Nanomaterials Photonics

A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "A:Physics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2024) | Viewed by 7172

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Optics, Centro de Investigación Científica y Educación Superior de Ensenada (CICESE), Ensenada 22880, Mexico
Interests: nonlinear optics; quantum optics; nanostructured materials; plasmonics

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Guest Editor
Departamento de Ensino Geral, Faculdade de Tecnologia de São Paulo, São Paulo 01124-060, SP, Brazil
Interests: metal-dielectric nanocomposites based on oxide glasses; glass-ceramics; photovoltaic devices; optical amplifiers; random lasers
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Guest Editor
NanoStructures Group (NSG), Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Padova, Via Marzolo 8, I-35131 Padova, Italy
Interests: nanophotonics; nanolasers; photoluminescence; nonlinear optics; plasmonics; nanoarrays; nanostructures; metamaterials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nowadays, optics, photonics, optoelectronics, and the technologies that have been developed from them permeate many different aspects of modern life. The impact of the continuing research in these areas, including emerging applications in areas such as energy, biotechnology, and medical sciences, where they are providing new imaging techniques, diagnostic procedures, and therapies, is constantly growing. Part of this ever-widening impact has been made possible by the development of novel nanomaterials, allowing the implementation of new functionalities, making the research in the field of photonic nanomaterials a very dynamic one.

For this reason, we have set to produce a Special Issue to provide a forum to disseminate and share research efforts focused on this area, which can include different topics such as material development, energy harvesting devices, imaging, and theranostics systems based on nanomaterials, and all the other research fields that can be included under this broad designation.

We look forward to receiving your contributions!

Dr. Raul Rangel-Rojo
Prof. Dr. Luciana R. P. Kassab
Dr. Tiziana Cesca
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Micromachines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • nanomaterials
  • photonics

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 2951 KiB  
Article
Dual-Criteria Decision Analysis by Multiphotonic Effects in Nanostructured ZnO
by Victor Manuel Garcia-de-los-Rios, Jose Alberto Arano-Martinez, Martin Trejo-Valdez, Mónica Araceli Vidales-Hurtado, Gina Gallegos-García and Carlos Torres-Torres
Micromachines 2024, 15(5), 579; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi15050579 - 27 Apr 2024
Viewed by 310
Abstract
Simultaneous interrogation of pump and probe beams interacting in ZnO nanostructures of a two-wave mixing is proposed for dual-path data processing of optical signals by nonlinear optical effects. An enhancement in third-order nonlinear optical properties was exhibited by Al-doped ZnO thin films. Multiphoton [...] Read more.
Simultaneous interrogation of pump and probe beams interacting in ZnO nanostructures of a two-wave mixing is proposed for dual-path data processing of optical signals by nonlinear optical effects. An enhancement in third-order nonlinear optical properties was exhibited by Al-doped ZnO thin films. Multiphoton absorption and nonlinear refraction were explored by the z-scan technique at 532 nm with nanosecond pulses. The evolution of the optical Kerr effect in the ZnO thin films was analyzed as a function of the incorporation of Al in the sample by a vectorial two-wave mixing method. Electrical and photoconductive effects were evaluated to further characterize the influence of Al in the ZnO solid samples. Potential applications of nonlinear optical parameters for encoding and encrypting information in light can be envisioned. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanomaterials Photonics)
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14 pages, 3308 KiB  
Article
Volumetric Temperature Mapping Using Light-Sheet Microscopy and Upconversion Fluorescence from Micro- and Nano-Rare Earth Composites
by Dannareli Barron-Ortiz, Ruben D. Cadena-Nava, Enric Pérez-Parets, Jacob Licea-Rodriguez, Emilio J. Gualda, Juan Hernandez-Cordero, Pablo Loza-Alvarez and Israel Rocha-Mendoza
Micromachines 2023, 14(11), 2097; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi14112097 - 14 Nov 2023
Viewed by 1180
Abstract
We present a combination of light-sheet excitation and two-dimensional fluorescence intensity ratio (FIR) measurements as a simple and promising technique for three-dimensional temperature mapping. The feasibility of this approach is demonstrated with samples fabricated with sodium yttrium fluoride nanoparticles co-doped with rare-earth ytterbium [...] Read more.
We present a combination of light-sheet excitation and two-dimensional fluorescence intensity ratio (FIR) measurements as a simple and promising technique for three-dimensional temperature mapping. The feasibility of this approach is demonstrated with samples fabricated with sodium yttrium fluoride nanoparticles co-doped with rare-earth ytterbium and erbium ions (NaYF4:Yb3+/Er3+) incorporated into polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as a host material. In addition, we also evaluate the technique using lipid-coated NaYF4:Yb3+/Er3+ nanoparticles immersed in agar. The composite materials show upconverted (UC) fluorescence bands when excited by a 980 nm near-infrared laser light-sheet. Using a single CMOS camera and a pair of interferometric optical filters to specifically image the two thermally-coupled bands (at 525 and 550 nm), the two-dimensional FIR and, hence, the temperature map can be readily obtained. The proposed method can take optically sectioned (confocal-like) images with good optical resolution over relatively large samples (up to the millimetric scale) for further 3D temperature reconstruction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanomaterials Photonics)
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14 pages, 3300 KiB  
Article
Tunable Visible Light and Energy Transfer Mechanism in Tm3+ and Silver Nanoclusters within Co-Doped GeO2-PbO Glasses
by Marcos Vinicius de Morais Nishimura, Augusto Anselmo Amaro, Camila Dias da Silva Bordon, Jessica Dipold, Niklaus Ursus Wetter and Luciana Reyes Pires Kassab
Micromachines 2023, 14(11), 2078; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi14112078 - 9 Nov 2023
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Abstract
This study introduces a novel method for producing Ag nanoclusters (NCs) within GeO2-PbO glasses doped with Tm3+ ions. Sample preparation involved the melt-quenching method, employing adequate heat treatment to facilitate Ag NC formation. Absorption spectroscopy confirmed trivalent rare-earth ion incorporation. [...] Read more.
This study introduces a novel method for producing Ag nanoclusters (NCs) within GeO2-PbO glasses doped with Tm3+ ions. Sample preparation involved the melt-quenching method, employing adequate heat treatment to facilitate Ag NC formation. Absorption spectroscopy confirmed trivalent rare-earth ion incorporation. Ag NC identification and the amorphous structure were observed using transmission electron microscopy. A tunable visible emission from blue to the yellow region was observed. The energy transfer mechanism from Ag NCs to Tm3+ ions was demonstrated by enhanced 800 nm emission under 380 and 400 nm excitations, mainly for samples with a higher concentration of Ag NCs; moreover, the long lifetime decrease of Ag NCs at 600 nm (excited at 380 and 400 nm) and the lifetime increase of Tm3+ ions at 800 nm (excitation of 405 nm) corroborated the energy transfer between those species. Therefore, we attribute this energy transfer mechanism to the decay processes from S1→T1 and T1→S0 levels of Ag NCs to the 3H4 level of Tm3+ ions serving as the primary path of energy transfer in this system. GeO2-PbO glasses demonstrated potential as materials to host Ag NCs with applications for photonics as solar cell coatings, wideband light sources, and continuous-wave tunable lasers in the visible spectrum, among others. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanomaterials Photonics)
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9 pages, 2257 KiB  
Article
Plasmonic Coupled Modes in a Metal–Dielectric Periodic Nanostructure
by Victor Coello, Mas-ud A. Abdulkareem, Cesar E. Garcia-Ortiz, Citlalli T. Sosa-Sánchez, Ricardo Téllez-Limón and Marycarmen Peña-Gomar
Micromachines 2023, 14(9), 1713; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi14091713 - 31 Aug 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 943
Abstract
In this study we investigate the optical properties of a 2D-gap surface plasmon metasurface composed of gold nanoblocks (nanoantennas) arranged in a metal–dielectric configuration. This novel structure demonstrates the capability of generating simultaneous multi-plasmonic resonances and offers tunability within the near-infrared domain. Through [...] Read more.
In this study we investigate the optical properties of a 2D-gap surface plasmon metasurface composed of gold nanoblocks (nanoantennas) arranged in a metal–dielectric configuration. This novel structure demonstrates the capability of generating simultaneous multi-plasmonic resonances and offers tunability within the near-infrared domain. Through finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulations, we analyze the metasurface’s reflectance spectra for various lattice periods and identify two distinct dips with near-zero reflectance, indicative of resonant modes. Notably, the broader dip at 1150 nm exhibits consistent behavior across all lattice periodicities, attributed to a Fano-type hybridization mechanism originating from the overlap between localized surface plasmons (LSPs) of metallic nanoblocks and surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) of the underlying metal layer. Additionally, we investigate the influence of dielectric gap thickness on the gap surface plasmon resonance and observe a blue shift for smaller gaps and a spectral red shift for gaps larger than 100 nm. The dispersion analysis of resonance wavelengths reveals an anticrossing region, indicating the hybridization of localized and propagating modes at wavelengths around 1080 nm with similar periodicities. The simplicity and tunability of our metasurface design hold promise for compact optical platforms based on reflection mode operation. Potential applications include multi-channel biosensors, second-harmonic generation, and multi-wavelength surface-enhanced spectroscopy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanomaterials Photonics)
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14 pages, 5394 KiB  
Article
Theoretical Enhancement of the Goos–Hänchen Shift with a Metasurface Based on Bound States in the Continuum
by Xiaowei Jiang, Bin Fang and Chunlian Zhan
Micromachines 2023, 14(6), 1109; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi14061109 - 25 May 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1251
Abstract
The enhancement of the Goos–Hänchen (GH) shift has become a research hotspot due to its promoted application of the GH effect in various fields. However, currently, the maximum GH shift is located at the reflectance dip, making it difficult to detect GH shift [...] Read more.
The enhancement of the Goos–Hänchen (GH) shift has become a research hotspot due to its promoted application of the GH effect in various fields. However, currently, the maximum GH shift is located at the reflectance dip, making it difficult to detect GH shift signals in practical applications. This paper proposes a new metasurface to achieve reflection-type bound states in the continuum (BIC). The GH shift can be significantly enhanced by the quasi-BIC with a high quality factor. The maximum GH shift can reach more than 400 times the resonant wavelength, and the maximum GH shift is located exactly at the reflection peak with unity reflectance, which can be applied to detect the GH shift signal. Finally, the metasurface is used to detect the variation in the refractive index, and the sensitivity can reach 3.58 × 106 μm/RIU (refractive index unit) according to the simulation’s calculations. The findings provide a theoretical basis to prepare a metasurface with high refractive index sensitivity, a large GH shift, and high reflection. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanomaterials Photonics)
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Review

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17 pages, 17661 KiB  
Review
Recent Progress in Solution Processed Aluminum and co-Doped ZnO for Transparent Conductive Oxide Applications
by Mandeep Singh and Francesco Scotognella
Micromachines 2023, 14(3), 536; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi14030536 - 25 Feb 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1757
Abstract
With the continuous growth in the optoelectronic industry, the demand for novel and highly efficient materials is also growing. Specifically, the demand for the key component of several optoelectronic devices, i.e., transparent conducting oxides (TCOs), is receiving significant attention. The major reason behind [...] Read more.
With the continuous growth in the optoelectronic industry, the demand for novel and highly efficient materials is also growing. Specifically, the demand for the key component of several optoelectronic devices, i.e., transparent conducting oxides (TCOs), is receiving significant attention. The major reason behind this is the dependence of the current technology on only one material—indium tin oxide (ITO). Even though ITO still remains a highly efficient material, its high cost and the worldwide scarcity of indium creates an urgency for finding an alternative. In this regard, doped zinc oxide (ZnO), in particular, solution-processed aluminum doped ZnO (AZO), is emerging as a leading candidate to replace ITO due to its high abundant and exceptional physical/chemical properties. In this mini review, recent progress in the development of solution-processed AZO is presented. Beside the systematic review of the literature, the solution processable approaches used to synthesize AZO and the effect of aluminum doping content on the functional properties of AZO are also discussed. Moreover, the co-doping strategy (doping of aluminum with other elements) used to further improve the properties of AZO is also discussed and reviewed in this article. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanomaterials Photonics)
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