Plasmonic excitations in two-dimensional materials: effects of structural symmetry and material anisotropy

Plasmonics in two-dimensional materials, an emerging direction of nano-optics, has attracted great attention recently, which exhibits unique properties than that in noble metals. Extending its advanced features by different manipulations is very beneficial for its promotion. In this paper, we study plasmonic excitations in graphene and black phosphorus (BP) nanostructures, where the effects of structural symmetry and material anisotropy are discussed. We show that the two factors are crucial to mode excitations, e.g. the extinction can be dominated by higher order modes rather than dipole resonance. The behavior occurs only in the direction hosting larger resonance frequencies, e.g. armchair (AC) direction of BP and shorter side of graphene rectangles. In BP rectangles along AC direction, the two factors are competing, and thus can be applied cooperatively to tune plasmonic resonance, from dipole to higher order excitations. Besides, the manipulation can also be achieved by designing BP square rings, in which the interaction between outer and inner edges show great impact on mode excitations. Our studies further promote the understanding of plasmonics in two-dimensional materials, and will pave the way for particular plasmonic applications.

Revealing the Quadrupole Radiation of Liquid Gallium Nanospheres

Gallium (Ga) nanospheres (NSs) with diameters ranging from 50 to 300 nm are fabricated by using femtosecond laser ablation. The forward scattering of large Ga nanospheres measured using dark-field microscopy is determined by the coherent interaction between dipole and quadrupole resonances while it becomes governed by the dipole resonance when evanescent wave excitation is employed. We demonstrate that the scattering spectrum and pattern of quadrupole of large Ga NS can be resolved by using a cross-polarized analyzer in the collection channel. The experimental observations agree well with the numerical simulation based on the complex refractive index of liquid Ga.

The electric dipole response of even-even 154-164Dy isotopes

The excitation of pygmy dipole resonance (PDR) and giant dipole resonance (GDR) in even-even 154-164Dy isotopes is examined through quasiparticle random-phase approximation (QRPA) with the effective interactions that restores the broken translational and Galilean invariances. In each isotope, an electric response emerges by showing ample distribution at energies below and above 10 MeV. We, therefore, study the transition cross sections and probabilities, photon strength functions, transition strengths, isospin character, and collectivity of the predicted E1 responses.

ESTIMATION OF GROSS-STRUCTURE PARAMETERS OF GIANT DIPOLE RESONANCE: 2. EXPERIMENTAL TESTING

Experimental testing of a novel technique for determination of width and maximum of excitation function of a photonuclear reaction with dominant giant dipole resonance is conducted. The method is based on measurement of normalized reaction yield in a thin target, overlapping entirely a flux of X-rays and on processing of data obtained with the use of a developed analytical model. For the checking of method, the nickel and molybdenum foils of natural isotopic composition were activated by bremsstrahlung radiation at four energies of the electron beam in the range 40…95 MeV. The obtained parameters of cross-section of the reference reactions 58Ni(γ,n)57Ni and 100Mo(γ,n)99Mo are in good agreement with those presented in the available databases.

Highly sensitive refractive index sensor for detection of Hg2+ based on Fano-like resonance in metal-dielectric-metal meta-structure

We experimentally and theoretically investigate Fano-like resonance in large-area Au/SiO2/Au nano-patches meta-structure, which is originating from the coupling between Fabry Perot resonance and magnetic dipole resonance modes. A highly sensitive refractive index sensor based on the lineshape analysis is obtained. The extracted wavelength shift with the amount of substance of Hg2+ changing from 10-3 pmol to 1 nmol has a linear dependence, and the sensitivity can reach to ultra-low limit of detection (LOD) as 10-3 pmol. This study may provide an approach for the development and modification in sensing.

All-Dielectric Huygens’ Metasurface for Wavefront Manipulation in the Visible Region

All-dielectric Huygens’ metasurfaces have been widely used in wavefront manipulation through multipole interactions. Huygens’ metasurfaces utilize the superposition between an electric dipole and a magnetic dipole resonance to realize transmission enhancement and an accumulated 2π phase change. Benefiting from this unique property, we design and numerically investigate an all-dielectric Huygens’ metasurface exhibiting high-efficiency anomalous refraction. To suppress the substrate effect, the metasurface structure is submerged in a dielectric plate. We strategically placed two elements in four short periods to form a unit cell and adjusted the spacing between the two elements to effectively inhibit the interaction between elements. At the operating wavelength of 692 nm, the obtained anomalous transmission efficiency is over 90.7% with a diffraction angle of 30.84°. The performance of the proposed structure is far superior to most of the existing phase-gradient metasurface structures in the visible region, which paves the way for designing efficient beam deflection devices.