Search results for "Optoelectronics"
showing 10 items of 2306 documents
Hot electrons and nonlinear optical nanoantennas
2017
The large field enhancement generated at the surface of a resonant plasmonic nanoparticle, or optical antennas, is the key mechanism that eventually led to the development of nonlinear plasmonics [1-2]. While the resonance may boost the nonlinear yield of an adjacent structure or surrounding medium, it was soon realized that optical antennas possess nonlinear coefficients comparable or exceeding those of standard nonlinear optical materials [3]. We discuss here two nonlinear optical processes — incoherent multi-photon luminescence (MPL) and coherent second-harmonic generation (SHG) — emitted from gold rod optical antennas upon local illumination with a tightly focused femtosecond near-infra…
Performance of cryogenic microbolometers and calorimeters with on-chip coolers
2000
Astronomical observations of cosmic sources in the far-infrared and X-ray bands require extreme sensitivity. The most sensitive detectors are cryogenic bolometers and calorimeters operating typically at about 100 mK. The last stage of cooling (from 300 mK to 100 mK) often poses significant difficulties in space-borne experiments, both in system complexity and reliability. We address the possibility of using refrigeration based on normal metal/insulator/superconductor (NIS) tunnel junctions as the last stage cooler for cryogenic thermal detectors. We compare two possible schemes: the direct cooling of the electron gas of the detector with the aid of NIS tunnel junctions and the indirect cool…
Development of an array of calorimetric low-temperature detectors for heavy ion physics
2006
Abstract Calorimetric low-temperature detectors have been investigated for several applications in heavy ion physics within the last 15 years. The detectors used consist of sapphire absorbers of 2×3×0.33 mm 3 and superconducting aluminum transition edge sensors operated at T ≈1.5 K. To fully exploit the potential of such detectors for heavy ion physics, a detector array is developed. For this purpose, a specially adapted 4 He bath cryostat with a base temperature of 1.2 K, which allows an active detector area of 30×80 mm 2 , was constructed. As different detectors have different transition temperatures, each detector pixel has to be adjusted to its specific working point and temperature sta…
Sub-kelvin current amplifier using DC-SQUID
2000
Abstract We have set up a system where a low-noise DC-SQUID is used as a current amplifier. The SQUID output is read using a wide band electronics unit based on the noise cancellation scheme. The SQUID has been installed in a compact Nanoway PDR50 dilution refrigerator, and superconducting transitions of Ti/Au thermometer strips for X-ray calorimeter applications have been measured. We can operate at 100 mK using a SQUID with Pd shunt resistors. Noise and bandwidth results of the setup are presented.
Transition-edge microcalorimeters for X-ray space applications
2000
Abstract In an European Space Agency funded research project, our goal is to develop microbolometer technology for X-ray and far-infrared detection for ESA's future scientific missions. We report results on the X-ray calorimeter, which is based on the superconducting transition of the Ti/Au thermometer strip at about 200 mK. Incident X-rays heat up a Bi absorber, deposited on top of the 400 μm ×400 μm thermometer. The temperature rise of the absorber is measured as a change of the thermometer current with a SQUID operating at 1 K.
Field-free permanent molecular planar alignment
2009
We show the existence of a permanent molecular planar alignment in field-free conditions. We present different control strategies using shaped laser pulses to reach this state. The strategies are robust with respect to the temperature and can be implemented with the state of the art technology. They can be applied not only to linear molecules but also to symmetric or asymmetric top molecules along the most polarizable molecular axis. We propose potential applications of this planar alignment such as the increase of the adsorption on a surface.
To the theory of high-power gyrotrons with uptapered resonators
2010
In high-power gyrotrons it is desirable to combine an optimal resonator length with the optimal value of the resonator quality factor. In resonators with the constant radius of the central part, the possibilities of this combination are limited because the quality factor of the resonator sharply increases with its length. Therefore the attempts to increase the length for maximizing the efficiency leads to such increase in the quality factor which makes the optimal current too small. Resonators with slightly uptapered profiles offer more flexibility in this regard. In such resonators, one can separate optimization of the interaction length from optimization of the quality factor because the …
Review on up/down conversion materials for solar cell application
2012
The present paper reviews the methods of photon up- and down conversion strategies for improving the efficiency of solar cells. Photons with a lower energy than the band gap will be lost in a normal solar cell. The principle of the up conversion technique is that two or more photons are converted into a photon with energy higher than the band gap energy. High energy photons will lose the energy above the band gap energy limit. Down conversion is a process where a high energy photon is converted into several lower energy photons with energies above the band gap. A description is given of the most common methods and materials for these conversions resulting in higher solar cell efficiencies.
Photonic transfer through subwavelength optical waveguides
1998
Optical tunneling effect through dielectric junctions with subwavelength transverse sizes has been demonstrated some years ago. In this letter, we demonstrate how similar effects can be exploited to perform photonic transfer through a subwavelength optical wave guide (SOW) by structuring its optical index along the direction of propagation. The optical transmittance of the SOW is computed self-consistently in direct space through the numerical solution of a Dyson equation. We apply this scheme to investigate the optical properties of different SOW architectures. Even under total internal reflection, in which the light is coupled to the SOW by an evanescent mode, an efficient optical transfe…
Plasmon-driven Bessel beams
2012
We report on subwavelength diffraction-free beams with grazing propagation in metal-dielectric devices. The nondiffracting beams are resonantly transmitted through the nanostructured medium leading to light confinement and wave amplification around the beam axis.