Final Report Summary - PLASMONICS (Frontiers in Surface Plasmon Photonics - Fundamentals and Applications)
Structuring a metal at the scale of the wavelength of light can be used to create miniature optical devices that modify the properties of a light beam as it interacts with the metal. The figure on the left illustrates this idea. Spiral are engraved around a tiny hole in a thin metal film. When light impinges on the metal surface, it is momentarily trapped there and as it escapes the surface, it has acquired a twist, spinning through space as it travels. This spinning can be recorded as shown in the right panel. This could be used in optical communication platforms.
Electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations are omnipresent in our universe and they are known to influence many events in our environment. Molecules can be made to interact very strongly with such fluctuations if placed in metallic structures that will resonate with both the molecules and the fluctuations. The interaction can be so strong that the properties of the molecules are significantly modified. For instance the colour of the molecules interacting with the fluctuations can be changed. In the course of this project we demonstrated for the first time that vacuum fluctuations can be harvested to modify the rate and yield of a chemical reaction and to improve the conductivity of organic semiconductors, among other things. These proofs of concept will no doubt have important consequences for molecular and material science and the related technologies, stimulating new R&D to explore the full potential of this approach to modify material properties.
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