microscopy, grazing incidence x-ray diffraction and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. A clear redshift of the peak wavelength is observed, barely affecting the intensity of the plasmon resonance. A controllable increase of the Ga2O3 thickness as a consequence of the thermal annealing is achieved. In addition, simulations together with ellipsometry results have been used to determine the oxidation rate, whose kinetics is governed by a logarithmic dependence. These results support the tunable properties of the plasmon resonance wavelength in Ga NPs by thermal oxidation at low temperatures without significant reduction of the plasmon resonance intensity ; This research is supported by the MINECO (CTQ2014-53334-C2-2-R and MAT2016-80394-R) and Comunidad de Madrid (NANOAVANSENS ref. S2013/MIT-3029) projects. ARC acknowledges Ramón y Cajal program (under contract number RYC-2015-18047). FN acknowledges support from Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 641899 from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme