1,721,223 research outputs found
Nanophotonics with the scanning electron microscope
Physical size and power consumption are both increasingly important issues in increasing the data throughput of future optical interconnects, switches and ultimately even optical memory elements. In this respect, phase-change memories have proven to be strong candidates, with data recording done by switching the material between amorphous and crystalline phases, much in line with today's DVD/DVR technology. However, polymorphic systems exist in which crystalline-to-crystalline transitions can provide for higher-base logics as well. In particular, by coding each distinct optical characteristic by a unique label, the different optical cross-sections of absorption and scattering of the crystalline phases of a single nanoparticle can be used as a logical element
Nonlinear magneto-optical Bragg gratings
In magneto-optical gratings the magnetic dipolar coupling superimposed on the electric dipolar one introduces nonreciprocity and spectral discrimination between circular polarization states, measured by a Zeeman-like splitting of the photonic Bragg resonances. In a nonlinear regime the degree of nonreciprocity is modified by the photoinduced interplay of these splittings and their Stark-like shifts. We predict novel magneto-optical modulation schemes for switching between orthogonal circular polarization states of transmission or reflection operated by means of an intense linearly polarized optical pulse train
Generation of surface plasmons by electron beam excitation
We report on the first demonstration of excitation of propagating surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) by injection of a beam of free electrons on an unstructured metal interface, providing a highly localized and intense source of plasmon waves. The plasmons were detected by a grating-assisted decoupling into light at a set of distances from the excitation point. This technique allows the high-resolution mapping of plasmon and photon emission from metal nanostructures
Phase-change memory functionality in gallium nanoparticles
We report that the structural phase of gallium nanoparticles can be switched by optical excitation and read via their cathodoluminescence (CL) when excited by a scanning electron beam. This opens a new paradigm in developing high-density phase change optical memory elements. A film of gallium nanoparticles was sputtered at the end face of an optical fiber, through which the reflectivity at 195 K was monitored by a 1.31 µm laser. By launching a single pulse from a 1.55 µm laser (17 mW, 1 µs) to the sample, a solid-to-liquid phase transition was observed as an immediate change of reflectivity from 10.0 to 10.5 %. CL spectra were measured immediately before and after the phase transition. The spectra show that gallium nanoparticles luminesce in the range of 400-650 nm, in which there at 520 nm is a 10 % difference of emission before and after the phase transition, due to a difference in optical properties. In future continuation of this first demonstration of electron beam read-out of the phase of nanoparticles, it is likely that the electron beam itself can change the phase of individual nanoparticles in the film, and that this phase furthermore can be read out at lower power by its cathode luminescence response with the same electron beam
All-optical phase-change memory in a single gallium nanoparticle
We report on the first demonstration of a quaternary-logical resonatorless optical memory element with information encoded in the structural phase of a single 80 nm gallium nanoparticle. The size of the memory element is comparable with bits in next-generation hard disks, and radically smaller than previously suggested memories exploiting optical resonators. Furthermore, the energy required for switching the nanoparticle is an order of magnitude less than needed in DVD, DVR, or hard disk technologies
Optical size control in growth of gallium nanoparticles
We report that a low level of optical excitation provides a substantial influence on the size distribution of gallium nanoparticles grown from the atomic beam on a cryogenic substrate, thus providing a new way of achieving tailored films of nanoparticles with given characteristics. The growth experiments, performed in situ in the vacuum chamber of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with an inverted effusion cell, revealed that the median diameter of the nanoparticles decreases with increasing irradiating optical power, with 0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 mW average power resulting in 70, 50 and 45 nm particles, respectively
Hyperspectral imaging of plasmonic excitations induced by an electron beam
We report on the first realization of a hyperspectral imaging technique of surface plasmon polaritons using a scanning electron beam. The technique provides for plasmon imaging and information on decay lengths with nanometer resolution
Phase-change memory functionality in gallium nanoparticles
We report that the structural phase of gallium nanoparticles can be switched by optical excitation and read via their cathodoluminescence (CL) when excited by a scanning electron beam. This opens a new paradigm in developing high density phase change optical memory elements
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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