KEYWORDS: Sensors, Nanoparticles, Fluorescence resonance energy transfer, Signal processing, Time resolved spectroscopy, Spectroscopy, Resonance energy transfer, Reliability, Photodetectors, Luminescence
Many schemes have been proposed to measure physiological pH by conjugating pH-sensitive dyes with Upconverting Nanoparticles (UCNPs). However, the signal transduction is typically achieved by a combination of photon reabsorption and Förster resonant energy transfer (FRET) between UCNPs and dyes. While FRET senses the pH in the immediate vicinity of the sensor, photon reabsorption is strongly affected by the global environment, potentially obscuring the local pH values. In this presentation, we report a new sensing scheme that detects only the contributions by FRET and is insensitive to photon reabsorption, making it the first demonstration of truly local pH measurements.
Upconversion materials have attracted much interest for biomedical applications. However, a wide-spread use requires a much improved upconversion efficiency for which plasmonic nanostructures offer a highly promising route. This paper presents the latest development in plasmonic nanostructures coupled with upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs). First, a demonstration of over 1000x enhancement using a metal-insulator-metal architecture will be presented. Additionally, UCNP-gold nanostructure was conjugated with antibody to epidermal growth factor to target bladder cancer cells. We have demonstrated highly selective cell killing by optoporation-aided chemotherapy.
The ability to measure pH on a cellular scale has a wide range of potential use in biology and medicine. In this paper, we describe our work on creating a nanoscale pH sensor via the conjugation of upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) with a fluorescent dye. We will the explain the origin of the optical pH sensitivity, the conjugation procedure, as well as the various measurement techniques used to confirm the sensitivity. These nanoparticles allow simple optical sensing of pH without complicated intensity calibration process and could thus be widely applicable to many complex biological systems.
In order to overcome the low quantum yield of upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs), plasmonic nanostructures have been used due to their strongly modified local E-field. However, the complex nature of plasmon-upconversion interaction by field enhancement and luminescence quenching is not well appreciated in general. Here, we present a spectroscopic study on the interaction between NaYF4:Yb3+,Er3+ UCNPs and gold nanostructures. The luminescence is monitored as the nanostructure geometry is varied. The interplay between the positive effect of local field enhancement and the negative effect of luminescence quenching is carefully analyzed by numerical simulations and rate equation analysis.
Chalcogenides are a material platform for infrared nonlinear optics with high transmission and nonlinearity, but are susceptible to changes in bond structure during fabrication. These changes affect both the linear and nonlinear optical properties of the chalcogenide. We analyze the structure and optical properties of thermally evaporated and annealed Ge28Sb12Se60 to determine why these changes occur and how they can be rectified. We observe that thermally evaporated Ge28Sb12Se60 has an increased selenium content, increased bandgap, increased concentration of heteropolar bonds, and lower third order nonlinearity. We further observe that annealing above the glass transition temperature reduced the concentration of heteropolar bonds and increased the third order nonlinearity by a factor of four.
Upconverting nanophosphors (UCNPs) absorb two or more photons at 980nm and emit a higher energy photon in the visible range. UCNPs provide distinct advantages as biological imaging agents in that they have no autofluorescence, don’t photobleach, are capable of deep tissue imaging, exhibit no blinking, and are physically robust. Through surface modifications with an amphiphilic polymer, we can not only functionalize UCNPs for targeted imaging, but also tether them to plasmonic nanoparticles such as gold nanorods (AuNRs) for enhanced upconversion and multifunctionality.
We developed a process to construct UCNP-AuNR nanoclusters using polyethylene glycol. The UCNP-AuNR nanocluster is further modified with an anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (aEGFR), allowing specific binding to bladder cancer cells that highly express epidermal growth factor receptor. Once the nanoclusters bind to the cell membrane we can (1) perform targeted and high contrast imaging of the bladder cancer cells and (2) utilize localized surface plasmon of AuNRs to selectively kill the cells in situ upon detection by UCNP fluorescence.
Successful conjugation and integrity of the UCNP-AuNR nanoclusters were confirmed via electron microscopy. Then, through a combination of brighftield, confocal upconversion fluorescence, and infrared darkfield microscopy we demonstrate selective binding and high-contrast upconversion imaging of the bladder cancer cells. Finally, through a series of in vitro studies, we demonstrate two different methods of cell killing. First, with a continuous wave laser, we demonstrate effective thermal ablation of cells. Second, with a femtosecond pulse laser, we demonstrate optoporation of the cell membrane that allows increased uptake of drugs.
Chalcogenide glass (ChG) which contain one or more chalcogen elements is one of the most interesting material for infrared (IR) photonics owing to its unique optical properties, such as high refractive index, strong optical nonlinearity, and wide infrared transparency.
In this paper, we experimentally demonstrate high-quality ChG micro-disk resonators on oxidized silicon wafers fabricated by the standard UV photolithography and lift-off. Quality factor of micro-disk resonators are often limited by optical scattering loss induced by lithographically defined edge roughness. Thermal reflow of chalcogenide itself may significantly reduce edge roughness, but thermal shrinkage and deformation of the material during the reflow make it hard to precisely control the overall size and shape of the fabricated device. Instead, we reduce the sidewall roughness using thermal reflow of photoresist and modified bi-layer lift-off process. Typically, the thermal reflow of resist destroys the undercut or vertical sidewall profile of developed resist layer, making it extremely difficult or impossible to subsequently use lift-off or etching for patterning. We address this issue by first wet etching the silica substrate to undercut the reflowed photoresist, creating an overhang required for lift-off. ChG film is then deposited to produce a micro-disk resonator with much improved edge roughness. To finally create a micro-disk resonator on a silica pillar, we adopt vapor etching of the silica substrate. With optimized conditions of reflow and undercut, we obtained high quality ChG disk-resonators with extremely smooth edge profile, operating in the infrared region. Complete characterization results will be presented at the conference. The new method is compatible with traditional CMOS process and thus expected to have great potentials for fabricating high quality photonic integrated devices.
NaYF4:Yb3+,Er3+ upconverting nanophosphors (UCNPs) are robust and stable nanoparticles that absorb near-infrared (NIR) photons and emit green and red visible photons through energy transfer upconversion. This mechanism provides UCNPs several advantages as a bioimaging agent over traditional fluorescence imaging agent in that NIR excitation allows high-contrast imaging without autofluorescence and that they can be used for deep-tissue imaging. However, additional surface modification of UCNPs is necessary for them to be biocompatible.
We use an amphiphilic polymer (poly(maleic anhydride-alt-octadecene) (PMAO) and a hetero-functional polyethylene glycol with amine and thiol ends (NH2-PEG-SH)) to make the UCNPs water-soluble. This reaction yields a carboxylic group that allows functionalization with anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (aEGFR), which provides specific binding of UCNPs to EGFR-expressing bladder cancer cells.
Additionally, the thiol ends of the PEGylated UCNPs are able to bind with gold nanorods (AuNRs) to create UCNP-AuNR complexes. The localized surface plasmon of the AuNR then allow localized heating of HTB9 bladder cancer cells, enabling in situ cell killing upon detection by UCNP fluorescence.
Here, we report a successful synthesis, surface modification and conjugation of aEGFR functionalized UCNP-AuNR complexes and in vitro imaging and thermal ablation studies using them. Synthesis and surface modification of UCNP-AuNR complexes are confirmed by electron microscopy. Then, a combination of brightfield, NIR confocal fluorescence, and darkfield microscopy on the UCNP-AuNR treated bladder cancer cells revealed successful cancer targeting and imaging capabilities of the complex. Finally, cell viability assay showed that NIR irradiation of UCNP-AuNR conjugated cells resulted highly selective cell killing.
Rare-earth activated upconversion material is receiving renewed attention for their potential applications in bioimaging and solar energy conversion. Plasmon resonance can enhance the upconversion efficiency but the enhancement mechanism remained unclear due to the inherent complexity of upconversion process.
In this study, we synthesized NaYF4:Yb3+,Er3+ upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) and modified the surface with an amphiphilic polymer, (poly(maleic anhydride-alt-octadecene) (PMAO), which makes UCNPs water-soluble and negatively charged. This in turn enables electrostatic self-assembly of UCNPs. We fabricated silver nanograting using laser-interference lithography and deposited 3 monolayers of UNCPs by polyelectrolyte-mediated layer-by-layer self-assembly process. It is noted that all the fabrication processes are scalable.
We then conducted a comprehensive photoluminescence (PL) and transient PL spectroscopy. We observed up to 39x enhancement in PL intensity. A combination of numerical simulations, rate equation analysis and transient PL spectroscopy revealed that the total enhancement is made of 3.1x absorption enhancement and 2.7x energy transfer rate enhancement. The absorption enhancement makes the most contribution because the upconverted PL intensity varies quadratically with the absorption. This study represents the first experimental observation of plasmon enhanced energy transfer rate in UCNPs. It contributes to the long debate on the plasmon enhancement of Förster energy transfer process.
Finally, we developed a new numerical modeling tool that can faithfully simulate the highly non-uniform light absorption and carrier generation in the plasmon enhanced photovoltaic devices. We used the tool to precisely predict the performance of photovoltaic devices incorporating plasmon enhanced upconversion and offer guidelines for upconversion photovoltaic devices.
We have theoretically and experimentally investigated the effects of Ag-grating electrode on the performance of polymer:fullerene based bulk heterojunction organic solar cells. First, an integrated numerical model has been developed, which is capable of describing both the optical and the electrical properties simultaneously. The Ag-grating patterned back electrode was then designed to enhance the absorption in sub-bandgap region of P3HT:PCBM binary devices. Laser interference lithography and metal lift-off technique were adopted to realize highly-uniform and large-area nanograting patterns. We measured almost 5 times enhancement of the external quantum efficiency at the surface plasmon resonance wavelength. However, the overall improvement in power conversion efficiency was not significant due to the low intrinsic absorption of active layer in this sub-bandgap region. We, then, investigated about the effect of surface plasmon on the ternary device of P3HT:Si-PCPDTBT:ICBA. It was demonstrated that the infrared absorption by the Si-PCPDTBT sensitizer can be substantially enhanced by matching the surface plasmon resonance to the sensitizer absorption band. Besides, we also observed an additional enhancement in the visible range which is due to the scattering effect of the gratings. An overall short-circuit current enhancement of up to 40% was predicted numerically. We have then fabricated the device by the lamination technique and observed a 30% increase in the short circuit current. Plasmon enhancement of sensitized organic solar cell presents a promising pathway to high-efficiency, broadband-absorbing polymer:fullerene bulk heterojunction organic solar cells.
Applications of polymer post processing of silicon on insulator (SoI) devices are demonstrated. Polymer
overlays on SoI nanophotonic circuits are used, on the one hand, to improve optical antenna transception for
an any-one-to-all array and, on the other hand, a similar photodefinable coating is used to passively tune the
dispersive characteristics of waveguides embedded in photonic crystals. Discussion is given to the polymer
formulation. Coating that requires infiltration into voids with dimension 100 nm and less demands optimized
wetting properties from the pre-cured polymer-in-solution. Atomic Force and Scanning Electron micrographs
and Zygo interferometer image illustrate the quality of the post-photo-definition, cured coatings. Transmission
measurements show a 10 dB improvement in the received signal level for a coated versus uncoated antenna
pair radiating and receiving at 1550 nm. Wavelength dependent transmission measurements on waveguides in
photonic crystals demonstrate that tuning can be affected in post processing performed after foundry fabrication.
Careful formulation of the polymer for nano infiltration allows for tuning without increased attenuation.
Recently, metamaterial cloaks for the microwave frequency range have been designed
using transformative optics design techniques and experimentally demonstrated. The design of
these structures requires extreme values of permittivity and permeability within the device, which
has been accomplished by the use of resonating metal elements. However, these elements
severely limit the operating frequency range of the cloak due to their non-ideal dispersion
properties at optical frequencies.
In this paper we present designs to implement a simpler demonstration of cloaking, the
carpet cloak, in which a curved reflective surface is compressed into a flat reflective surface,
effectively shielding objects behind the curve from view with respect to the incoming radiation
source. This approach eliminates the need for metallic resonant elements. These structures can
now be fabricated using only high index dielectric materials by the use of electron beam
lithography and standard cleanroom technologies. The design method, simulation analysis, device
fabrication, and near field optical microscopy (NSOM) characterization results are presented for
devices designed to operate in the 1400-1600nm wavelength range. Improvements to device
performance by the deposition/infiltration of linear, and potentially non-linear optical materials,
were investigated.
We designed, fabricated and characterized MEMS-enabled mechanically-tunable photonic crystal lens comprised of 2D
photonic crystal and symmetrical electro-thermal actuators. The 2D photonic crystal was made of a honeycomb-lattice of
340 nm thick, 260 nm diameter high-index silicon rods embedded in low-index 10 μm thick SU-8 cladding. Silicon input
waveguide and deflection block were also fabricated for light in-coupling and monitoring of focused spot size,
respectively. When actuated, the electro-thermal actuators induced mechanical strain which changed the lattice constant
of the photonic crystal and consequently modified the photonic band structure. This in turn modified the focal-length of
the photonic crystal lens. The fabricated device was characterized using a tunable laser (1400~1602 nm) and an infrared
camera during actuation. At the wavelength of 1450 nm, the lateral light spot size observed at the deflection block
gradually decreased 40%, as applied current increased from 0 to 0.7 A, indicating changes in focal length in response to
the mechanical stretching.
Recently developed metal nanoshells are ideal building blocks for metal-dielectric photonic crystals operating in visible and near-infrared spectrum. We applied silica coating to screen the van der Waals force and also added a dispersant to increase the electrostatic repulsive force. We also stabilized the gold nanoshell sterically by using a surfactant. With the use of tetrasodium pyrophosphate as a dispersant and Tween as a surfactant, we successfully obtained highly stable colloidal solution of gold nanoshells and subsequently self-assembled them into highly ordered opal structures. We observed well-defined diffraction pattern in the fast Fourier Transform spectra and optical spectra that match well the theoretical photonic band structure.
We show experimental results of anomalous refraction through a photonic crystal membrane. The membrane layer consists of a thin polymer film suspending a triangular array of silicon pillars. Light is coupled into the photonic crystal (PC) through ridge waveguides etched onto a silicon substrate. By altering the shape of the tip of the input waveguides, we can shape the light that is incident into the PC. In this paper we show that when we shape the field to be quasi point source like, the PC focuses the incident light onto a deflection block placed behind the membrane structure. We experimentally observe focusing of both TE and TM light inside the PC. In the same structure we have previously shown that when we illuminate the PC with a much broader beam incident at an angle, the light negatively refracts through the crystal. We designed the device so that it is capable of being stretched by mechanical actuators, which will stretch the polymer film and silicon lattice and distort the photonic band structure. Mechanical stretching of the dimensions of the flexible PC makes possible a device that can dynamically change its beam steering and focusing properties.
A novel micro-electro-optic filter formed by integrating photonic crystals with photodiodes on a silicon substrate is demonstrated in this paper. P-n diodes were fabricated on a Silicon wafer using standard processes. Reactive ion etching (RIE) was used to form trenches into the diodes to contain and position photonic crystals. The wafer was then immersed vertically into a slowly evaporating colloidal suspension of silica mircrospheres to assemble the photonic crystal over the photodiodes. Spectral measurements using a grating monochrometer confirmed that a dip exists in the photocurrent response of the photonic crystal filter-photodetectors at the predicted wavelength of 600 nm. We performed a series of measurements using several different sphere sizes and light incidence angles to further characterize the filters, and evaluated the use of device as a wavelength selective detector. Since silica has a low coefficient of thermal expansion, the wavelength selective characteristics of the device are expected to be insensitive to ambient temperatures.
We report data on a new nanophotonic device based on a 2-D slab silicon photonic crystal (PC) matrix composed of a periodic array of high index silicon pillars embedded within a flexible low index polyimide matrix. To our knowledge, for the first time, negative refraction based on the superprism effect is reported in a 2-D silicon-based photonic crystal device. This work has a huge potential in various applications employed within silicon-based photonic crystal systems such as super-lenses, tunable filters, and optical switches.
The device, designed for 1.54 μm infrared light, is composed of a triangular array of silicon pillars of diameter 400 nm with a lattice spacing of 616 nm embedded in a thin 400 nm thick polyimide matrix. Small changes in the incoming angle of light can produce large changes in the direction of the outgoing light near zero stress.
Silicon pillars are formed by RIE etching and polyimide is then spun on, baked and etched to form the PC device. The PC matrix is then released from the oxide with a BOE etch. Samples with incident angles in the range of 0° ~ 8° have been tested. Strong negative refraction on the order of 50° is seen in the PC with the incident angle of 8°. This is in close agreement with the simulated results and clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of the photonic crystal device.
We present a review of recent studies into the tunability of 2D PC slab waveguides designs. The properties of dynamic, static and hybrid superlattice photonic crystals are reviewed and the mechanism of tunability and its impact on tuning the refractive and dispersion and propagation properties are presented.
We report a tunable nanophotonic device concept based on flexible photonic crystal, which is comprised of a periodic array of high index dielectric material and a low index flexible polymer. Tunability is achieved by applying mechanical force with nano-/micro-electron-mechanical system actuators. The mechanical stress induces changes in the periodicity of the photonic crystal and consequently modifies the photonic band structure. To demonstrate the concept, we theoretically investigated the effect of mechanical stress on the anomalous refraction behavior and observed a very wide tunability in the beam propagation direction. Extensive experimental studies on fabrication and characterizations of the flexible photonic crystal structures were also carried out. High quality nanostructures were fabricated by e-beam lithography. Efficient coupling of laser beam and negative refraction in the flexible PC structures have been demonstrated. The new concept of tunable nanophotonic device provides a means to achieve real-time, dynamic control of photonic band structure and will thus expand the utility of photonic crystal structures in advanced nanophotonic systems.
We present the results of a systematic photoluminescence study of ZnGa2O4:Mn phosphor powder. This phosphor exhibits bright green luminescence with a spectral peak at 2.46 eV and CIE chromaticity coordinates of x equals 0.073 and y equals 0.696 at room temperature. At low temperatures the luminescence consisted of three components assigned to the 4T1-6A1 inner transition of the 3D electrons of Mn2+ ions located on different sites of the host crystal. Selective excitations were used to validate the assignment of these features based on a strong-field scheme. The photoluminescence lifetime showed a single exponential decay of about 4 ms and at T equals 1.6 K an optical phonon related fine structure [Ephonon equals (8.2 plus or minus 0.2) meV] of the main photoluminescence line was observed. These results indicate that Mn-doped ZnGa2O4 has the potential to serve as a green phosphor for field emission display (FED) devices. The CIE coordinates of the green emission measured for this phosphor powder are also sufficient to produce a wide color gamut and a true white color when combined with other red and blue phosphors in FED display devices.
Thin film luminescent layers have applications in electroluminescent devices and potential application to other displays with high brightness and high resolution requirements. Displays such as field emission devices where high current densities, high electric fields, and small dimensional tolerances are present require phosphors which have high maintenance qualities and good adherence to the face plate. To increase the luminance of EL displays high quality phosphor layers are necessary. In this study, we report the growth kinetics studies of ZnS and the properties of high quality ZnS layers grown by metalorganic molecular beam epitaxial deposition for display applications. The layers' structural and optical properties have been characterized by x-ray diffraction, electron and optical microscopy, and photoluminescence spectroscopy. These measurements were made as a function of the growth and process conditions such as growth temperature, flux ratios, different sulfur precursors, etc. PL spectra exhibited free- and bound-exciton transitions indicative of high quality ZnS material.
This paper presents results from an exploratory research effort involving active control of rotor noise using blade airfoil shape changes. Using a numerical technique for solving the unsteady transonic full potential flow equation, the rotor blade flow problem is considered to study the effect of blade airfoil shape changes on the mach number distribution over the surface of the blade. In particular, the magnitude and location of maximum shape changes required to eliminate shock waves present on the blade (and hence the associated noise) are identified.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.