We introduce a novel concept for an optical waveguide called a strip-loaded slot waveguide. It allows an extraordinary confinement of the field in a waveguide with an extremely tiny (vertical) cross section. Unlike conventional slot waveguides, the proposed configuration has potential for very low propagation losses. Its operation is demonstrated at telecommunication wavelengths and, in addition, it is fabricated by means of mass production compatible techniques: atomic layer deposition and nanoimprint replication. The possibility to fabricate the proposed structure with such low-cost techniques opens a new path for a variety of nanophotonics applications.

Graphene is seeking pathways towards applications, but there are still plenty of unresolved problems on the way. Many of those obstacles are related to synthesis and processing of graphene. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of graphene is currently one of the most promising techniques that enable scalable synthesis of high quality graphene on a copper substrate. From the transient metal substrate, the CVD graphene film is transferred to the desired dielectric substrate. Most often, the transfer process is done by using a supporting poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) film, which is also a widely used electron beam resist. Conventionally, after graphene is transferred to the substrate, the supporting PMMA film is removed by organic solvents. Hence, the potential of using the same PMMA layer as a resist mask remains unexplored. Since PMMA is an electron beam resist, the same polymer film can be useful both for transferring and for patterning of graphene. In this work, we demonstrate simultaneous transfer and patterning of graphene by using the same PMMA film. With our demonstrated method, we are able to receive sub-micron resolution very easily. The graphene transfer and its subsequent patterning with the same resist layer may help developing device applications based on graphene and other 2D materials in the near future.

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We have used focused ion beam irradiation to progressively cause defects in annealed molybdenum silicide thin films. Without the treatment, the films are superconducting with critical temperature of about 1 K. We observe that both resistivity and critical temperature increase as the ion dose is increased. For resistivity, the increase is almost linear, whereas critical temperature changes abruptly at the smallest doses and then remains almost constant at 4 K. We believe that our results originate from amorphization of the polycrystalline molybdenum silicide films.

The growing interest for Fano resonators during the past decade is due to the narrow line shape observable in their optical spectra. The drastic phase shift occurring at the resonance yields a steep drop from a high to low amplitude. Fano resonances can be obtained by a combination of nanostructures. Such a system is extremely sensitive in terms of both geometrical parameters and environmental conditions. Here we study a complex arrangement of photonic crystal cavities and slot waveguides on a silicon chip. Our structure, composed of several cavities in parallel, has a particular response superimposing a shallow photonic bandgap and a resonance with a Fano line shape. It provides a low noise and a clear asymmetric resonance. We demonstrate it experimentally and show the potential of such a device for sensing. A sensitivity of 92 nm/RIU is measured.