| NSF Org: |
ECCS Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 13, 2012 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 13, 2012 |
| Award Number: | 1232124 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Dimitris Pavlidis
ECCS Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems ENG Directorate for Engineering |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2012 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2016 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $320,270.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $320,270.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
104 AIRPORT DR STE 2200 CHAPEL HILL NC US 27599-5023 (919)966-3411 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
205 S. Columbia Street Chapel Hill NC US 27599-3255 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | EPMD-ElectrnPhoton&MagnDevices |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.041 |
ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT:
Objective: We have studied the propagation of light in nanoscale wires comprising a metal segment and a semiconducting segment, and we have observed that efficient electrical and optical coupling can be achieved between these two segments. We posit that tailoring the shape of the junction will control the polarization rotation of the light emitted from the distal semiconducting end of the nanowire relative to incident light coupled into the metal end of the nanowire. Our time-domain simulations reproduce many of our preliminary observations. We propose to optimize the asymmetric metal-semiconductor junctions for electrical and optical transport, and we describe a series of preliminary chemical sensing experiments.
Intellectual Merit: Propagation of plasmons in single-component metal nanowires is well understood, but propagation between different materials is still being explored. Control of polarization in such structures can be critical to the design of larger scale devices, but manipulation of the polarization in such structures is essentially untouched as a research field. This project will explore these areas, and will study potential sensing applications of this polarization rotation.
Broader Impact: Fundamental understanding and control of polarization in nanoscale photonic systems will have broad potential impacts in the technology of national security and communications. Sensing of pollutants and toxins has obvious importance in society and national security and experiments here may inform new methods of nanoscale sensors. In addition this project will focus on the recruitment of both undergraduate and graduate students from under-represented groups (NSF-AGEP, SMART, eg).
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
At some point in the near future scientists and engineers hope to create tiny (nanometer scale) optical circuits for faster communication and computation, as well as for more exotic applications such as quantum computing, etc. The new circuits will be built of nanowires that are narrower than the wavelength of light. This new technology will require exquisite control over the pulses of light that will serve as the information carriers in the circuits. For some applications it will be important to couple the pulses from metal nanowires into nonmetal nanowires, and the control over the polarization of the light is required for all such circuits. Our research came up with answers to how this can be done with very simple methods to create the metal-nonmetal structures that efficiently couple the light pulses and simultaneously rotate the polarization to any direction we choose. The results were confirmed with clear experiments and with numerical modeling. One further goal of the research was to discern if the effects could be used in gas sensing applications, but this remains unresolved.
In the course of the project a graduate student and two undergraduate students from under-represented were engaged in the research project. Two other graduate students and four other undergraduates contributed to the research.
Last Modified: 12/14/2016
Modified by: Sean Washburn
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