Phys.org October 16, 2024 Quantum metrology takes advantage of quantum correlations to enhance the sensitivity of sensors and measurement techniques beyond their fundamental classical limit. The use of both temporal and spatial correlations present in quantum states of light can extend quantum-enhanced sensing to a parallel configuration that can simultaneously probe an array of sensors or independently measure multiple parameters. Researchers at the University of Oklahoma used multispatial-mode bright twin beams of light to probe a four-sensor quadrant plasmonic array. They showed that it is possible to independently and simultaneously measure local changes in refractive index for all four sensors […]
Tag Archives: Plasmonics
Light-induced shape shifting of MXenes
Phys.org September 1, 2021 MXenes are two-dimensional sheets of transition metal carbides or nitrides in the form of few-atom-thick single layers. An international team of researchers (Germany, Switzerland) has found a new way to enhance the properties of MXenes by shining fast light pulses on them. Using ultrafast electron microscopy with atomic spatial resolution they showed that the laser energy transfers to the atomic lattice in a record-breaking time of merely 230 femtoseconds. They also found that femtosecond laser light can be used to switch back and forth between the originally flat surface structure of the MXene and a nano-wave […]
Capturing Free-Space Optical Light for High-Speed WiFi
Duke University February 9, 2021 Visible and infrared light can carry more data than radio waves, but has always been confined to a hard-wired, fiber-optic cable. A team of researchers in the US (Duke University, industry) has demonstrated a low-loss plasmonic metasurface that can collect fast-modulated light with a 3 dB bandwidth exceeding 14 GHz and a 120º acceptance angle and convert it to a directional source with an overall efficiency of ∼30%. This exhibits a 910-fold increase in the overall fluorescence and a 133-fold emission rate enhancement. The metasurface was created over macroscopic areas with scalable techniques and the […]
Experiment takes ‘snapshots’ of light, stops light, uses light to change properties of matter
Phys.org December 23, 2020 An international team of researchers (USA – University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Japan, Taiwan) trapped surface plasmon polaritons of green light and imaged their propagation on a silver surface at the speed of light so that the light waves came together from two sides to form a light vortex. They took electron microscope images of the emitted electrons to make a snapshot. The light vortex fields can potentially cause transitions in the quantum mechanical phase order in solid state materials, such that the transformed material structure and its mirror image cannot be superimposed. In other words, the […]
Watching electrons harvest light at the nanoscale
Nanowerk August 17, 2020 Plasmon-enabled light-harvesting technologies require a better understanding of their fundamental operating principles and current limitations. An international team of researchers (USA – Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Germany) investigated photoinduced electron transfer in a plasmonic model system composed of gold nanoparticles attached to a nanoporous film of TiO2. Using time-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy the researchers were able to count the numbers of transferred electrons. They found that only one in 1,000 photons generates an electron-hole pair and it takes less than a billionth of a second for the electron to come back from the titanium dioxide and […]