Nanophotonics Accessibility and Applicability (2008) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 9-18
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 9... ...
In answering these questions, the committee examines the threats, opportunities, and vulnerabilities posed by emerging applications of nanophotonics. It also examines the underlying capabilities required to develop a strong nanophotonics technology base.
|
From page 10... ...
Background The domain of nanoscale science and technology lies between the familiar classical world of m acroscopic objects and the quantum mechanical regime of atoms and molecules. Nanostructures can have unique, controllable, and tunable optical properties that arise from their nanoscale size and from the fact that they are smaller than the wavelength of light used to observe them.
|
From page 11... ...
; and • Confined semiconductor structures -- whose physics is driven by reduced dimensionality and quantum confinement. Photonic crystals are optical materials engineered using periodic dielectric structure with spatial periodicity of the order of the wavelength of the light that enables the tailoring of the propagation of light through the control of the photonic crystal structure (John, 1987; Yablonovitch, 1987)
|
From page 12... ...
In particular, it is possible to design metamaterials with a magnetic response at optical frequencies that no known natural material exhibits. To date, the primary goals of metamaterials research have been the extension of the wavelength range to the near infrared and visible regions; increasingly, attention is turning to the novel optical properties that can be achieved with spatial control of the refractive index over wide, and including negative, ranges.
|
From page 13... ...
In such twodimensional semiconductor structures, the fundamental concept of quantum confinement uses quantum wells to localize excitons, increase oscillator strengths, enhance radiative recombination efficiencies, and control charge-carrier transport. One-dimensional quantum confined structures, quantum wires, and zero-dimensional quantum structures -- quantum dots or nanocrystals -- also yield size-controlled optical and electronic properties of importance to nanophotonics.
|
From page 14... ...
Localization of the electromagnetic fields at the nanoscale also yields a dramatic increase in the field intensity, thus suggesting the use of surface plasmons in nonlinear applications, such as optical switching, Raman spectroscopy of single molecules and atomic clusters, and even coherent control of a single molecule's quantum dynamics. Surface plasmons are supported by structures at all length scales and largely determine the optical properties of metal-based nanostructures.
|
From page 15... ...
This latency makes translating nanophotonics technology innovations into specific long-term military spin-offs problematic. An additional challenge is that the assessment also depends on the state of the industrial and enabling technology base.
|
From page 16... ...
Technology can be broken down by technology subareas directly (e.g., metamaterials, photonic crystals, and so on.) , by enabling technologies (fabrication versus modeling and simulation)
|
From page 17... ...
Examples of applications of the first domain include the following: • Embedded sensors fabricated by replication or self-assembly and scalable to large areas; • Stealthy nanoscale taggants for warning or for the tracking of security perimeter incursions; • Metamaterials enabling enhanced antennas for sensing, and for communications with covertness and/or stealth at selected frequencies; • Reverse-engineered, remotely activated nanoparticles; and • Micro- and nano-optical elements for ultraminiature hybrid optoelectronic processors. Examples of applications of the second domain, enabling technology, include the following: • Fabrication, both top down (classic semiconductor techniques)
|
From page 18... ...
1991. Comment on "Theory of photon bands in three dimensional periodic dielectric structures." Physical Review Letters 66(3)
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.