News
Monday September 20 2004
The Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded a multi-million dollar grant to a team of Stanford researchers to study Plasmon Enabled Nanophotonic Circuits. This grant is part of a Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program that is designed to address large multidisciplinary topics representing exceptional opportunities for the DoD. Mark Brongersma, assistant professor of Materials Science and Engineering, is leading the research team and Dr. Gernot Pomrenke from the Air Force Office of Sponsored Research (AFOSR) is the program manager.
The center will investigate the unique optical properties of metallic nanostructures for use in new optical device concepts. Whereas the usefulness of semiconductors and insulators in such devices is well-established, the true value of metallic optical components has long been underestimated. For example, it was recently discovered that nanoscale metallic wires and nanoparticle arrays can guide light waves in ways that are unimaginable with semiconductors and insulators. Metals are unique in their ability to manipulate light at the nanoscale. The origin of this unique property lies in the ability of metals to sustain collective electron oscillations, also know as plasmons. This aspect can be exploited to fabricate ultra-high speed subwavelength light (plasmonic) sources, waveguides, modulators, splitters, detectors, and maybe even a nanoscale optical transistor!? Interestingly, that it not all plasmonics has in store for us! Researchers around the globe are also using plasmonic structures to enable more efficient harvesting of light from the sun, directed and enhanced light emission from light sources, subwavelength photolithography, sensors that can detect a small number of molecules, and faster information transport over the internet. With this promise, it is not surprising that “plasmonics” was recently branded one of the next big things in nanotechnology.
The latest advances in electromagnetic simulations and nanofabrication techniques allow these unique properties to be utilized in real devices. Current silicon-based integrated circuit technology is already making nanoscale metallic structures such as copper and aluminum interconnects to route electronic signals on a chip. In the future such interconnects may, in addition to carrying current, also guide light around an optoelectronic chip. The team will use the mature silicon processing technology to their advantage to enable low-cost fabrication of these nanoscale, metal optical devices.
The other Stanford participants on this MURI team are Shanhui Fan (Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering) and David Miller (Professor of Electrical Engineering). Together they will address the many aspects of the design, ultra-large scale computer simulation, fabrication, and testing of a “toolkit” of plasmonic devices. This research effort relies on a number of established collaborations with Academic and Industrial partners at Stanford and around the world. With about ten groups actively exploring the optical properties of metallic nanostructures, Stanford is one of the leading research institutes in the area of nanophotonics and plasmonics. If you would like to learn more please visit: https://brongersma.stanford.edu/plasmonmuri/