<p> Periodic arrays of Au patterns (dots and lines) were produced via electron beam lithography (EBL). GaAs mesas were produced by using the Au structures as a mask and wet etching the GaAs (lll)B substrates, leaving Au resting above GaAs pillars. Annealing experiments at typical nanowire growth temperatures (550°C) were performed on both mesa-supported samples and a control sample without mesas, and were later characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). From SEM images, a model is proposed to describe the evolution of the Au seed particle during exposure to typical growth conditions. The Au particle is subject to not only a melting process but is also modified by a volume increase due to incorporating Ga atoms and a subsequent crystal structure change. Palpable discrepancies between the mesa-supported and control samples were observed after annealing experiments, suggesting the mesas were effective in confining the migration of the Au. NW s were then grown via gas source molecular beam epitaxy (GS-MBE). Discemable variation amongst the results was evident when a comparison between annealed samples and the grown counterpart was made. The inconsistency is ascribed to the NW growth process beginning only after supersaturation at the growth interface. This saturation took place only after 2-D film growth on the substrate surpassed the height of the mesas rendering the structures less functional. </p> / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

This document presents the modelling and characterization of novel photonic devices based on periodic arrays of multiwalled carbon nanotubes. Multiwalled carbon nanotubes are mostly metallic in nature and interesting plasmonic effects are observed when nanotubes are grown close together, with spacing of about 400 nm. The effective electronic mass on the nanotubes changes, due to mutual coupling between them and they start displaying dielectric properties which are inherently different from the their own, forming metamaterials. We present a plasmonic high pass filtering application of carbon nanotube based metamaterials. Some promising modelling and experimental results are demonstrated showing a strong cut-off filtering effect at the plasma frequency displayed by the periodic arrays of multiwalled carbon nanotubes. The artificial negative dielectric constant displayed by the nanotube arrays was also successfully utilised for producing micron-scaled applications like optical waveguides and negative lenses for overcoming the diffraction limit. The fabrication of these optical devices using the arrays of silicon nanopillars was also considered. These arrays when fabricated at nano-scaled dimensions (of about 400 nm) present a greater degree of periodicity and require a simpler fabrication process compared to carbon nanotubes. We report the detailed computational analysis on silicon nanopillars based photonic crystals, waveguides and metamaterials which operate well within in the optical regime. However, due to the fabrication limitations, the fabricated Si nanopillars presented an inverted cone shape profile along their lengths. These inverted nanocone structures were successfully utilised for enhancing reflection from Si surfaces for applications in photovoltaic devices. Lastly we present a novel application of carbon nanotube arrays for producing micron-scale Fresnel lens arrays. Forests of carbon nanotubes were utilised as absorbing media on top of a bare silicon substrate. Optical diffraction of light across the nanotube forests produced strong focusing of light, at focal lengths of order 125 microns. Numerical simulations were in excellent agreement with the measured results.