42 results about "Plasmonic nanostructures" patented technology

The present invention generally relates to nanoantenna arrays and methods of their fabrication. In particular, one aspect relates to nanoantenna arrays comprising nanostructures of predefined shapes in predefined patterns, which results in collective excitement of surface plasmons. In some embodiments the nanoantenna arrays can be used for spectroscopy and nanospectroscopy. Another aspects of the present invention relate to a method of high-throughput fabrication of nanoantenna arrays includes fabricating a reusable nanostencil for nanostensil lithography (NSL) which provides a mask to deposit materials onto virtually any support, such as flexible and thin-film stretchable supports. The nanostencil lithography methods enable high quality, high-throughput fabrication of nanostructures on conducting, non-conducting and magnetic supports. The nanostencil can be prepared by etching nanoapertures of predefined patterns into a waffer or ceramic membrane. In some embodiments, a nanoantenna array comprises plasmonic nanostructures or non-plasmonic nanostructures.

A planar plasmonic device includes a first material layer having a surface configured to receive at least one photon of incident light. A patterned plasmonic nanostructured layer is disposed adjacent and optically coupled to the first material layer. The patterned plasmonic nanostructured layer includes a selected one of: a) at least a portion of a surface of the patterned plasmonic nanostructured layer includes a textured surface, and b) at least one compound nanofeature including a first material disposed adjacent to a second material within the compound nanofeature.

A new hybrid nanoparticle, i.e., a nanorice particle, which combines the intense local fields of nanorods with the highly tunable plasmon resonances of nanoshells, is described herein. This geometry possesses far greater structural tunability than previous nanoparticle geometries, along with much larger local field enhancements and far greater sensitivity as a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) nanosensor than presently known dielectric-conductive material nanostructures. In an embodiment, a nanoparticle comprises a prolate spheroid-shaped core having a first aspect ratio. The nanoparticle also comprises at least one conductive shell surrounding said prolate spheroid-shaped core. The nanoparticle has a surface plasmon resonance sensitivity of at least 600 nm RIU−1. Methods of making the disclosed nanorice particles are also described herein.

A new hybrid nanoparticle, i.e., a nanorice particle, which combines the intense local fields of nanorods with the highly tunable plasmon resonances of nanoshells, is described herein. This geometry possesses far greater structural tunability than previous nanoparticle geometries, along with much larger local field enhancements and far greater sensitivity as a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) nanosensor than presently known dielectric-conductive material nanostructures. In an embodiment, a nanoparticle comprises a prolate spheroid-shaped core having a first aspect ratio. The nanoparticle also comprises at least one conductive shell surrounding said prolate spheroid-shaped core. The nanoparticle has a surface plasmon resonance sensitivity of at least 600 nm RIU−1. Methods of making the disclosed nanorice particles are also described herein.

The present invention provides a new approach for subwavelength cavity solutions. Employment of a reflecting metasurface based on plasmonic nanostructure elements changes the cavity resonance condition that currently causes restrictions on minimum length. The short length of wave propagation between the cavity walls is compensated by strong localization of electromechanical energy near the metasurface walls, which experience considerable phase shifts over a very small distance. Subwavelength 2D and 3D cavities find implementation as laser sources, optical parametric oscillators, interferometers, laser phase and frequency stabilizers, laser spatial and temporal filters, adaptive beam, and pulse shaping devices.

The invention provides a plasma nano-structure assisted femtosecond laser nano-manufacturing method and system and belongs to the field of laser micronano-structure processing. Through the plasma nano-structure assisted femtosecond laser nano-manufacturing method and system, the problems that the optical diffraction limit is hard to break through during conventional laser precision machining, a hard and brittle material is hard to machine, the requirements for the machining environment are high, the cost is high and machining is hard to implement in the air environment are solved. According tothe method, through LSPR enhancement of a plasma nano-structure is motivated through femtosecond laser to generate a space height localized patterning optical near field beyond the optical diffraction limit on the surface of the material to be machined, and the material is subjected to area arrayed and patterned ultrahigh resolution nano-machining. Through the method, the limitation of the optical diffraction limit of a traditional machining method can broken through, and wide-range and high-precision parallel machining is realized. The method has the characteristics that the range of the machining material is wide, free special machining is realized, the cost is low, and the method is simple and easy to implement.

A method for calibrating multiple nanostructures in parallel for quantitative biosensing using a chip for localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) biosensing and imaging. The chip is a glass coverslip compatible for use in a standard microscope with at least one array of functionalized plasmonic nanostructures patterned onto it using electron beam nanolithography. The chip is used to collect CCD-based LSPR imagery data of each individual nanostructure and LSPR spectral data of the array. The spectral data is used to determine the fractional occupancy of the array. The imagery data is modeled as a function of fractional occupancy to determine the fractional occupancy of each individual nanostructure.

A plasmonic nanostructure includes two plasmonic nanorods spaced apart by a gap and interconnected by a conductive junction spanning the gap, and mimics a longer nanostructure. This provides an ability to tune a structure in wavelengths that would be difficult to otherwise achieve.

Dynamic, color-changing surfaces have many applications including but not limited to displays, wearables, and active camouflage. Plasmonic nanostructures can fill this role with the advantages of ultra-small pixels, high reflectivity, and post-fabrication tuning through control of the surrounding media. However, while post-fabrication tuning have yet to cover a full red-green-blue (RGB) color basis set with a single nanostructure of singular dimensions, the present invention contemplates a novel LC-based apparatus and methods that enable such tuning and demonstrates a liquid crystal-plasmonic system that covers the full red / green / blue (RGB) color basis set, as a function only of voltage. This is accomplished through a surface morphology-induced, polarization dependent, plasmonic resonance and a combination of bulk and surface liquid crystal effects that manifest at different voltages. The resulting LC-plasmonic system provides an unprecedented color range for a single plasmonic nanostructure, eliminating the need for the three spatially static sub-pixels of current displays. The system's compatibility with existing LCD technology is possible by integrating it with a commercially available thin-film-transistor (TFT) array. The imprinted surface readily interfaces with computers to display images as well as video.

The present invention is concerned with a plasmonic enhanced tandem dye sensitized solar cell system. The system has plasmonic nanostructures integrated to both a photoanode and a photocathode for enhancing respective electron and hole carrier transfer.

Disclosed is a photodetector including an electrically conductive substrate, a first electrode formed on the substrate, a second electrode disposed to be spaced apart from the first electrode, a plasmonic nanostructure positioned between the first electrode and the second electrode and having surface plasmon resonance, and a resistance measuring device or an electrical conductivity measuring device connected to the first electrode and the second electrode.

Utilization of the near percolation plasmonic nanostructures near the photoconversion layer in photovoltaic device provide significant enhancement in the efficiency. Photovoltaic devices utilizing efficiency enhancement due to utilization of near percolation plasmonic nanostructures and methods of photovoltaic device fabrication provide an improved solar cells that can be used for power generation and other applications.

A security element including: a first layer having a first surface; an array of image regions across the surface, each including at least first and second sub-regions; a first array of plasmonic nanostructures in or on the surface across the first sub-regions, defining in each a corresponding portion of a first image; a second array across the second sub-regions, defining in each a corresponding portion of a second image; wherein each sub-region has a respective average inclination and the average inclinations of the first sub-regions are such that the first image is displayed at least at a first viewing angle and those of the second sub-regions are such that the second image is displayed at least at a second viewing angle different from the first and the second image is substantially not or only partially displayed at least at the first angle. Also, a method of manufacturing the security element.

The present invention is concerned with a plasmonic enhanced tandem dye sensitized solar cell system. The system has plasmonic nanostructures integrated to both a photoanode and a photocathode for enhancing respective electron and hole carrier transfer.

Disclosed is a photodetector including an electrically conductive substrate, a first electrode formed on the substrate, a second electrode disposed to be spaced apart from the first electrode, a plasmonic nanostructure positioned between the first electrode and the second electrode and having surface plasmon resonance, and a resistance measuring device or an electrical conductivity measuring device connected to the first electrode and the second electrode.

The present invention generally relates to nanoantenna arrays and fabrication methods of said nanoantenna arrays. In particular, one aspect relates to nanoantenna arrays including nanostructures of predefined shapes in predefined patterns, which results in collective excitement of surface plasmons. The nanoantenna arrays can be used for spectroscopy and nanospectroscopy. Another aspects of the present invention relate to a method of high-throughput fabrication of nanoantenna arrays includes fabricating a reusable nanostencil for nanostensil lithography (NSL) which provides a mask to deposit materials onto virtually any support, such as flexible and thin-film stretchable supports. The nanostencil lithography methods enable high quality, high-throughput fabrication of nanostructures on conducting, non-conducting and magnetic supports. The nanostencil can be prepared by etching nanoapertures of predefined patterns into a waffer or ceramic membrane. In some embodiments, a nanoantenna array includes plasmonic nanostructures or non-plasmonic nanostructures.

A solar cell device and a method of fabricating the same are described. The method of fabricating a solar cell includes forming a photovoltaic substructure including a substrate, back contact, absorber and buffer, forming a transparent cover separate from the photovoltaic substructure including a transparent layer and a plasmonic nanostructured layer in contact with the transparent layer, and adhering the transparent cover on top of the photovoltaic substructure. The plasmonic nanostructured layer can include metal nanoparticles.

Disclosed herein is a fluorescent nanoconstruct that includes a plasmonic nanostructure having at least one localized surface plasmon resonance wavelength (λLSPR), at least one spacer coating, at least one fluorescent agent having a maximum excitation wavelength (λEX), and wherein the fluorescent nanoconstruct has a fluorescent intensity that is at least 500 times greater than a fluorescent intensity of the at least one fluorescent agent alone.

A chip for localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) biosensing and imaging having a glass coverslip compatible for use in a standard microscope and at least one array of functionalized plasmonic nanostructures patterned onto the glass coverslip with electron beam nanolithography. The nanostructures can be regenerated allowing the chip to be used multiple times. Also disclosed is a method for determining the fractional occupancy values for surface-bound receptors as a function of time for LSPR biosensing from the spectroscopic response of the array and modeling the photon count in each spectrometer channel, allowing for a functional relationship to be determined between the acquired spectrum and the fractional occupancy of binding sites on the array. Additionally disclosed is a method for the spatiotemporal mapping of receptor-ligand binding kinetics in LSPR imaging using the chip and projecting a magnified image of the array to a CCD camera and monitoring the binding kinetics of the array.

Fluorescence-based techniques are the cornerstone of modern biomedical optics with applications ranging from bioimaging at various scales (organelle to organism) to detection and quantification of a wide variety of biological species of interest. However, feeble fluorescence signal remains a persistent challenge in meeting the ever-increasing demand to image, detect and quantify biological species of low abundance. Disclosed herein are simple and universal methods based on a flexible and conformal elastomeric film adsorbed with plasmonic nanostructures, referred to as “plasmonic skin” or “plasmonic patch”, that provide large and uniform enhancement of fluorescence on a variety of surfaces, through an “add-on-top” process. The novel fluorescence enhancement approach presented here represents a disease-, biomarker-, and application-agnostic ubiquitously-applicable fundamental and enabling technology to improve the sensitivity of existing analytical methodologies in an easy-to-handle and cost-effective manner, without changing and / or minimally altering the original procedures of the existing techniques.

A label-free method for the spatio-temporal mapping of protein secretions from individual cells in real time by using a chip for localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) imaging. The chip is a glass coverslip compatible for use in a standard microscope having at least one array of functionalized plasmonic nanostructures patterned onto it. After placing a cell on the chip, the secretions from the cell are spatially and temporally mapped using LSPR imaging. Transmitted light imaging and / or fluorescence imaging may be done simultaneously with the LSPR imaging.

A method for producing plasmonic nanomaterials that are catalytically or photocatalytically active by fabricating plasmonic nanostructures on substrates using electrodeposition into a nano-template structure and forming a plurality of nanorods in an array, wherein the nanorods are made from materials chosen from the group consisting of materials that are plasmonic and / or catalytic, and materials that are catalytically activated by depositing pure elemental metals, alloys, or alternating layers of different metals or alloys, and producing catalytic plasmonic nanomaterials. Catalytic plasmonic nanomaterials made from the above method. An optical reactor device that utilizes catalytic nanomaterials for photocatalytic synthesis of methanol or ammonia. A method of photocatalytic synthesis of methanol and ammonia by using catalytic plasmonic nanomaterial to convert CO2 and H2 to methanol and N2 and H2 to ammonia using optical power. A hybrid plasma-plasmonic reactor for the utilization of CO2 and CH4 to produce methanol, ethylene, and acetic acid.

A nanotweezer comprises a first metastructure including a first substrate, a first electrode, and a plurality of plasmonic nanostructures; a second metastructure including a second substrate and a second electrode, wherein the second substrate and the second electrode are substantially transparent to light within a wavelength range; a microfluidic channel between the first metastructure and the second metastructure; a voltage source configured to selectively apply an electric field between the first electrode and the second electrode a light source configured to selectively apply an excitation light to the microfluidic channel, the excitation light having a wavelength within the wavelength range. In response to the selective application of the electric field and / or the excitation light, nanoparticles within the microfluidic channel are manipulated.

The invention provides a structure of an infrared detector. The structure comprises an interdigital electrode structure which is used for inputting and outputting frequency signals and is provided with at least two electrodes; a piezoelectric vibration structure used for generating a frequency signal and positioned on the upper layer of the interdigital electrode structure; and a plasma metasurface structure used for realizing ultrahigh absorption of infrared radiation and positioned on the upper layer of the piezoelectric vibration structure. A plasma metasurface structure made of a gold filmis adopted so that a series of sub-wavelength structures are patterned in a top metal electrode. The plasma nanostructure is properly patterned in the top metal layer, so that the invention becomes an infrared ultrathin absorber with spectral selectivity and irrelevance to polarization, ultrahigh absorption of long-wave infrared light can be realized, high-speed and high-sensitivity infrared detection can be realized, and the defects existing in a traditional infrared detector are avoided. On the basis, the invention further provides a manufacturing method of the infrared detector of the microelectro mechanical system.

A method for calibrating multiple nanostructures in parallel for quantitative biosensing using a chip for localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) biosensing and imaging. The chip is a glass coverslip compatible for use in a standard microscope with at least one array of functionalized plasmonic nanostructures patterned onto it using electron beam nanolithography. The chip is used to collect CCD-based LSPR imagery data of each individual nanostructure and LSPR spectral data of the array. The spectral data is used to determine the fractional occupancy of the array. The imagery data is modeled as a function of fractional occupancy to determine the fractional occupancy of each individual nanostructure.

The present invention describes a solar cell device and a method of manufacturing the same. A method of fabricating a solar cell comprising forming a photovoltaic substructure comprising a substrate, a back contact layer, an absorber layer and a buffer layer, forming a transparent cover layer separate from the photovoltaic substructure comprising a transparent layer and a layer of plasmonic nanostructures in contact with the transparent layer , and attaching a transparent cover layer on top of the photovoltaic substructure. The plasmonic nanostructure layer may include metal nanoparticles. The invention also provides transparent cover layers for solar cells and modules.

A first plasmonic-nanostructure sensor pixel includes a semiconductor substrate and a plurality of metal pillars. The semiconductor substrate has a top surface and a photodiode region therebeneath. The plurality of metal pillars is at least partially embedded in the substrate and extends from the top surface in a direction substantially perpendicular to the top surface. A second plasmonic-nanostructure sensor pixel includes (a) a semiconductor substrate having a top surface, (b) an oxide layer on the top surface, (c) a thin-film coating between the top surface and the oxide layer, and (d) a plurality of metal nanoparticles (i) at least partially between the top surface and the oxide layer and (ii) at least partially embedded in at least one of the thin-film coating and the oxide layer. A third plasmonic-nanostructure sensor pixel includes features of both the first and second plasmonic-nanostructure sensor pixels.

The invention relates to a spectrum measurement and imaging optical system of surface plasmon resonance in the invisible light band, including a laser, an object stage, a plasmon nanostructure to be measured, a spectrum measurement main optical path, an imaging optical path and an illumination optical path. In practical applications, it is only necessary to measure the transmitted light signal of the focus of the main optical path of the spectrum within and outside the region of the plasmonic nanostructure to be measured, and the peak of the surface plasmon resonance corresponding to the nanostructure can be quickly obtained The position and full width at half maximum greatly simplify the workload of characterizing the optical properties of surface plasmon resonances, and provide an effective basis for the design and application of plasmonic nanostructures.