Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

9-2016

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Program

Physics

Advisor

Vinod Menon

Committee Members

Carlos Meriles

Viktor Podolskiy

Zubin Jacob

Alexander Khanikaev

Subject Categories

Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics | Optics

Keywords

plasmonics, light-matter interaction, hyperbolic metamaterials, metamaterials

Abstract

Hyperbolic metamaterials (HMMs) are so named for possessing a hyperboloid-shaped dispersion which gives rise to a large photonic density of states. Quantum emitters placed inside or in the near-field of a HMM have been shown to exhibit strong enhancement of spontaneous emission due to the increase in available states. This thesis focuses on enhancing spontaneous emission of quantum emitters in optical frequencies by utilizing multilayered metal/dielectric composites that form these highly anisotropic metamaterials. In conjunction with the enhanced decay rate we experimentally demonstrate two methods for shaping and directing radiation trapped in the HMM into free space by employing a new class of artificial photonic media which we term a photonic hypercrystal. The ability to significantly enhance the spontaneous emission rate and control the directionality paves the way to practical applications using hyperbolic metamaterials such as sub-wavelength lasers, single-photon sources, and ultrafast light emitting diodes.

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