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Nano-Photonics: Subwavelength Optical Elements, Metasurfaces, Plasmonics and Quantum Photonics: 2nd...
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Nano-Photonics: Subwavelength Optical Elements, Metasurfaces, Plasmonics and Quantum Photonics: 2nd Edition

A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Nanophotonics Materials and Devices".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 12 September 2025 | Viewed by 4846

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Wei Wu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering—Electrophysics University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA
Interests: nanofabrication; memristor; plasmonics; optical metamaterials; nano-electrochemical cell
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nanophotonics has progressed significantly over the past several decades. Relevant findings on light–nanostructure interactions have been discovered, and they have inspired exciting research on subwavelength optical elements, optical metamaterials, metastructures, metasurfaces, plasmonics and quantum optics. Consequently, the progress in these fields has opened the door to plural applications in communication, sensing, disease detection, quantum computing and quantum communications.

We invite researchers to contribute original and review articles regarding the science and application of nanophotonics. Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following: nanogratings, metasurfaces/metastructures/metamaterials, plasmonics, quantum optics, their applications, and technologies to fabricate them.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Wei Wu
Guest Editor

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 short 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. Nanomaterials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2400 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

  • subwavelength optical elements
  • metasurfaces
  • metastructures
  • metamaterials
  • plasmonics
  • quantum photonics

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 8949 KiB  
Article
Ellipsometric Surface Oxidation Model of ALD-Grown Vanadium Oxide Mixed-Valence System
by Xiaojie Sun, Shuguang Wang, Qingyuan Cai, Jingze Liu, Changhai Li, Ertao Hu, Jing Li, Songyou Wang, Yuxiang Zheng, Liangyao Chen and Youngpak Lee
Nanomaterials 2025, 15(9), 645; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano15090645 - 24 Apr 2025
Viewed by 241
Abstract
Vanadium and oxygen form a complex system of vanadium oxides with multiple phases and mixed valency, increasing the difficulty of characterization. In this work, amorphous vanadium oxide thin films with mixed valence states were fabricated by atomic layer deposition, and then post-annealing was [...] Read more.
Vanadium and oxygen form a complex system of vanadium oxides with multiple phases and mixed valency, increasing the difficulty of characterization. In this work, amorphous vanadium oxide thin films with mixed valence states were fabricated by atomic layer deposition, and then post-annealing was conducted for crystalline films. For the surface analysis of this mixed-valence system, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) were employed. However, XPS is only able to quasi-quantitatively determine the surface-proximity oxidation states. To account for the inadequacy of surface-sensitive XPS and AES techniques, a surface oxidation model (SOM) was proposed for the ellipsometric modeling of the mixed-valence system. Furthermore, by conducting air thermal oxidation (ATO) experiments, the four sets of fitting parameters of SOM were decreased to three, lowering the system complexity. This study is expected to help with the analysis of vanadium oxide mixed-valence systems and other multivalent metal oxide systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nano-Photonics: Subwavelength Optical Elements, Metasurfaces, Plasmonics and Quantum Photonics: 2nd Edition)
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11 pages, 2799 KiB  
Article
Research on Wet Etching Techniques for GaInAs/AlInAs/InP Superlattices in Quantum Cascade Laser Fabrication
by Shiya Zhang, Lianqing Zhu, Han Jia, Bingfeng Liu, Jintao Cui, Tuo Chen and Mingyu Li
Nanomaterials 2025, 15(5), 408; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano15050408 - 6 Mar 2025
Viewed by 708
Abstract
Wet etching is the mainstream fabrication method for single-bar quantum cascade lasers (QCLs). Different etching solutions result in varying etching effects on III-V semiconductor materials. In this study, an efficient and nearly ideal etching solution ratio was proposed for simultaneously etching both InP [...] Read more.
Wet etching is the mainstream fabrication method for single-bar quantum cascade lasers (QCLs). Different etching solutions result in varying etching effects on III-V semiconductor materials. In this study, an efficient and nearly ideal etching solution ratio was proposed for simultaneously etching both InP and GaInAs/AlInAs, and the surface chemical reactions induced by each component of the etching solution during the process were investigated. Using univariate and single-component experiments, coupled with various characterization techniques such as atomic force microscopy (AFM), stylus profilometer, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), we found that the ratio of HBr to hydrogen peroxide significantly determines the etching rate, while the ratio of HCl to hydrogen peroxide affects the interface roughness. The aim of this study was to provide a comprehensive understanding of the effects of different etching solution components, thereby enhancing the understanding of the wet etching process for InP/GaInAs/AlInAs materials. These findings offer valuable insights into efficient QCL fabrication processes and contribute to the advancement of the field. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nano-Photonics: Subwavelength Optical Elements, Metasurfaces, Plasmonics and Quantum Photonics: 2nd Edition)
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10 pages, 2777 KiB  
Article
An In-Plane Single-Photon Emitter Combining a Triangular Split-Ring Micro-Optical Resonator and a Colloidal Quantum Dot
by Kohki Mukai, Kyosuke Uchiyama, Kohei Iwata and Issei Pribyl
Nanomaterials 2025, 15(5), 335; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano15050335 - 21 Feb 2025
Viewed by 392
Abstract
We propose a simple and innovative configuration consisting of a quantum dot and micro-optical resonator that emits single photons with good directionality in a plane parallel to the substrate. In this device, a single quantum dot is placed as a light source between [...] Read more.
We propose a simple and innovative configuration consisting of a quantum dot and micro-optical resonator that emits single photons with good directionality in a plane parallel to the substrate. In this device, a single quantum dot is placed as a light source between the slits of a triangular split-ring micro-optical resonator (SRR) supported in an optical polymer film with an air-bridge structure. Although most of the previous single photon emitters in solid-state devices emitted photons upward from the substrate, operation simulations confirmed that this configuration realizes lateral light emission in narrow regions above, below, left, and right in the optical polymer film, despite the absence of a light confinement structure such as an optical waveguide. This device can be fabricated using silica-coated colloidal quantum dots, focused ion beam (FIB) lithography, and wet etching using an oxide layer on a silicon substrate as a sacrificial layer. The device has a large tolerance to the variation in the position of the SRR in the optical polymer film and the height of the air-bridge. We confirmed that Pt-SRRs can be formed on the optical polymer film using FIB lithography. This simple lateral photon emitter is suitable for coupling with optical fibers and for fabricating planar optical quantum solid-state circuits, and is useful for the development of quantum information processing technology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nano-Photonics: Subwavelength Optical Elements, Metasurfaces, Plasmonics and Quantum Photonics: 2nd Edition)
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13 pages, 3127 KiB  
Article
Dual-Task Optimization Method for Inverse Design of RGB Micro-LED Light Collimator
by Liming Chen, Zhuo Li, Purui Wang, Sihan Wu, Wen Li, Jiechen Wang, Yue Cao, Masood Mortazavi, Liang Peng and Pingfan Wu
Nanomaterials 2025, 15(3), 190; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano15030190 - 25 Jan 2025
Viewed by 883
Abstract
Miniaturized pixel sizes in near-eye digital displays lead to pixel emission patterns with large divergence angles, necessitating efficient beam collimation solutions to improve the light coupling efficiency. Traditional beam collimation optics, such as lenses and cavities, are wavelength-sensitive and cannot simultaneously collimate red [...] Read more.
Miniaturized pixel sizes in near-eye digital displays lead to pixel emission patterns with large divergence angles, necessitating efficient beam collimation solutions to improve the light coupling efficiency. Traditional beam collimation optics, such as lenses and cavities, are wavelength-sensitive and cannot simultaneously collimate red (R), green (G), and blue (B) light. In this work, we employed inverse design optimization and finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation techniques to design a collimator comprised of nano-sized photonic structures. To alleviate the challenges of the spatial incoherence nature of micro-LED emission light, we developed a strategy called dual-task optimization. Specifically, the method models light collimation as a dual task of color routing. By optimizing a color router, which routes incident light within a small angular range to different locations based on its spectrum, we simultaneously obtained a beam collimator, which can restrict the output of the light emitted from the routing destination with a small divergence angle. We further evaluated the collimation performance for spatially incoherent RGB micro-LED light in an FDTD using a multiple-dipole simulation method, and the simulation results demonstrate that our designed collimator can increase the light coupling efficiency from approximately 30% to 60% within a divergence angle of ±20° for all R/G/B light under the spatially incoherent emission. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nano-Photonics: Subwavelength Optical Elements, Metasurfaces, Plasmonics and Quantum Photonics: 2nd Edition)
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14 pages, 2037 KiB  
Article
Design of a Deep Learning-Based Metalens Color Router for RGB-NIR Sensing
by Hua Mu, Yu Zhang, Zhenyu Liang, Haoqi Gao, Haoli Xu, Bingwen Wang, Yangyang Wang and Xing Yang
Nanomaterials 2024, 14(23), 1973; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano14231973 - 8 Dec 2024
Viewed by 1077
Abstract
Metalens can achieve arbitrary light modulation by controlling the amplitude, phase, and polarization of the incident waves and have been applied across various fields. This paper presents a color router designed based on metalens, capable of effectively separating spectra from visible light to [...] Read more.
Metalens can achieve arbitrary light modulation by controlling the amplitude, phase, and polarization of the incident waves and have been applied across various fields. This paper presents a color router designed based on metalens, capable of effectively separating spectra from visible light to near-infrared light. Traditional design methods for meta-lenses require extensive simulations, making them time-consuming. In this study, we propose a deep learning network capable of forward prediction across a broad wavelength range, combined with a particle swarm optimization algorithm to design metalens efficiently. The simulation results align closely with theoretical predictions. The designed color router can simultaneously meet the theoretical transmission phase of the target spectra, specifically for red, green, blue, and near-infrared light, and focus them into designated areas. Notably, the optical efficiency of this design reaches 40%, significantly surpassing the efficiency of traditional color filters. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nano-Photonics: Subwavelength Optical Elements, Metasurfaces, Plasmonics and Quantum Photonics: 2nd Edition)
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9 pages, 8149 KiB  
Article
Absorption Spectra of AlGaN/GaN Terahertz Plasmonic Crystals—Experimental Validation of Analytical Approach
by Maksym Dub, Pavlo Sai, Pawel Prystawko, Wojciech Knap and Sergey Rumyantsev
Nanomaterials 2024, 14(18), 1502; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano14181502 - 16 Sep 2024
Viewed by 1062
Abstract
Absorption spectra of AlGaN/GaN grating-gate plasmonic crystals with a period from 1 µm to 2.5 µm were studied experimentally at T = 70 K using Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry. The plasmonic crystals exhibit distinct absorption lines of various plasmon harmonics across the 0.5 to [...] Read more.
Absorption spectra of AlGaN/GaN grating-gate plasmonic crystals with a period from 1 µm to 2.5 µm were studied experimentally at T = 70 K using Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry. The plasmonic crystals exhibit distinct absorption lines of various plasmon harmonics across the 0.5 to 6 THz frequency range, tunable by gate voltage. Cumbersome and time-consuming electromagnetic simulations are usually needed to interpret or predict the grating-gate crystal spectra. In this work, we examine an analytical model and show that it can successfully describe the majority of existing experimental results. In this way, we demonstrate a new analytical platform for designing plasmonic crystals for THz filters, detectors, and amplifiers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nano-Photonics: Subwavelength Optical Elements, Metasurfaces, Plasmonics and Quantum Photonics: 2nd Edition)
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