Researchers from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at San Francisco State University (SFSU) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center of the University of California, Berkeley have discovered a novel technique that manipulates a blended beam of plasma and light referred to as a plasmonic airy beam. This beam, based on the principles of electromagnetism, travels along a curved trajectory rather than a straight line.
This figure is a numerical simulation illustrating an example of the on-the-fly control of the plasmonic Airy beams, which includes the ability to bypass different obstacles along curved paths. (Photo: Optics Letters/Peng Zhang, UC Berkeley and SFSU)
When the beam hits an irregular metal surface known as a grating structure, tiny electron waves are stirred up by the beam at the interface of the metal-insulator. These waves representing “virtual particles” called as surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) later follow the airy beams’ curved arc. Since ocean waves cause the objects to move on the water surface, the SPPs can be used for manipulating the ultrafine features on the metal surface. The SPPs are vital elements for producing optoelectronic devices because they are capable of impacting extremely tiny objects that are tinier than the diffraction limit or 50% of the light wavelength utilized for developing SPPs.
The key disadvantage of the present system is that they need fixed nanostructures for directing the SPPs. This drawback restricts their application in the design and manufacture of nano-systems. However, with the real-time manipulation of the airy beam and hence the SPPs, the innovative provides researchers on-the-fly control.
In order to create airy beams, a laser beam was utilized by the scientists. The wave front or phase of the laser beam was modulated with a spatial light modulator, a device same as the tiny fluid crystal display, that was controlled using a personal computer. By constantly altering the computer patterns, the researchers controlled the beam trajectories in real-time.
The journal Optics Letters of the Optical Society’s (OSA) has described this technique that pays way for smaller optoelectronic devices and quicker communications solutions.