Fine structure constant and quantized optical transparency of plasmonic nanoarrays

Abstract

optics is renowned for displaying quantum phenomena. Indeed, studies of emission and absorption lines, the photoelectric effect and blackbody radiation helped to build the foundations of quantum mechanics. nevertheless, it came as a surprise that the visible transparency of suspended graphene is determined solely by the fine structure constant, as this kind of universality had been previously reserved only for quantized resistance and flux quanta in superconductors. Here we describe a plasmonic system in which relative optical transparency is determined solely by the fine structure constant. The system consists of a regular array of gold nanoparticles fabricated on a thin metallic sublayer. We show that its relative transparency can be quantized in the near-infrared, which we attribute to the quantized contact resistance between the nanoparticles and the metallic sublayer. our results open new possibilities in the exploration of universal dynamic conductance in plasmonic nanooptics.

Plasmon-induced nanoscale quantised conductance filaments

“…We provided several indirect confirmations that this optical quantization stems from a quantized shunt resistance produced in the thin native Cr oxide (Cr 2 O 3 ) layer covering the Cr sublayer 24 . The aim of this work is to offer a direct proof for the existence of light-induced CFs in the native Cr oxide layer produced by the plasmonic mechanism described above.…”

“…According to the TEM and ellipsometric measurements the gap distance was set as t  = 1 nm. The quantum conductance G  =  βG 0 , where G 0  = 2 e 2 / h is the conductance quantum and β is the coefficient arising due to resistance averaging over the dot and the array 24 . The results of these simulations are shown by the dashed lines in Fig.…”

Fundamental Nature of the Fine-Structure Constant

“…(14). The cosh ρ sec(π/7) = 2/ √ S. In another reference relating to relevant geometry Li, Ji and Cao discovered that Fibonacci spirals found on conical patterns in nature can be effectively modeled as a least energy configuration [47].…”

“…The eccentricity of a golden ellipse [36] (14). The constant µ is the real fixed point of the hyperbolic cotangent and λ is the Laplace limit of Kepler's equation [37].…”

“…The fine-structure constant, alpha, has a variety of physical interpretations from which various determinations have been made; atom interferometry and Bloch oscillations, the neutron Compton wavelength measurement, AC Josephson effect, quantum Hall effect in condensed matter physics [11], hydrogen and muonium hyperfine structure, precision measurements of helium fine-structure, absorption of light in graphene [12], also the topological phenomena in condensed matter physics [13], the relative optical transparency of a plasmonic system [14], elementary particle lifetimes [15] and the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron in quantum electrodynamics [16]. Slightly different values of the fine-structure constant are found from different experimental measurements [17] and finally there is also the question of its variation from the subatomic to the cosmological scale [18].…”