University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Surface Plasmon Coupling in Highly Doped Silicon Gratings

Kilpatrick, Torin

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/47603

Description

Title
Surface Plasmon Coupling in Highly Doped Silicon Gratings
Author(s)
Kilpatrick, Torin
Contributor(s)
Wasserman, Dan
Issue Date
2013-05
Keyword(s)
  • plasmonics
  • surface plasmon polariton
  • grating coupling
  • FDTD
Abstract
This thesis demonstrates the use of the MIT Electromagnetic Equation Propagation (MEEP) software package to perform finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) analysis and modeling of mid-infrared (IR) plasmonic structures made from highly doped semiconducting materials. Furthermore, the MEEP software is applied to model mid-IR perfect absorber structures made from patterned indium arsenide (InAs) layers on a gallium arsenide (GaAs) substrate. MEEP simulated transmission and reflection spectra show good agreement to experimentally obtained results. Additionally, the coupling angle of surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) is experimentally demonstrated and analytically solved on semiconductor/air interfaces at mid-IR wavelengths. SPP coupling can occur at specific incident light angles in highly doped silicon with microscale grating patterns. This work reports the study of designer metals made from very highly doped semiconducting material with metallic properties in the mid-IR range. The study of designer metals is a relatively new field that has received recent interest for many IR applications. For doped silicon samples with plasma frequencies in the IR range, the SPP coupling angle can be tuned for a monochromatic source by changing the grating periodicity. SPP coupling results in a measureable drop in the reflectance of a Si sample at the coupling angle. Comparisons between experimental results and mathematical calculations of SPP coupling angle in a grating show good agreement.
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/47603

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