Metallic nanostructures such as nanoparticles, nanowires and nanoapertures exhibit extraordinary optical properties in absorption, scattering and transmission of electromagnetic radiation due to the excitation of surface plasmons. This allows them to provide applications in converting photon energy to other forms of energy such as heat, mechanical work and electricity in a more efficient or controlled manner. When incorporated into an amorphous silicon thin film solar cell, nanoparticles were found to substantially increase the light absorption in the photoactive layer within certain wavelength range. The mechanism of this optical absorption was studied using three-dimensional finite element method. It was found that intensified Fabry-Perot resonance in the active layer due to the addition of the nanostructures and enhanced light scattering by the plasmonic nanostructures were both responsible for this phenomenon. Interestingly, higher absorption only occurs at wavelength range outside the surface plasmons resonance of the nanostructures. A further study on the absorption of the nanoparticles themselves revealed that enhanced near field associated with the SP resonance of particles causes extraordinary energy dissipation in the particles, resulting in decreased light scattering. Strong power dissipation accompanied with the surface plasmons resonance becomes desirable when nanostructures are used as heat generator. Using the new technique of three-dimensional localization of the metallic nanoparticles on polymer microstructures, wavelength dependent controlling of a light-driven microactuator was achieved by selectively coating it with nanoparticles of different materials. Another important plasmonic nanostructure is the subwavelength hole arrays perforated on a metal film. The optical transmission through these nanometer scaled apertures whose dimensions are smaller than the wavelength of the incident light can be several orders of magnitude larger than expected. Based on this property, a novel tandem solar cell structure was proposed. A metal film perforated with periodic subwavelength hole arrays was inserted in a tandem solar cell as a light transmittable intermediate common electrode for the top and the bottom cell. The perforated electrode removes the current matching restriction in conventional tandem cells and allows active materials with different energy conversion and charge transport mechanisms to be combined in the same device. If used in a multi-junction solar cell, the new design can also save the power loss across the tunnel junction. The perforated intermediate electrode was modeled and its optical performance in the tandem solar cell was investigated. / text

Sweden's drinking water quality is considered to be high partly due to a high quality of the raw water and a well developed sewage infrastructure. Despite this, there is water contamination that could be prevented by installation of a sophisticated early warning system. Some of the major players in the production of drinking water have already invested in different types of early warning systems to ensure drinking water of high quality. There are various forms of early warning systems where automatic monitoring of E. Coli is an interesting alternative. Today's technology allows for this type of measurement, but it is often expensive and sometimes slow. This work aims to investigate whether the phenomenon of Extraordinary Optical Transmission (EOT) can be used as the technology of sensors for real-time measurement of indicators of fecal contaminated water. EOT is a transmissions peak which arises due to plasmon resonance. The study was conducted by performing verification measurements by spectrophotometry to detect the EOT. After this biomeasurements where done to show that the surface of the sample can be functionalized to provide the opportunity to choose which analytes should be detected. The verifying measurements showed that EOT was detected for one of the five samples where the hole size was 400 nm and the hole spacing was 600 nm. This is due to the high signal strength and to the fact that the phenomenon occurred within the measurement range of the instruments. Samples where designated with the name sPa where s indicates hole size in nm and a hole spacing in nm. The signal strength of the sample 140P600 and 200P600 was too low to determine whether EOT occurred. For samples 400P1000 and 600P1000 calculations showed that EOT occurred outside the measurement range, which meant that EOT could not be measured. Sample 400P600 was chosen to implement bio-measurements wherein the surface was functionalized with biotin Bovine serum albumin (B-BSA) to later bind with fluidMAG Streptavidin. Both B-BSA and streptavidin was bound as shown by the kinetic measurements.

The study of optical phenomena related to the strong electromagnetic response of noble metals (silver (Ag) and gold (Au) being most popular) over the last couple of decades has led to the emergence of a fast growing research area called plasmonics named after 'surface plasmons' which are electron density waves that propagate along the interface of a metal and a dielectric medium. Surface plasmons are formed by the coupling of light to the electrons on the metal surface subject to the fulfillment of certain physical conditions and they are bound to the metal surface. Depending on whether the metallic medium is a continuous film or a structure having dimensions less than or comparable to the wavelength of the exciting light, propagating or localized surface plasmons can be excited. The structure can be either a hole or an arbitrary pattern in a metal film, or a metallic particle. An array of subwavelength structures can behave as an effective homogeneous medium to incident light and this is the basis of a new class of media known as metamaterials. Metallic metamaterials enable one to engineer the electromagnetic response to  incident light and provide unconventional optical properties like negative refractive index as one prominent example. Metamaterials exhibiting negative index (also called negative index materials (NIMs)) open the door for super resolution imaging  and development of invisibility cloaks. However, the only problem affecting the utilization of plasmonic media to their fullest potential is the intrinsic loss of the metal, and it becomes a major issue especially at visible-near infrared (NIR) frequencies. The frequency of the surface plasmon is the same as that of the exciting light but its wavelength could be as short as that of X-rays. This property allows light of a given optical frequency to be conned into very small volumes via subwave lengthmetallic structures, that can be used to develop ecient sensors, solar cells, antennas and ultrasensitive molecular detectors to name a few applications. Also, interaction of surface plasmons excited in two or more metallic subwavelength structures in close proximity inuences the far-eld optical properties of the overall coupled system. Some eects of plasmonic interaction in certain coupled particles include polarization conversion, optical activity and transmission spectra mimicking electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT) as observed in gas based atomicsy stems. In this thesis, we mainly focus on the optical properties of square arrays of certain plasmonic structures popularly researched in the last decade. The structures considered are as follows: (1) subwavelength holes of a composite hole-shape providing superior near-eld enhancement such as two intersecting circles (called' double hole') in an optically thick Au/Ag lm, (2) double layer shnets, (3) subwavelength U-shaped particles and (4) rectangular bars. The entire work is based on electromagnetic simulations using time and frequency domain methods. Au/Ag lms with periodic subwavelength holes provide extraordinarily high transmission of light at certain wavelengths much larger than the dimension of the perforations or holes. The spectral positions of the maxima depend on the shape of the hole and the intra-hole medium, thereby making such lms function as a refractive index sensor in the transmission mode. The sensing performance of the double-hole geometry is analyzed in detail and compared to rectangular holes. Fishnet metamaterials are highly preferred when it comes to constructing a NIM at optical frequencies. A shnet design that theoretically oers a negative refractive index with least losses at telecommunication wavelengths (1.4 1.5 microns) is presented. U-shaped subwavelength metallic particles, in particular single-slit split-ring resonators (SSRRs), provide a large negative response to the magnetic eld of light at a specic resonance frequency. The spectral positions of the structural resonances of the U-shaped particle can be found from its array far field transmission spectrum at normal incidence. An effort is made to clarify our understanding of these resonances with the help of localized surface plasmon modes excited in the overall particle. From an application point of view, it is found that a planar square array of SSRRs eectively functions as an optical half-wave waveplate at the main resonance frequency by creating a polarization in transmission that is orthogonal to that of incident light. A similar waveplate eect can be obtained purely by exploiting the near-eld interaction of dierently oriented neighbouring SSRRs. The physical reasons behind polarization conversion in dierent SSRR-array systems are discussed. A rectangular metallic bar having its dipolar resonance in the visible-NIR is called a nanoantenna, owing to its physical length in the order of nanometers. The excitation of localized surface plasmons, metal dispersion and the geometry of the rectangular nanoantenna make an analytical estimation of the physical length of the antenna from the desired dipolar resonance dicult. A practical map of simulated resonance values corresponding to a variation in geometrical parameters of Au bar is presented. A square array of a coupled plasmonic system comprising of three nanoantennas provides a net transmission response that mimicks the EIT effect. The high transmission spectral window possesses a peculiar dispersion profile that enables light with frequencies in that region to be slowed down. Two popular designs of such plasmonic EIT systems are numerically characterized and compared. / <p>QC 20121017</p>

Esta tesis trata sobre el fascinante fenómeno de la transmisión extraordinaria a través de láminas metálicas nonoestructuradas periódicamente con aperturas al corte. Un efecto relacionado con la excitación de un tipo de ondas superficiales como son los plasmones de superficie. Además, en aquellas estructuras formadas por el apilamiento de dos o más láminas metálicas se consiguen nuevas funcionalidades, como magnetismo artificial que da lugar a resonancias magnéticas y por tanto la posibilidad de obtener un índice de refracción negativo.Mediante un estudio teórico y numérico se ha comprobado que este tipo de respuesta magnética efectiva se debe a la excitación de resonancias plasmónicas internas en la estructura. Obteniéndose, bajo incidencia normal, un índice de refracción efectivo negativo en la dirección de propagación en el caso de que dichas resonancias se produzcan en zonas del espectro donde se obtenga la permitividad negativa, conectando el mundo de la plasmónica con el de los metamateriales. Uno de los principales objetivos en el diseño de metamateriales es obtener un índice de refracción negativo en un gran ancho de banda. Sin embargo, este objetivo suele ser complicado de conseguier al basar los diseños en fenómenos resonantes. Es por ello que en esta tesis se ha propuesto un diseño basado en el apilamiento de estructuras fishnet con diferentes grosores de dieléctrico para conseguir aumentar el ancho de banda en el cual se consigue un índice negativo. Básicamente, la obtención de tal efecto se basa en la excitación de resonancias plasmónicas a distintas frecuencias al estar formada la celda unidad por difentes grososres de dieléctrico. La hibridación que se produce entre dichas resonancias permite aumentar el ancho de banda con índice negativo. Aunque la transmisión extraordinaria esta principalmente relacionada con excitación de plasmones de superficie, los resultados mostrados en la tesis demuestran que para el caso de láminas metálicas rodeadas por dieléctricos también se consigue transmisión extraordinaria debido a la adaptación de la luz incidente a los modos soportados por los medios dieléctricos siempre y cuando el metal se encuentre estructurado periódicamente. / Ortuño Molinero, R. (2012). Extraordinary Transmission Filtering Structures based on Plasmonic Metamaterials [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/14639 / Palancia

A metallic hole array of a rectangular converging-diverging channel (RCDC) shape exhibits extraordinary transmission for wavelengths larger than the periodicity of the holes. We use a three-dimensional (3D) finite element method to analyze the transmission characteristics of two-dimensional metallic hole arrays (2D-MHA) with RCDC. For a straight channel MHA, when the aperture size is reduced, the transmission peaks have a blue-shift. The same result is observed for a smaller gap throat for the RCDC structure. For the rectangular holes with a high length-width ratio, a similar blue-shift in the transmission peaks as well as a narrower full width at half maximum (FWHM) are observed. The asymmetry from the rectangular shape gives this structure high selectivity for light with different polarizations. Furthermore, the RCDC shape gives extra degrees of geometrical variables to 2D-MHA for tuning the location of the transmission peak and the FWHM. Tunable extraordinary transmission via changing temperature of a porous metallic layer on top of a thin layer of dielectric strontium titanate (STO) is then studied. The metallic layer has a through-hole array and each hole has a circular converging-diverging channel (CDC) shape, which induces the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) and then results in a controllable extraordinary optical transmission in the terahertz (THz) frequency range. We use a three-dimensional (3D) finite element method to analyze the transmission characteristics of the structure. Location and magnitude of the transmission peaks can be adjusted by the hole size, converging angle, and thicknesses of metal and STO layers. Remarkably, the suggested structure presents a strong transmission dependency on temperature, which offers a new approach to actively and externally tune the transmission. Currently, the performances of thin film solar cells are limited by poor light absorption and carrier collection. In this research, large, broadband, and polarization-insensitive light absorption enhancement is realized via integrating with unique metallic nanogratings. Through simulation, three possible mechanisms are identified to be responsible for such an enormous enhancement. A test for totaling the absorption over the solar spectrum shows an up to ~30% broadband absorption enhancement when comparing to bare thin film cells. Overall performance of a thin film solar cell is determined by the efficiency of conversing photons to electrons that include light absorption, carrier generation and carrier collection processes. Photon management via hybrid designing has been emerging as a powerful means to further boost the conversion efficiency. Here a new nanograting solar cell design, which can be universal and a new solar cell platform technology, is proposed with goals to achieve large enhancement on broadband light absorption and carrier generation, most importantly, under the much reduced usage of active and non-earth-abundant materials. A test for the short circuit current density in CuIn[subscript x]Ga([subscript 1-x])Se₂ (CIGS) thin film solar cells shows an up to ~250% enhancement when comparing to the corresponding bare thin film cells. Besides that, by placing metal strips on top of the nanograting, which act as the top electrode, this design is able to reduce the use of non-earth-abundant materials such as indium that is normally used in both active and transparent conducting materials. / text

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