|
|
|||||||
Research
Assistant
I am looking for graduate students interested
in designing, modeling, fabricating, and testing nanophotonic
devices and metamaterials. |
Zhaolin Lu
Exploring A Plasmonic
Alternative Zhaolin
Lu and his team at RIT's Nanoplasmonics and Metamaterials lab are exploring the integration of
optical and electrical signals. Zhaolin Lu and his team at RIT's Nanoplasmonics
and Metamaterials lab are exploring the integration
of optical and electrical signals. "Recently, nanoplasmonics
has risen from a relatively obscure science to a prominent field of research,
says Lu, assistant professor of microsystems
engineering. "Our lab is focused on experimental and theoretical aspects
of this rapidly developing field. "The work has application in areas ranging
from the semiconductor industry to development of surface plasmon-enhanced
solar cells. Lu has received funding from
the National Science Foundation, Department of Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA), and the American Chemical Society. Plasmons are nanoscopic waves in the sea of free electrons inside and
on the surface of metals. Surface plasmon-based
circuits, which merge electronic and photonic circuits at the nanoscale, offer the potential to carry optical signals
and electric currents through the same thin metal circuitry, effectively
combining photonics and electronics on the same chip. One of the biggest challenges with photonics is that the
wavelength of a guided photon is relatively large-on the order of 100 nanometers.
That's much larger than what's currently possible with electronic
semiconductors, where resolution of 32 or even 26 nanometers is possible. Lu
is developing techniques using plasmonics to reduce
the wavelength of light to potentially 10 nanometers. To couple light into a waveguide supporting nanoscale mode size and consequently to squeeze light
into an ultra-small spot are critical to imaging quality, optical data
storage, manipulation of nanostructures, and optical lithography in the
semiconductor industry. The extremely high light intensity resulting from the
ultra-small spot can be used to make ultra-small and ultra-fast
electric-optic or all-optic modulators. Lu has successfully squeezed a 1550 nanometer infrared
beam into a 21 x 24 nanometer spot with 62 percent efficiency. The project
coupled light from a dielectric waveguide into a metal-dielectric-metal plasmonic waveguide, a technique developed by the RIT
team. Lu's demonstration was covered in "Beam Shaping: Plasmonics Squeeze IR Light into Nanospot,"
an rticle published in Laser Focus World (January
2009). "Plasmonic waveguides
support nanoscale modes with acceptable propagation
loss and are believed to be the technique merging photonics and electronics
at nanoscale dimensions," Lu reported.
"In this sense, nanoscale confinement of light
is the initial motivation to develop surface plasmon-based
circuits. A key feature of our device is that it is a planar structure and
cab be fabricated with standard semiconductor techniques." Lu, who received his Ph.D. from the University of
Delaware, came to RIT in 2007. He has published numerous publications,
including a book, Dispersioin Engineered Photonic
Crystals (2008). In 2008, he received the Texas Instruments/Douglass Harvey
Faculty Development Award.
|
||||||
Copyright ©
2011. All Rights
Reserved.