Preparation of Ideally Ordered Anodic Porous Alumina by Prepatterning Process Using a Flexible Mold

Ideally ordered anodic porous alumina with controlled interpore distances was formed by fabricating a resist mask using a flexible mold and subsequent anodization. Prior to forming the resist pattern on the surface of an Al substrate, Al was pre-anodized at 10 V to prepare the fine porous structure, which acts as a resist adhesive layer. After the formation of the resist mask using a flexible mold, an arranged array of cavities with Al exposed at the bottom was formed by the selective dissolution of the oxide layer at resist openings. The subsequent anodization of the sample with the cavity array generated ideally ordered anodic porous alumina because alumina holes were formed at the bottom of cavities during anodization. This process allows the preparation of ideally ordered anodic porous alumina even on a curved Al surface owing to the flexibility of the mold. In addition, this process can also be applied to the preparation of an ideally ordered anodic porous alumina with a large sample area because the Al substrate can be patterned without high pressure. The obtained sample can be used for various applications requiring an ideally ordered hole array structure.

Near-field Strong Plasmonic Resonances in Bi1.5Sb0.5Te1.8Se1.2 Topological Insulator Film

Topological insulators are a new class of quantum materials with metallic (edge) surface states and insulating bulk states. They exhibit various novel electronic and optical properties that make them highly promising electronic, spintronic, and optoelectronic materials. Our report confirms that the topological insulator Bi 1.5 Sb 0.5 Te 1.8 Se 1.2 (BSTS) is also an effective plasmonic material in the visible and near-infrared range. A BSTS film can effectively control transmission and reflection characteristics by changing the period of the hole array. This study determined that a strong resonant surface plasmonic mode at the resonance peak can confine approximately 80% of the electromagnetic field energy is demonstrated. Higher-order (second- and third-order) resonance peaks were also found, which is critical for controlling electromagnetic waves and research into new optoelectronic devices.

Near-Infrared Photoresponse in Ge/Si Quantum Dots Enhanced by Photon-Trapping Hole Arrays

Group-IV photonic devices that contain Si and Ge are very attractive due to their compatibility with integrated silicon photonics platforms. Despite the recent progress in fabrication of Ge/Si quantum dot (QD) photodetectors, their low quantum efficiency still remains a major challenge and different approaches to improve the QD photoresponse are under investigation. In this paper, we report on the fabrication and optical characterization of Ge/Si QD pin photodiodes integrated with photon-trapping microstructures for near-infrared photodetection. The photon traps represent vertical holes having 2D periodicity with a feature size of about 1 μm on the diode surface, which significantly increase the normal incidence light absorption of Ge/Si QDs due to generation of lateral optical modes in the wide telecommunication wavelength range. For a hole array periodicity of 1700 nm and hole diameter of 1130 nm, the responsivity of the photon-trapping device is found to be enhanced by about 25 times at λ=1.2 μm and by 34 times at λ≈1.6 μm relative to a bare detector without holes. These results make the micro/nanohole Ge/Si QD photodiodes promising to cover the operation wavelength range from the telecom O-band (1260–1360 nm) up to the L-band (1565–1625 nm).

Terahertz High-Q Absorber Based on Holes Array Perforated into a Metallic Slab

In this paper, we theoretically analyze and design a dual-narrowband terahertz (THz) absorber based on a hole array drilled into a metallic slab. A very high-quality factor (Q) is achieved at both of the resonance frequencies. A circuit model-based approach is developed for the analysis and design of the proposed absorber. The absorption peaks occur at 2.46 and 3.75 THz frequencies with 98% and 96% absorptions at normal incidence, respectively. The achieved quality factors are 149 and 144, at 50% absorbance for the two absorption bands, respectively.

Influence of Acoustic Black Hole Array Embedded in a Plate on Its Energy Propagation and Sound Radiation

The plate embedded with acoustic black hole (ABH) indentations is potential for structural vibration and noise control. This work focuses on the mid- and low-frequency performance of plates embedded with the array of ABH for energy focalization and vibration & noise suppression. Plates embedded with two-dimensional ABHs are modelled with detailed Finite Element (FE) models, and the power flow method is introduced to analyze the energy propagation characteristics arising from ABH effect. Then the distribution of average vibration power density along ABH radius is studied. Next, the energy dissipation effects of the plate model embedded with ABH array with two types of damping layers are investigated. Finally, the sound pressure levels of the ABH structure are calculated and discussed. This work is helpful to understand the characteristics of plates embedded with ABH array in reducing vibration and noise radiation. Results show the tremendous potential of ABH array for vibration and noise control.