For liquid and gas nanolithography

Nanonics was proud to be a sponsor of the recent 7^th Int’l Conference on Surface Plasmon Photonics (SPP7) in Jerusalem last month. The conference was a great success featuring talks from leaders in plasmonics research, many of whom are Nanonics long standing customers. With the conference so close to our headquarters, Nanonics Imaging was happy to use the opportunity to connect with customers and researchers in this important field.

Prof. Aaron Lewis, Nanonics Founder and CEO, introduced the guests to the company and provided a tour of the manufacturing facility, clean room, probes production laboratory, and demonstration labs. He also gave a brief and exciting overview of Nanonics’ latest and innovative advances in the field of plasmonics instrumentation. In addition, a series of demonstrations and technical discussions were held with Nanonics experts.

In addition to the above company event, speakers from Nanonics Imaging also delivered two presentations at SPP7 to highlight the importance of multiprobe technology for plasmonics research:

1. “Understanding the TERS effect with on-line tunneling and force feedback using multiprobe AFM/NSOM with Raman integration” and 2. “Investigating bright and dark plasmons with all k vectors and energies”.

Figure 1: Group Picture of SPP& Reception Attendees

Pictures left to right:

Dr. N. Janunts, Schiller Univ.

Prof. N. Engheta (left); Mmantsae Diale, Univ. of Pretoria. (right)

Prof. Naomi Halas (left) with Prof. Vladimir Shalaev (middle) and Prof. Peter Nordlander (right)

Plasmonics

Case Study: Cherenkov SPPs

Patrice Genevet, Daniel Wintz, Antonio Ambrosio, Alan She, Romain Blanchardand Federico Capasso

Nature Nanotechnology

PUBLISHED ONLINE: 6 JULY 2015 | DOI: 10.1038/NNANO.2015.137

When a charged particle travels faster than the phase speed of light in a medium, a photonic shock wave called Cherenkov radiation is emitted. This electromagnetic shock wave is emitted as a cone in the three spatial dimensions. In this paper it was shown that a two dimensional analogue of Cherenkov radiation can be created to control and steer plasmons in one-dimensional metamaterials.

A one-dimensional metasuface was fabricated for the experiment, which consisted of an array of slits in different directions etched in the thin metal film. S-polarized light illuminates the metasurface in far-field and creates running waves of polarization (RWP). The RWP can be understood as a series of dipoles oriented normally to the slit axis
with different phases generated along the metasurface. These dipoles interact with the local distribution of free electrons on the metal surface and radiate SPP waves along the metal–dielectric surface. The RWP propagation speed is always larger than the SPP phase velocity.	EM image of nano- array structure
Thus two-dimensional Cherenkov radiation is generated in the metasurface.

Moreover both experimental and theoretical analyses have showed that the direction of the Cherenkov radiation depends on the

angle and spin of the incident polarized light. Thus the propagation direction of the Cherenkov radiation can be controlled and steered by either one of these parameters.The experimental results show that that the direction of the SPP wakes depends on the angle and spin of the incident light. Thus the steering of the SPPs wakes can be achieved by variation of either one these parameters. The propagation direction of the two- dimensional Cherenkov radiation can be steered from forward to backward. The experimental results are in the good agreement with the theoretical simulation. The obtained results are very important step toward in understanding of the SPPs wakes propagation. The ability to control and manipulate of the SPPs propagation direction opens new horizons in development of novel plasmonic devices such as plasmonic phase modulators, plasmonic couplers, plasmonic holograms and beam-steering devices.

Experimental results. Forward Cherenkov SPP wakes (left), backward Cherenkov SPP wakes (right). Θ is angle of circular polarized incident light; σ+ and σ- are spin of the polarization, ϒ angle of Cherenkov SPP wakes propagation

Experimental Setup:

The experimental analysis of the SPPs wake propagation was performed with a Nanonics Multiprobe MV 4000 near-field optical microscope in collection mode (with the NSOM probe collecting the light into a detector).  The MV 4000 allowed for such an experiment as a result of the following advantages:

• Free optical access of the NSOM head from the both the top and the bottom. Allowing for direct illumination of the sample from below and easy visualization of the tip and sample from above.
• Tip scanning allowing NSOM mapping of the SPP independent to the illumination and without moving the sample.
• Topographic and near-field optical data are acquired simultaneously by scanning with Nanonics cantilevered NSOM probe.
• Tuning fork (TF) feedback allows for no optical AFM feedback and no optical interference with the measurement
• It is important to note that Apertured NSOM is important for such an experiment as an apertureless NSOM configuration would require laser illumination at the tip which can interferes with the Cherenkov radiation and lead to optical artifacts.

Nanonics at ICAVS - International Conference on Advanced Vibrational Spectroscopy 2015

Tuning forks offer significant advantages and increased sensitivity over conventional Si probes in large part due to their high quality factors (Q of 10x and higher.)   Tuning forks in force spectroscopy have especially begun to show exciting results that push the measurement's possibilities.  Over the last decade, Nanonics has developed instruments using a NanoToolKit of such probes that are increasingly being used with on-line forcespectroscopy.  A demonstration of the force sensitivity of these probes is the measurement of 1.6 pN for the force of a single photon. [D. C. Kohlgraf-Owens et al "Mapping the mechanical action of light," Phys. Rev. A 84, 011807R (2011)]

Besides force sensitivity, tuning forks offer other advantages over optical beam deflection and conventional Si probes.  Tuning forks have much stiffer (spring constant of ~2600 N/m and greater) than standard silicon cantilevers.  As a result, the problem of "jump to contact" instability that limits the optical beam deflection based feedback methods is eliminated, and this permits the study of forces in the proximal 10-20 nm above a surface.  Smooth approach curves together with lack of adhesion ringing upon withdrawal is combined with additional advantages of no feedback laser interference; these features are important for semiconductor electrical probing and combinations of AFM with Raman spectroscopy that Nanonics has pioneered.  Furthermore, tuning forks in force spectroscopy enable the point of contact with the surface to be accurately measured for the first time.  For all these reasons and its ease of use, tuning forks are becoming an ideal choice for new horizons in experiments requiring the ultimate tip-sample control stability and force sensitivity from areas of bioimaging, to physics of devices, and to single molecule and polymer spectroscopy.

Image contest winners

 As surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) continue to develop potential for controlling light on the nanoscale, the ability to excite and control these optical modes becomes increasingly important.   A new lens design strategy for SPPs is presented by Wintz, Capasso et al. of Harvard University.  The lens consists of a metasurface (nanostructured surface) composed of nanoslits that can steer the SPPs between foci on the surface based on the incident wavelength.

Published: Nano Lett. 2015, 15, 3585−3589

Nanonics May 2015 newsletter