Infrared phononic nanoantennas: Localized surface phonon polaritons in SiC disks

The electromagnetic interaction of light with polar materials shows a sharp and well defined electromagnetic response in the infrared (IR) region that consists mainly of excitation of optical phonons. Similar to surface plasmons in the visible region, surface phonons can couple efficiently to infrared light in micron-sized antennas made of polar materials. We applied the boundary element method to calculating the infrared electromagnetic response of single SiC disks acting as effective infrared antennas as a function of different parameters such as disk size and thickness. We also analyzed the effect of locating a probing metallic tip near the SiC disk to scatter light in the proximity of the SiC disk, thereby obtaining new spectral peaks connected with localized modes between the tip and the SiC disk. We then further investigated their application in IR scanning probe microscopy. A near-field map of the phononic resonances enhances the understanding of the nature of the IR extinction peaks.     

Thermal radiation scanning tunnelling microscopy

In standard near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM), a subwavelength probe acts as an optical 'stethoscope' to map the near field produced at the sample surface by external illumination. This technique has been applied using visible, infrared, terahertz and gigahertz radiation to illuminate the sample, providing a resolution well beyond the diffraction limit. NSOM is well suited to study surface waves such as surface plasmons or surface-phonon polaritons. Using an aperture NSOM with visible laser illumination, a near-field interference pattern around a corral structure has been observed, whose features were similar to the scanning tunnelling microscope image of the electronic waves in a quantum corral. Here we describe an infrared NSOM that operates without any external illumination: it is a near-field analogue of a night-vision camera, making use of the thermal infrared evanescent fields emitted by the surface, and behaves as an optical scanning tunnelling microscope. We therefore term this instrument a 'thermal radiation scanning tunnelling microscope' (TRSTM). We show the first TRSTM images of thermally excited surface plasmons, and demonstrate spatial coherence effects in near-field thermal emission.     

碳化硅薄膜的光学特性研究

采用螺旋波等离子体增强化学气相沉积(HW-PECVD)技术制备了纳米晶碳化硅(nc-SiC)薄膜,利用傅立叶红外吸收谱(FTIR)、X射线衍射谱(XRD)、紫外-可见透射光谱(UV-Vis)和光致发光谱(PL)对薄膜的结构、光学带隙、发光特性等进行了测量和分析.结果表明,所沉积薄膜主要以Si-C键合结构存在,薄膜中包含有立方结构的3C-SiC晶粒,光学带隙2.59 eV,室温下薄膜表现出强的可见蓝色光致发光,发光峰位随氙灯激发波长的增加呈现红移现象,并将此发光归因于量子限制效应作用的结果.     

Optical microscopy using a single-molecule light source

Rapid progress in science on nanoscopic scales has promoted increasing interest in techniques of ultrahigh-resolution optical microscopy. The diffraction limit can be surpassed by illuminating an object in the near field through a sub-wavelength aperture at the end of a sharp metallic probe. Proposed modifications of this technique involve replacing the physical aperture by a nanoscopic active light source. Advances in the spatial and spectral detection of individual fluorescent molecules, using near-field and far-field methods, suggest the possibility of using a single molecule as the illumination source. Here we present optical images taken with a single molecule as a point-like source of illumination, by combining fluorescence excitation spectroscopy with shear-force microscopy. Our single-molecule probe has potential for achieving molecular resolution in optical microscopy; it should also facilitate controlled studies of nanometre-scale phenomena (such as resonant energy transfer) with improved lateral and axial spatial resolution.     

过氧化物硅烷偶联剂在玻璃纤维表面上接枝高分子链的研究

合成了（ＣＨ３Ｏ）３ＳｉＣ３Ｈ６－Ｏ－Ｏ－Ｃ（ＣＨ３）３结构的过氧化物硅烷偶联剂，用红外光谱对其结构进行了表征，用膨胀计法测定了该偶联剂引发苯乙烯单体聚合的效果，发现其引发聚合的速率远高于未使用该偶联剂的苯乙烯样品，对参与聚合的玻璃纤维表面用光学显微镜及扫描电镜证明了该偶联剂对玻璃纤维偶联，引发聚合并产生高分子链的接枝能力。     

Imaging of apoptotic HeLa cells by using scanning near-field optical microscopy

By using scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM), HeLa cells in apoptosis process are imaged with a higher optical resolution beyond the diffraction limit. Since SNOM provides both topographic and transmitted light intensity information of a cell, it can correlate the structural characteristics and optical properties with the spatial position of the apoptotic cells. Wavelength imaging by using near-field spectroscopy shows that there is a great difference in light propagation and absorption in the cell. This unique technique can be applied to the super high resolution imaging of different components in the cell. The observations by near-field optical imaging and near-field spectroscopy indicate an inhomogeneous aggregation of the inner structure in the apoptotic HeLa cells and the change of transmission intensity of light with the apoptosis status.     

p-i-n型非晶硅薄膜电池p层材料制备及光学性能研究

采用射频等离子体增强化学气相沉积(RF-PECVD)方法制备非化学计量比氢化非晶碳化硅(a-SiC:H)薄膜材料,借助紫外可见(UV-Vis)光谱、激光拉曼(Raman)光谱和傅里叶变换红外(FTIR)光谱等手段,研究了p-i-n型非晶硅(a-Si:H)薄膜太阳能电池p层a-SiC:H薄膜材料的制备与光学性能.研究结果表明甲烷和硅烷掺杂比能影响a-Si:H薄膜成键情况,而射频功率一定程度上能影响薄膜沉积速率,该研究结果可为制备转换效率高、性能稳定的p-i-n型非晶硅薄膜太阳能电池提供支持.     

含有扭曲晶界相手性液晶AEMBB的合成

根据具有强扭曲的扭曲晶界相(TGB)理论,设计并合成了一种含有TGBC*相态的手性液晶单体(+)4-(2-丙烯酰氧基)乙氧基苯甲酰氧基-[4′-(2-甲基)丁氧基]联苯酯(AEMBB).通过红外光谱分析反应物的羧酸基和羟基峰的消失判断反应完成;通过核磁共振确定各氢原子位置以确定目标产物的实现;并通过偏光显微镜和DSC研究了目标产物的液晶性能和相转变类型.结合偏光显微镜和DSC证明单体AEMBB存在胆甾、扭曲晶界和手性近晶C等多种相态,为互变液晶.     

Sensitivity dependence of surface plasmon resonance based sensors on prism refractive index

We theoretically and experimentally demonstrate that refractive index of the prism used to load metal film has significant influence on sensitivity of surface plasmon resonance based sensors. The prism with lower refractive index gives the sensors a higher sensitivity in detecting refractive index variations of a sample. We attribute this effect to the fact that a prism with low refractive index will increase coupling distance between surface plasmons and the medium under investigation. Foundation item: Supported by Wuhan University and National Education Ministry of China Biography: Wang Guo-ping (1964-), male, Professor, research direction: bolographic materials, diffractive optical elements, optical properties of metallic nanopracticles and metal-dielectric nanostructures     

Optical nano-imaging of gate-tunable graphene plasmons

The ability to manipulate optical fields and the energy flow of light is central to modern information and communication technologies, as well as quantum information processing schemes. However, because photons do not possess charge, a way of controlling them efficiently by electrical means has so far proved elusive. A promising way to achieve electric control of light could be through plasmon polaritons—coupled excitations of photons and charge carriers—in graphene. In this two-dimensional sheet of carbon atoms, it is expected that plasmon polaritons and their associated optical fields can readily be tuned electrically by varying the graphene carrier density. Although evidence of optical graphene plasmon resonances has recently been obtained spectroscopically, no experiments so far have directly resolved propagating plasmons in real space. Here we launch and detect propagating optical plasmons in tapered graphene nanostructures using near-field scattering microscopy with infrared excitation light. We provide real-space images of plasmon fields, and find that the extracted plasmon wavelength is very short—more than 40 times smaller than the wavelength of illumination. We exploit this strong optical field confinement to turn a graphene nanostructure into a tunable resonant plasmonic cavity with extremely small mode volume. The cavity resonance is controlled in situ by gating the graphene, and in particular, complete switching on and off of the plasmon modes is demonstrated, thus paving the way towards graphene-based optical transistors. This successful alliance between nanoelectronics and nano-optics enables the development of active subwavelength-scale optics and a plethora of nano-optoelectronic devices and functionalities, such as tunable metamaterials, nanoscale optical processing, and strongly enhanced light–matter interactions for quantum devices and biosensing applications.     

扁平化Fe-Si-Al合金粉末的磁特性

采用砂磨工艺对水雾化Fe-Si-Al合金粉末进行扁平化处理,分别采用扫描电镜、红外吸收光谱表征样品结构,用振动样品磁强计测试静磁参数,并在2~18 GHz范围内测试复数磁导率.结果表明,砂磨处理时间增加,粉末的扁平率增大;粉末表面存在偶联剂包覆层,饱和磁化强度增大、矫顽力降低;微波特性方面,材料在测试频率范围内具有良好的频率响应特性,随着扁平率增大,样品在同频率下的复数磁导率实部和虚部均相应提高,自然共振频率向高频移动.     

利用SiC电致发光特性在线测量防晕层表面电场分布

基于SiC材料电致发光强度随电场强度增大而增强的特性，提出了一种在线测量发电机定子线圈端部SiC防晕涂层表面电场分布的新方法．该方法利用绝缘塑料光纤作为受光探头，避免了探头接触防晕涂层表面时引起该处电场畸变的问题．测量装置主要由光电转换、信号放大、信号处理单元组成．SiC防晕涂层特定点处电致发光信号波的峰一峰值Vpp与该处电场强度E之间呈对数关系．将此测量方法用于1级和3级SiC防晕涂层，实际测量所得防晕涂层各点的电场强度值与理论计算值符合较好，误差均能控制在0．05以内，说明该方法准确度较高．     

外磁场中的强耦合极化子性质

运用变分法系统地研究了外磁场下极化子的电声子耦合作用,其中具体考虑了电子和表面光学声子（ＳＯ）的强耦合作用以及与体纵光学声子（ＬＯ）的弱耦合作用,应用Ｈｕｙｂｅｒｔｃｈ提出的变分方法和二次么正变换,给出了电子－声相互作用能,数值结果表明：随着电子和晶体表面距离的增加,电子－表面光学声子相互作用能的数值减小,而电子－体纵光学声子相互作用能的数值增大;磁场增强,电子与两种声子之间的相互作用均增强。     

Tunable nanowire nonlinear optical probe

One crucial challenge for subwavelength optics has been the development of a tunable source of coherent laser radiation for use in the physical, information and biological sciences that is stable at room temperature and physiological conditions. Current advanced near-field imaging techniques using fibre-optic scattering probes have already achieved spatial resolution down to the 20-nm range. Recently reported far-field approaches for optical microscopy, including stimulated emission depletion, structured illumination, and photoactivated localization microscopy, have enabled impressive, theoretically unlimited spatial resolution of fluorescent biomolecular complexes. Previous work with laser tweezers has suggested that optical traps could be used to create novel spatial probes and sensors. Inorganic nanowires have diameters substantially below the wavelength of visible light and have electronic and optical properties that make them ideal for subwavelength laser and imaging technology. Here we report the development of an electrode-free, continuously tunable coherent visible light source compatible with physiological environments, from individual potassium niobate (KNbO3) nanowires. These wires exhibit efficient second harmonic generation, and act as frequency converters, allowing the local synthesis of a wide range of colours via sum and difference frequency generation. We use this tunable nanometric light source to implement a novel form of subwavelength microscopy, in which an infrared laser is used to optically trap and scan a nanowire over a sample, suggesting a wide range of potential applications in physics, chemistry, materials science and biology.     

Coupling strength of charge carriers to spin fluctuations in high-temperature superconductors

In conventional superconductors, the most direct evidence of the mechanism responsible for superconductivity comes from tunnelling experiments, which provide a clear picture of the underlying electron-phonon interactions. As the coherence length in conventional superconductors is large, the tunnelling process probes several atomic layers into the bulk of the material; the observed structure in the current-voltage characteristics at the phonon energies gives, through inversion of the Eliashberg equations, the electron-phonon spectral density alpha2F(omega). The situation is different for the high-temperature copper oxide superconductors, where the coherence length (particularly for c-axis tunnelling) can be very short. Because of this, methods such as optical spectroscopy and neutron scattering provide a better route for investigating the underlying mechanism, as they probe bulk properties. Accurate reflection measurements at infrared wavelengths and precise polarized neutron-scattering data are now available for a variety of the copper oxides, and here we show that the conducting carriers (probed by infrared spectroscopy) are strongly coupled to a resonance structure in the spectrum of spin fluctuations (measured by neutron scattering). The coupling strength inferred from those results is sufficient to account for the high transition temperatures of the copper oxides, highlighting a prominent role for spin fluctuations in driving superconductivity in these materials.     

Near-field coupling and SERS effects of palladium nanoparticle dimers

The linear optical properties and the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) effect of spherical palladium nanoparticle dimers are analyzed theoretically using generalized Mie theory. The calculation results demonstrate that the near-field coupling effect greatly influences the absorption, scattering and extinction spectra of nanoparticle dimers. The surface plasmon resonance wavelength red-shifts dramatically as the separation between nanoparticles decreases. Because of the near-field coupling between nanoparticles and the size effect, the maximum SERS enhancement factor at the ‘hot spot’ between palladium nanoparticle dimers is as high as 10⁷–10⁸, while the averaged SERS enhancement factor over the entire nanoparticle surface is in the range of 10⁵–10⁶. The deviation between the position of the peak in the extinction spectrum and the wavelength for maximum surface-averaged enhancement for the Pd nanoparticle dimers indicates that localized surface plasmon resonance has different influences on the far and near fields. These theoretical results may help to reveal the relationship between the far and near fields, as well as understand the mechanism of electromagnetic enhancement in the surface-enhanced scattering of transition metals.     

Optical detection of liquid-state NMR

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in liquids and solids is primarily detected by recording the net dipolar magnetic field outside the spin-polarized sample. But the recorded bulk magnetic field itself provides only limited spatial or structural information about the sample. Most NMR applications rely therefore on more elaborate techniques such as magnetic field gradient encoding or spin correlation spectroscopy, which enable spatially resolved imaging and molecular structure analysis, respectively. Here we demonstrate a fundamentally different and intrinsically information-richer modality of detecting NMR, based on the rotation of the polarization of a laser beam by the nuclear spins in a liquid sample. Optical NMR detection has in fact a long history in atomic vapours with narrow resonance lines, but has so far only been applied to highly specialized condensed matter systems such as quantum dots. It has been predicted that laser illumination can shift NMR frequencies and thus aid detection, but the effect is very small and has never been observed. In contrast, our measurements on water and liquid 129Xe show that the complementary effect-the rotation of light polarization by nuclear spins-is readily measurable, and that it is enhanced dramatically in samples containing heavy nuclei. This approach to optical NMR detection should allow correlated optical and NMR spectroscopy on complex molecules, and continuous two-dimensional imaging of nuclear magnetization with spatial resolution limited only by light diffraction.     

有限温度下极性晶体中表面磁极化的有效质量

在磁场中有不少的极性晶体，电子和体纵光学声子的耦合弱，而与表面光学声子的耦合强。本文讨论电子和体纵光学声子耦合弱，与表面光学声子耦合强时温度对表面磁极化子的特性的影响，用改进的线性组合算符法研究表面磁极化子的振动频率和有效质量的温度依赖性。对AgCl晶体进行了数值计算，结果表明，极化子的振动频率和有效质量随温度的升高而减小。     

5—(4—苄氧基苯基)—10、15、20—三(对氯苯基)卟啉金属钯配合物的合成与表征

文章报道了新型5-(4-苄氧基苯基)-10、15、20-三(对氯苯基)卟啉及其金属钯配合物的合成方法并通过紫外——可见光谱,红外光谱,核磁共振氢谱及元素分析等手段进行了其结构的表征。     

Surface characterization of polyimide and polyethylene terephthalate membranes toward plasma and UV treatments

This study is to bring an overview on various methods regarding the surface treatment performed on different polymeric membranes in relation to a deference between the treatment mechanism and their chemical structure. Herein, plasma and UV surface treatments (PST and UST) were utilized to treat the surfaces of two commercial membranes, i.e., aromatic polyimide and polyethylene terephthalate for various durations using a discharge electrode and an UV LED curing system, respectively. Based on the effects of PST and UST processes on the surface of these membranes, their surface properties have been characterized to surface morphology and hydrophilicity (or wettability), at same time the changes have probably occurred on their surface during the PST and UST processes. As a result, their hydrophilic behavior was significantly enhanced after conducting these treatment processes based on the investigation of water contact angle. Moreover, Fourier-transform infrared and Raman spectroscopy manifested the changes in the chemical bonds, interactions and orientations of molecules, which confirmed the apparition and insertion of polar functional groups after the surface treatments, and accordingly, their wettability was enhanced significantly. Also, optical microscopy images showed direct impactions on their surface and the evidence of slight surface aging/damage during the treatment processes based on the presentation of the strange streaks on the treated surfaces. In particular, the peel forces exhibited an increase comparing to the initial membranes, which is characteristically for enhancing their adhesion behavior. Hence, these results are needful for improving the surface properties of a material, and obtaining better adhesion behavior on the membrane-like materials and recycling polymer materials.