xiii, 133 p. ; ill. (some col.) A print copy of this title is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / We analyze the effect of geometry and surface morphology on the optical properties of metal-dielectric systems. Using both analytical and numerical modeling, we study how surface curvature affects the propagation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) along a metal-dielectric interface. We provide an intuitive explanation for how the curvature causes the phase front to distort, causing the SPPs to radiate their energy away from the metal-dielectric interface. We quantify the propagation efficiency as functions of the radius of curvature, and show that it depends nonmonotonically on the bend radius. We also show how the surface morphology influences the transmittance and the reflectance of light from disordered metal-dielectric nanocomposite films. The films consist of semicontinuous silver films of various surface coverage that are chemically deposited onto glass substrates. They exhibit a large and broadband reflection asymmetry in the visible spectral range. In order to investigate how the surface morphology affects the asymmetry, we anneal the samples at various temperatures to induce changes in the morphology, and observe changes in the reflection spectra. Our study indicates that the surface roughness and the metal surface coverage are the key geometric parameters affecting the reflection spectra, and reveals that the large asymmetry is due to the different surface roughness light encounters when incident from different side of the film. Additionally, we analyze how thin metal and dielectric layers affect the optical properties of metal-dielectric systems. Using the concept of dispersion engineering, we show that a metal-dielectric-metal microsphere--a metal sphere coated with a thin dielectric shell, followed by a metal shell--support a band of surface plasmon resonances (SPRs) with nearly identical frequencies. A large number of modes belonging to this band can be excited simultaneously by a plane wave, and hence enhancing the absorption cross-section. We also find that the enhanced absorption is accompanied by a plasmon assisted transparency due to an avoided crossing of dominant SPR bands. We demonstrate numerically that both the enhanced absorption and the plasmon assisted transparency are tunable over the entire visible range. We also present an experimental study of light scattering from silica spheres coated with thin semicontinuous silver shells, and attempt to describe their optical response using a modified scaling theory. This dissertation includes previously published co-authored materials. / Adviser: Miriam Deutsch

abstract: The thesis studies new methods to fabricate optoelectronic Ge1-ySny/Si(100) alloys and investigate their photoluminescence (PL) properties for possible applications in Si-based photonics including IR lasers. The work initially investigated the origin of the difference between the PL spectrum of bulk Ge, dominated by indirect gap emission, and the PL spectrum of Ge-on-Si films, dominated by direct gap emission. It was found that the difference is due to the supression of self-absorption effects in Ge films, combined with a deviation from quasi-equilibrium conditions in the conduction band of undoped films. The latter is confirmed by a model suggesting that the deviation is caused by the shorter recombination lifetime in the films relative to bulk Ge. The knowledge acquired from this work was then utilized to study the PL properties of n-type Ge1-ySny/Si (y=0.004-0.04) samples grown via chemical vapor deposition of Ge2H6/SnD4/P(GeH3)3. It was found that the emission intensity (I) of these samples is at least 10x stronger than observed in un-doped counterparts and that the Idir/Iind ratio of direct over indirect gap emission increases for high-Sn contents due to the reduced gamma-L valley separation, as expected. Next the PL investigation was expanded to samples with y=0.05-0.09 grown via a new method using the more reactive Ge3H8 in place of Ge2H6. Optical quality, 1-um thick Ge1-ySny/Si(100) layers were produced using Ge3H10/SnD4 and found to exhibit strong, tunable PL near the threshold of the direct-indirect bandgap crossover. A byproduct of this study was the development of an enhanced process to produce Ge3H8, Ge4H10, and Ge5H12 analogs for application in ultra-low temperature deposition of Group-IV semiconductors. The thesis also studies synthesis routes of an entirely new class of semiconductor compounds and alloys described by Si5-2y(III-V)y (III=Al, V= As, P) comprising of specifically designed diamond-like structures based on a Si parent lattice incorporating isolated III-V units. The common theme of the two thesis topics is the development of new mono-crystalline materials on ubiquitous silicon platforms with the objective of enhancing the optoelectronic performance of Si and Ge semiconductors, potentially leading to the design of next generation optical devices including lasers, detectors and solar cells. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Chemistry 2013

Orientador: Gustavo Silva Wiederhecker / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-23T23:27:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Luiz_GustavodeOliveira_M.pdf: 12840478 bytes, checksum: 50b184b19ca56624e14520e4331b112a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: A transferência de momento linear da luz para partículas foi teorizada no século XVII por Johanes Kepler e demonstrada pela primeira vez por Lebedev e, independentemente, por Nichols e Hull apenas em 1901. Em cavidades ópticas, como demonstrado por V. Braginsky, essa interação pode dar origem a diversos fenômenos interessantes. No ano de 2005 Tal Carmon demonstra alguns destes efeitos em cavidades microfabricadas. Nesta dissertação são apresentados os resultados de estudos sobre as microcavidades optomecânicas de disco duplo de nitreto de silício. Dentre estes estão medidas de ruído térmico de uma cavidade optomecânica deste tipo; a demonstração teórica de que deve ser possível operar tais cavidades no regime de banda lateral resolvida, usando modos mecânicos de ordem superior; a otimização do processo de fabricação destas cavidades, culminando em cavidades com fatores de qualidade mecânico, em vácuo e a temperatura ambiente, em torno de 10000 / Abstract: Momentum transfer from light to particles was theorized in the XVII century byJohanes Kepler and experimentally demonstrated for the first time by Lebedev and, independently, by Nichols and Hull only in 1901. In optical cavities, as shown by V. Braginsky, this interaction may result in many interesting phenomena. In 2005 Tal Carmon demonstrated some of these effects in microfabricated cavities. In this thesis the results of studies on silicon nitride double-disk optomechanical microcavities are presented. Among these results are the theoretical demonstration that it is possible to drive such devices in the resolved side-band regime, exciting higher order mechanical modes, thermal noise measurements and optimization of the fabrication process, yielding cavities with mechanical quality factors close to 10000, in vacuum and at room temperature / Mestrado / Física / Mestre em Física

Orientador: Newton Cesário Frateschi / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Fisica Gleb Wataghin / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-23T23:25:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Figueira_DaviddaSilvaLeocadio_D.pdf: 7617559 bytes, checksum: 1ebcb7a1b817a2ecee9e9a3abe0c4837 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: O objetivo principal desta tese foi buscar materiais que pudessem gerar ganho óptico por emissão estimulada usando como base o silício e, consequentemente, usar estes materiais em dispositivos fotônicos. A base de emissão ativa usada neste trabalho foi o Silício Amorfo dopado com íons de terra rara, Érbio, (a-Si) com emissão de luz característica na região da banda C usada em telecomunicações ópticas ( ~1550 nm ). O trabalho mostra o desenvolvimento e a evolução da emissão em 1550 nm em diversas condições de fabricação de a-Si, passando por sua oxigenação, criação de nanocristais de silício e com o desenvolvimento de estruturas ressonantes. Com estas amostras sugerimos e fabricamos estruturas compatíveis com tecnologia de Silício tais como microdisco suspensos de Silício e cristais fotônicos bidimensionais baseados em membranas suspensas. Os resultados obtidos ao longo desta tese mostram a viabilidade do uso de íons de Er3+ como dopantes em Si para estas aplicações específicas pois conseguimos aumentar a emissão em 1550 nm destes materiais em mais de 135 mil vezes e também propusemos, experimentalmente, estruturas fotônicas passíveis de se ter ganho, ou seja, que demonstram indícios de emissão estimulada, com estes materiais abrindo caminho, para o uso do Érbio em tecnologias de fotônica de silício / Abstract: The main goal of this work was to find materials that could generate stimulated optical gain based on silicon, and, consequently, use these materials in photonic devices. The sample structure used for this work was amorphous silicon doped with earth rare ions, Erbium (a- Si) with characteristic light emission in the C-band region used in telecommunication (~1550nm). The work shows the development and evolution of the 1550nm emission in many a-Si fabrication conditions, from oxygenation, silicon nano-crystals formation, to the development of resonant structures. With these samples, we have fabricated with these material that were compatible with Silicon technology such as Silicon microdisks and active bidimensional photonic crystal resonator membrane. The results suggest the viability of the use of Er3+ ions as dopant in Si for these specific applications since we were able to increase the 1550nm emission of these materials in over 135 thousand times. We also proposed, experimentally, photonic structures that could generate gain, meaning that they have shown signs of stimulated emission opening a path for the use of Erbium in silicon photonic technologies / Doutorado / Física / Doutor em Ciências

L’environnement électromagnétique d’un nanoémetteur a une grande influence sur son émission. Une interface diélectrique va par exemple accélérer son émission d’un facteur appelé facteur de Purcell. L’objectif ici est d’utiliser différents types de matériaux pour améliorer cette émission. Des émetteurs seront placés de manière déterministe sur une opale métallisée à l’endroit où le champ électrique est le plus intense : à l’interstice entre les billes de l’opale recouverte d’or. Les fortes interactions avec le champ électrique vont jouer un rôle dans l’accélération de l’émission. Les structures de piliers diélectriques pourraient également avoir un rôle sur l’émission d’un nanoémetteur et ces structures sont ici confrontées à un modèle de guide d’onde cylindrique. / The electromagnetic surrounding of an emitter can really affect its emission. A dielectric interface for example can accelerate the emission by a factor called the Purcell factor. The emitters will be deposited on top of a metalized opal in the region of high intense electric field: the interstices between the beads of the metallized opal. The strong interactions with the electric field will accelerate the emission of these emitters. In the near future, nanopilars could play the same role. Here the optical response of this structure is compared with an analytical model of a cylindrical waveguide.

With the increase in traffic on the internet, there is a greater demand for wireless mobile and ubiquitous applications. These applications need antennas that are not only broadband, but can also work in different frequency spectrums. Even though there is a greater demand for such applications, it is still imperative to conserve power. Thus, there is a need to design multi-broadband antennas that do not use a lot of power. Reconfigurable antennas can work in different frequency spectrums as well as conserve power. The current designs of reconfigurable antennas work only in one band. There is a need to design reconfigurable antennas that work in different frequency spectrums. In this current era of high power consumption there is also a greater demand for wireless powering. This dissertation explores ideal designs of reconfigurable antennas that can improve performance and enable wireless powering. This dissertation also presents lab results of the multi-broadband reconfigurable antenna that was created. A detailed mathematical analyses, as well as extensive simulation results are also presented. The novel reconfigurable antenna designs can be extended to Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) environments and military applications.

This thesis comprises an account of research carried out into the flexoelectro-optic effect, as observed in chiral nematic liquid crystals, and its potential for application in fibre optic communications components. The flexoelectro-optic effect provides a mechanism of fast, analogue rotation of the optic axis in chiral nematic materials via the application of an electric field to the sample. In particular, bimesogenic liquid crystal materials exhibit very large flexoelectro-optic tilt angles, and a large tilt angle per unit field in comparison to other mesogenic materials. In this work a new geometry for the flexoelectro-optic effect is developed in which the chiral nematic liquid crystal is aligned with its helical axis along the normal to the cell walls and the electric field is applied in the plane of the cell. It is shown that polymer stabilization of this device by the addition of a small percentage of reactive mesogen to mixture increases greatly the ability of the device to withstand high amplitude a.c. electric fields. Applied fields of up to 6.8 V/μm are shown to induce a maximum birefringence of ∆n=0.037, due to both flexoelectric and dielectric coupling, and ∆n=0.012 due to flexoelectric coupling only in a sample based on symmetric difluorinated bimesogens. This induced birefringence is shown to consistently respond to field application and removal on the sub millisecond timescale. Polymer stabilization of the same mixtures in the uniform lying helix texture is shown to affect the electro-optic response of the samples in a manner which is dependent on the concentration of reactive mesogen used, and the temperature at which the reactive mesogen is cured. A concentration of approximately 3% weight/weight, however, has little detrimental impact on the device characteristics, and curing of the sample at the lower end of the chiral nematic temperature range is shown to allow optimization of both tilt angle and response time of the samples. The effect is also employed to demonstrate a new method of fast electrical tuning of the output wavelength from chiral nematic photonic band edge lasers. An 8nm shift was induced in these devices by a 3.5 V/μm applied field.

In this thesis, dual-frequency optoelectronic oscillators (OEOs) and their applications to transverse load sensing are studied. Two configurations of dual-frequency OEOs are proposed and investigated. In the first configuration, a polarization-maintaining phase-shifted fiber Bragg grating (PM-PSFBG) is employed in the OEO loop to the generation of two oscillating frequencies. The beat between the two oscillating frequencies is a function of the load applied to the PM-PSFBG, which is used in transverse load sensing. To avoid the frequency measurement ambiguity, a second configuration is proposed by coupling a dual-wavelength fiber laser to the dual-frequency OEO. A single tone microwave signal with the frequency determined by the birefringence of the grating is generated in the OEO and is fed into the fiber ring laser to injection lock the dual wavelengths. The sensitivity and the resolution are measured to be 9.73 GHz/(N/mm) and 2.06×10-4 N/mm, respectively. The high stability of the single-tone microwave signal permits accurate measurement, while the frequency interrogation allows an ultra-high speed demodulation.

Photonic signal processing has been considered a promising solution to overcome the inherent bandwidth limitations of its electronic counterparts. Over the last few years, an impressive range of photonic integrated signal processors have been proposed with the technological advances of III-V and silicon photonics, but the signal processors offer limited tunability or reconfigurability, a feature highly needed for the implementation of programmable photonic signal processors. In this thesis, tunable and reconfigurable photonic signal processors are studied. Specifically, a photonic signal processor based on the III-V material system having a single ring resonator structure for temporal integration and Hilbert transformation with a tunable fractional order and tunable operation wavelength is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The temporal integrator has an integration time of 6331 ps, which is an order of magnitude longer than that provided by the previously reported photonic integrators. The processor can also provide a continuously tunable fractional order and a tunable operation wavelength. To enable general-purpose signal processing, a reconfigurable photonic signal processor based on the III-V material system having a three-coupled ring resonator structure is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The reconfigurability of the processor is achieved by forward or reverse biasing the semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) in the ring resonators, to change the optical geometry of the processor which allows the processor to perform different photonic signal processing functions including temporal integration, temporal differentiation, and Hilbert transformation. The integration time of the signal processor is measured to be 10.9 ns, which is largely improved compared with the single ring resonator structure due to a higher Q-factor. In addition, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of temporal integration operations are demonstrated, as well as a continuously tunable order for differentiation and Hilbert transformation. The tuning range of the operation wavelength is 0.22 nm for the processor to perform the three functions. Compared with the III-V material system, the CMOS compatible SOI material system is more cost effective, and it offers a smaller footprint due to the strong refractive index contrast between silicon and silica. Active components such as phase modulators (PMs) can also be implemented. In this thesis, two photonic temporal differentiators having an interferometer structure to achieve active and passive fractional order tuning are proposed and experimentally demonstrated. For both the active and passive temporal differentiators, the fractional order can be tuned from 0 to 1. For the active temporal differentiator, the tuning range of the operation wavelength is 0.74 nm. The use of the actively tunable temporal differentiator to perform high speed coding with a data rate of 16 Gbps is also experimentally demonstrated.

In this thesis, new techniques to generate slow and fast light are proposed and investigated. The use of the slow and fast light for microwave photonics applications is also investigated. This thesis consists of four parts. In the first part, the generation of slow and fast light based on fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) is studied. Two techniques are proposed. In the first technique, slow and fast light is generated based on a linearly chirped fiber Bragg grating (LCFBG); and in the second technique, slow and fast light is generated based on a tilted fiber Bragg grating (TFBG). Theoretical analysis is performed which is verified by experiments. In the second part, the applications of FBG-based slow and fast light in microwave photonics are studied. These applications include all-optical tunable microwave frequency multiplication, tunable microwave chirped pulse generation, tunable phase shifting, tunable fractional order differentiation, and tunable microwave photonic filtering. In the third part, the generation of slow and fast light based on microring resonators (MRRs) is studied. Novel methods to obtain continuously tunable slow to fast light are proposed and experimentally demonstrated by using a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) MRR with MMI (multi-mode interference) couplers, and a high-contrast Ge-doped silica-on-silicon (SOS) MRR. In the fourth part, the applications of the MRR-based slow and fast light in microwave photonics are studied. These applications include all-optical tunable fractional order differentiation, and tunable fractional order Hilbert transformation.