Scientists uncover light absorbing properties of achiral materials

Phys.org  September 30, 2024 In chiral metasurfaces, the lack of symmetry leads to differential absorption when probed with chiral light either in the form of circular polarization or helical phase fronts. Researchers in Canada demonstrated differential absorption of asymmetric twisted light beams, known as helical dichroism, which exist in an array and a single achiral structure and could be controlled. When extended to chiral structures, these asymmetrical chiral light modes enabled enhancing and tuning chiroptical sensitivity. According to the researchers their technique offers more control parameters than just changing the OAM value. Selective response to asymmetric helical light beams was […]

Ultrafast plasmonics for all-optical switching and pulsed lasers

Phys.org   March 25, 2024 The recent developments in the fabrication and characterization of plasmonic nanostructures have stimulated continuous effects in the search for their potential applications in the photonic fields. In this review article an international team of researchers (India, USA – Vanderbilt University, San Diego State University, Canada) concentrated on the role of plasmonics in photonics, covering recent advances in ultrafast plasmonic materials with focus on all-optical switching. They discussed fundamental phenomena of plasmonic light–matter interaction and plasmon dynamics elaborating on the ultrafast processes unraveled by both experimental and theoretical methods, along with a comprehensive illustration of leveraging ultrafast […]

Nanoscale systems for generating various forms of light

Science Daily   August 30, 2021 Stimulated by experimental work in the possibility of preserving nonclassical correlations in light-matter interactions mediated by scattering of photons and plasmons, it has been assumed that similar dynamics underlie the conservation of the quantum fluctuations that define the nature of light sources. An international team of researchers (Usa – State University of Louisiana, University of Alabama, Mexico) demonstrated that the quantum statistics of multiparticle systems are not always preserved in plasmonic platforms and report the observation of their modification. They showed that optical near fields provide additional scattering paths that can induce complex multiparticle interactions. […]

Acoustic plasmons found in hole-doped cuprate superconductors

Phys.org  December 14, 2020 An international team of researchers (France, USA – University of Illinois, Stanford University, Binghamton University, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, University of Maryland, Italy, UK, Argentina, Japan) has confirmed the presence of acoustic plasmons in p-type cuprate superconductors and that they are primarily associated with the oxygen atoms. It seems that the collective charge excitations have strong preference in space, despite the fact that the charges associated with Cu and O atoms are strongly hybridized with each other. Understanding this may help us to clarify the ground state of the cuprate superconductors. This opens new opportunities to […]