We investigate the optical properties of gold nanoring (NR) dimers in both simulation and experiment. The resonance peak wavelength of gold NR dimers is strongly dependent on the polarization ...direction and gap distance. As the gold NR particles approach each other, exponential red shift and slight blue shift of coupled bonding (CB) mode in gold NR dimers for longitudinal and transverse polarizations are obtained. In finite element method analysis, a very strong surface plasmon coupling in the gap region of gold NR dimers is observed, whose field intensity at the gap distance of 10 nm is enhanced 23% compared to that for gold nanodisk (ND) dimers with the same diameter. In addition, plasmonic dimer system exhibits a great improvement in the sensing performance. Near-field coupling in gold NR dimers causes exponential increase in sensitivity to refractive index of surrounding medium with decreasing the gap distance. Compared with coupled dipole mode in gold ND dimers, CB mode in gold NR dimers shows higher index sensitivity. This better index sensing performance is resulted form the additional electric field in inside region of NR and the larger field enhancement in the gap region owing to the stronger coupling of collective dipole plasmon resonances for CB mode. These results pave the way to design plasmonic nanostructures for practical applications that require coupled metallic nanoparticles with enhanced electric fields.
We propose and demonstrate a trapping configuration integrating coupled waveguides and gold bowtie structures to form near-field plasmonic tweezers. Compared with excitation from the top, waves ...coupled through the waveguide can excite specific bowties on the waveguide and trap particles precisely. Thus this scheme is more efficient and compact, and will assist the circuit design on a chip. With lightning rod and gap effects, the gold bowtie structures can generate highly concentrated resonant fields and induce trapping forces as strong as 652 pN W(-1) on particles with diameters as small as 20 nm. This trapping capability is investigated numerically and verified experimentally with observations of the transport, trapping, and release of particles in the system.
For manipulating nanometric particles, we propose a photonic crystal waveguide cavity design with a waist structure to enhance resonance characteristic of the cavity. For trapping a polystyrene ...particle of 50 nm radius on the lateral side of the waist, the optical force can reach 2308 pN/W with 24.7% signal transmission. Threshold power of only 0.32 mW is required for stable trapping. The total length of the device is relatively short with only ten photonic crystal periods, and the trapping can occur precisely and only at the waist. The designed cavity can also provide particle detection and surrounding medium sensing using the transmission spectrum with narrow linewidth. The simulated figure of merit of 110.6 is relatively high compared with those obtained from most plasmonic structures for sensing application. We anticipate this design with features of compact, efficient, and versatile in functionality will be beneficial for developing lab-on-chip in the future.
We propose that a tapered photonic crystal waveguide design can unify optical trapping and transport functionalities to advance the controllability of optical manipulation. Subwavelength particles ...can be trapped by a resonance-enhanced field and transported to a specified position along the waveguide on demand by varying the input wavelength. A simulated transport ability as high as 148 (transport distance/wavelength variation) is obtained by the waveguide with 0.1° tilted angle. Stable trapping of a 50 nm polystyrene particle can be achieved with input power of 7 mW. We anticipate that this design would be beneficial for future life science research and optomechanical applications.
We design a slotted photonic crystal waveguide (S-PhCW) and numerically propose that it can efficiently transport polystyrene particle with diameter as small as 50 nm in a 100 nm slot. Excellent ...optical confinement and slow light effect provided by the photonic crystal structure greatly enhance the optical force exerted on the particle. The S-PhCW can thus transport the particle with optical propulsion force as strong as 5.3 pN/W, which is over 10 times stronger than that generated by the slotted strip waveguide (S-SW). In addition, the vertical optical attraction force induced in the S-PhCW is over 2 times stronger than that of the S-SW. Therefore, the S-PhCW transports particles not only efficiently but also stably. We anticipate this waveguide structure will be beneficial for the future lab-on-chip development.
We propose a novel mirror-image nanoepsilon (MINE) structure to achieve highly localized and enhanced near field at its gap and systematically investigate its plasmonic behaviors. The MINE can be ...regarded as a combination of two fundamental plasmonic nanostructures: a nanorod dimer and nanoring. By adapting a nanoring surrounding a nanorod dimer structure, the nanorod is regarded as a bridge pulling the charges from the nanoring to the nanorod, which induces stronger plasmon coupling in the gap to boost local near-field enhancement. Two resonance peaks are identified as the symmetric and anti-symmetric modes according to the symmetries of the charge distributions on the ring and rod dimer in the MINE. The symmetric mode in the MINE structure is preferred because its charge distribution leads to stronger near-field enhancement with a concentrated distribution around the gap. In addition, we investigate the influence of geometry on the optical properties of MINE structures by performing experiments and simulations. These results indicate that the MINE possesses highly tunable optical properties and that significant near-field enhancement at the gap region and rod tips can be realized by the gap and lightning-rod effects. The results improve understanding of such complex systems, and it is expected to guide and facilitate the design of optimum MINE structures for various plasmonic applications.
We propose and investigate a novel hybrid plasmonic rod-dimer/ring (RDR) nanostructure with significantly enhanced near-field at the gap region for its potential on sensing and trapping applications.
We propose and demonstrate a trapping configuration integrating coupled waveguides and gold bowtie structures to form near-field plasmonic tweezers. Compared with excitation from the top, waves ...coupled through the waveguide can excite specific bowties on the waveguide and trap particles precisely. Thus this scheme is more efficient and compact, and will assist the circuit design on a chip. With lightning rod and gap effects, the gold bowtie structures can generate highly concentrated resonant fields and induce trapping forces as strong as 652 pN W
−1
on particles with diameters as small as 20 nm. This trapping capability is investigated numerically and verified experimentally with observations of the transport, trapping, and release of particles in the system.
Compact plasmonic tweezers on optical waveguides are proposed and demonstrated with a highly enhanced and concentrated field to precisely trap particles with very strong optical forces.
Under the efficient and compact coupling from optical waveguide, the field highly enhanced and concentrated around gap of gold bowtie structure can trap nano-particle precisely with very strong ...optical forces compared with most nanophotonic tweezers.
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