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Seeing in Color at the Nanoscale

By Guest PostDecember 12, 2012Scienceafm, alex weber bargioni, atomic force microscope, atomic microscopy, berkeley lab, color, conversion, data, diederik wiersma, electric energy, electrons, fabrication, far field light, francesca intonti, frank ogletree, geometries, imagery, indium phosphide nanowires, james schuck, jeffrey bokor, mauro meli, multidimensional, nano optics, nanoscale, nanoscale objects, nanoscience, nanospectroscopic imaging, optical fiber, optical spectroscopy, optoelectronic properties, photons, plasmons, shaul aloni, solar, stephano cabrini, sub nanoscale resolution, topological map, wei bao

Berkeley Lab scientists develop a new nanotech tool to probe solar-energy conversion

If nanoscience were television, we’d be in the 1950s. Although scientists can make and manipulate nanoscale objects with increasingly awesome control, they are limited to black-and-white imagery for examining those objects. Information about nanoscale chemistry and interactions with light—the atomic-microscopy equivalent to color—is tantalizingly out of reach to all but the most persistent researchers.

But that may all change with the introduction of a new microscopy tool from researchers at the Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) that delivers exquisite chemical details with a resolution once thought impossible. The team developed their tool to investigate solar-to-electric energy conversion at its most fundamental level, but their invention promises to reveal new worlds of data to researchers in all walks of nanoscience. (more…)

Berkeley Lab Researchers Create Nanoscale Waveguide for Future Photonics

By Guest PostJune 3, 2011Sciencebio medical sensing, electromagnetic waves, guy bartal, hybrid plasmon polariton, microprocessors, nanoscale lasers, nanoscale photonic applications, nanoscale waveguides, near field scanning optical microscopy, next generation on chip optical communication systems, nsom, optical computing, photonic circuits, photonic devices, plasmons, quasiparticle, rupert oulton, semiconductor, silicon on insulator platform, soi, spp, surface plasmon polariton, volker sorger, xiang zhang, xiaobo yin, yuan wang, ziliang ye

The creation of a new quasiparticle called the “hybrid plasmon polariton” may throw open the doors to integrated photonic circuits and optical computing for the 21^st century. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have demonstrated the first true nanoscale waveguides for next generation on-chip optical communication systems.

“We have directly demonstrated the nanoscale waveguiding of light at visible and near infrared frequencies in a metal-insulator-semiconductor device featuring low loss and broadband operation,” says Xiang Zhang, the leader of this research. “The novel mode design of our nanoscale waveguide holds great potential for nanoscale photonic applications, such as intra-chip optical communication, signal modulation, nanoscale lasers and bio-medical sensing.” (more…)

Sharpening The Nanofocus: Berkeley Lab Researchers Use Nanoantenna to Enhance Plasmonic Sensing

By Guest PostMay 23, 2011Scienceantenna enhanced gas sensing, berkeley lab, biochemical agents, biosensing, catalytic processes, chemical or biological events, confinement of electromagnetic waves, double electron beam lithography, german ministry of research, Germany, gold nanoantenna, harald giessen, laura na liu, localized surface plasmon resonance, lspr, mario hentschel, metallic nanostructures, ming tang, nanocatalysts, nanofocus, nanoreactors, optical detection, palladium nanoparticle, particle level, paul alivisatos, plasmonics, plasmons, university of california, university of stuttgart, wavelength

Such highly coveted technical capabilities as the observation of single catalytic processes in nanoreactors, or the optical detection of low concentrations of biochemical agents and gases are an important step closer to fruition. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), in collaboration with researchers at the University of Stuttgart in Germany, report the first experimental demonstration of antenna-enhanced gas sensing at the single particle level. By placing a palladium nanoparticle on the focusing tip of a gold nanoantenna, they were able to clearly detect changes in the palladium’s optical properties upon exposure to hydrogen. (more…)

Tag Archives: plasmons

Seeing in Color at the Nanoscale

Berkeley Lab Researchers Create Nanoscale Waveguide for Future Photonics

Sharpening The Nanofocus: Berkeley Lab Researchers Use Nanoantenna to Enhance Plasmonic Sensing