Excitonic Optical Tamm States: A Step toward a Full Molecular–Dielectric Photonic Integration

Núñez-Sánchez, Sara; López‐García, Martín; Murshidy, Mohamed M.; Abdel-Hady, Asmaa Gamal; Serry, Mohamed; Adawi, Ali M.; Rarity, John; Oulton, Ruth; Barnes, William

doi:10.1021/acsphotonics.6b00060

Cited by 40 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…These attractive characteristics of the optical Tamm structures already led to a variety of their applications in optoelectronics and photonics, including amplitude-based optical sensing 32,37,38 , development of metal/semiconductor lasers [39][40][41] , etc. [42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49] .…”

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confidence: 99%

Topological Engineering of Interfacial Optical Tamm States for Highly Sensitive Near-Singular-Phase Optical Detection

et al. 2018

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Abstract:We developed planar multilayered photonic-plasmonic structures, which support topologically protected optical states on the interface between metal and dielectric materials, known as optical Tamm states. Coupling of incident light to the Tamm states can result in perfect absorption within one of several narrow frequency bands, which is accompanied by a singular behavior of the phase of electromagnetic field. In the case of near-perfect absorptance, very fast local variation of the phase can still be engineered. In this work, we theoretically and experimentally demonstrate how these drastic phase changes can improve sensitivity of optical sensors. A planar Tamm absorber was fabricated and used to demonstrate remote near-singular-phase temperature sensing with an over an order of magnitude improvement in sensor sensitivity and over two orders of magnitude improvement in the figure of merit over the standard approach of measuring shifts of resonant features in the reflectance spectra of the same absorber. Our experimentally demonstrated phase-to-amplitude detection sensitivity improvement nearly doubles that of state-of-the-art nano-patterned plasmonic singular-phase detectors, with further improvements possible via more precise fabrication. Tamm perfect absorbers form the basis for robust planar sensing platforms with tunable spectral characteristics, which do not rely on low-throughput nano-patterning techniques.Keywords: Tamm plasmons, surface modes, photonic crystals, optical impedance, geometrical phase, singular phase detection, bio(chemical) and temperature sensing Optical transduction is a widely used detection mechanism in remote sensing and monitoring of a variety of physical, chemical, and biological events. It is based on measuring environmental changes by detecting the change in one of the characteristics of light interacting with the target medium, including its amplitude, wavelength, incident angle, and phase. Optical sensing is intrinsically non-invasive, and can be used in extreme conditions, such as high toxicity, high temperatures, electrical noises, or strong magnetic fields. Among many types of optical sensors, surface-plasmon polariton (SPP) sensors are widely investigated and used [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] . Evanescent fields of SPP modes supported by metallic structures strongly interact with the surrounding dielectric medium, and environmentally-induced changes of their propagation constants provide an optical transduction mechanism 4 . Excitation of localized SPP modes generates strong electromagnetic field in a small volume close to the metal-dielectric interface, making possible detection of very small variations of the local refractive index. Hence, the SPP sensors offer highly-sensitive, label-free, and non-destructive optical detection and monitoring of chemical and 2 biological reactions on the surface. A common scheme of the SPP excitation on planar interfaces is the Kretschmann−Raether scheme, where a prism is placed on top of the metal film to excite surface plasmon polarito...

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Topological Engineering of Interfacial Optical Tamm States for Highly Sensitive Near-Singular-Phase Optical Detection

et al. 2018

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“…Most of them are based on a TP coupling with other excitations, including a SP [5][6][7], Bragg cavity mode [8,9], exciton confined either in a quantum well [10] embedded inside the BM or in a monolayer of the transition-metal dichalcogenide [11,12], and also point emitters like quantum dots [13], organic molecules [14], etc. The strong field enhancement in the vicinity of a surface allows for attaining the strong-coupling regime [10,11], while a comparatively small mode volume of TPs localized beneath the small metal disk allows using the resonant TP structures to control the spontaneous emission of a semiconductor quantum dot through the Purcell effect [13].…”

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confidence: 99%

One-dimensional Tamm plasmons: Spatial confinement, propagation, and polarization properties

et al. 2017

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Tamm plasmons are confined optical states at the interface of a metal and a dielectric Bragg mirror. Unlike conventional surface plasmons, Tamm plasmons may be directly excited by an external light source in both TE and TM polarizations. Here we consider the one-dimensional propagation of Tamm plasmons under long and narrow metallic stripes deposited on top of a semiconductor Bragg mirror. The spatial confinement of the field imposed by the stripe and its impact on the structure and energy of Tamm modes are investigated. We show that the Tamm modes are coupled to surface plasmons arising at the stripe edges. These plasmons form an interference pattern close to the bottom surface of the stripe that involves modification of both the energy and loss rate for the Tamm mode. This phenomenon is pronounced only in the case of TE polarization of the Tamm mode. These findings pave the way to application of laterally confined Tamm plasmons in optical integrated circuits as well as to engineering potential traps for both Tamm modes and hybrid modes of Tamm plasmons and exciton polaritons with meV depth.

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“…Multilayer thermal emitters fabricated with a simple deposition process have been demonstrated, and it is also reported that high Q-factor Tamm plasmon (TP) resonance is the key for producing narrowband emission for most designed emitters [19]. Typical designs of Tamm plasmon structures use metal-side structures (incident light from thin metal film) which need an optimized metal thickness [20][21][22]. Since the decay of the electric field inside a metal layer is very fast for the MIR wavelength regime, a metal-side design calls for an ultrathin top metallic layer, and the bandwidth can hardly be controlled.…”

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Tunable narrowband mid-infrared thermal emitter with a bilayer cavity enhanced Tamm plasmon

Zhu

Luo

et al. 2018

Opt. Lett.

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A narrowband thermal emitter exhibits higher energy efficiency and sensitivity in molecule sensing and other mid-infrared (MIR) spectral range applications compared to a blackbody emitter. Most narrowband thermal emitters involving surface plasmons have a relatively low quality factor (Q-factor) and require complex fabrication processes. Here we propose a bilayer cavity-enhanced Tamm plasmon (TP) structure with a high/low refractive index bilayer sandwiched between a metal and distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) to achieve an enhanced Q-factor and maintain higher emittance over a conventional pure DBR-metal TP structure-based emitters. The large optical thickness of the high/low index bilayer cavity aids in increasing the Q-factor (∼172 for emission) of the cavity resonance. Furthermore, a tunable Q-factor is achieved (Q from 172 to 47 for emission) by incorporating phase-changing material Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5. This easy-to-fabricate and tunable high Q-factor emitter is competent as a narrowband MIR light source in molecule sensing, typically gas sensing applications.

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Excitonic Optical Tamm States: A Step toward a Full Molecular–Dielectric Photonic Integration

Cited by 40 publications

References 31 publications

Topological Engineering of Interfacial Optical Tamm States for Highly Sensitive Near-Singular-Phase Optical Detection

Topological Engineering of Interfacial Optical Tamm States for Highly Sensitive Near-Singular-Phase Optical Detection

One-dimensional Tamm plasmons: Spatial confinement, propagation, and polarization properties

Tunable narrowband mid-infrared thermal emitter with a bilayer cavity enhanced Tamm plasmon

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