Master Physique ― Condensed Matter and Nanophysics

Master Physique ― Condensed Matter and Nanophysics
Academic year 2013-2014
Laboratory: Institut de Physique et Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg (IPCMS)
Team: Theoretical Mesoscopic Physics (R. Jalabert, G. Weick, D. Weinmann)
Address: IPCMS-DMONS, 23 rue du Loess, BP 43, 67034 Strasbourg Cedex 2
Supervisor: Guillaume WEICK (Maître de Conférences Unistra)
Phone: +33 3 88 10 72 62
e-mail: [email protected]
webpage: http://www-ipcms.u-strasbg.fr/spip.php?article1707
Theoretical investigation of nanoplasmonic metamaterials
Manipulating light at subwavelength scales beyond what can be
achieved in traditional optics is at the heart of the present research in
new plasmonic metamaterials [1]. Metamaterials exhibit exciting new
properties such as, e.g., negative refractive index [2], perfect lensing
[3], and electromagnetic invisibility cloaking [4]. In particular, ordered
plasmonic arrays of metallic nanoparticles are intensively studied,
since the interactions between the nanoparticles lead to dramatic
changes in the overall plasmonic properties of the metamaterial as
compared to those of the individual constituents, opening up new
perspectives for confining and guiding light at subwavelength scales
[5]. Along this direction, we have recently shown that the tunability of
the near-field interactions between nanoparticles leads to unique
effects, including the appearence of tunable Dirac-like bosonic
© Tan et al., Nature Nanotech. 2011
collective plasmonic modes mimicking the unique features of
electrons in graphene [6].
The coupling between light and plasmonic modes gives rise to new quasiparticles termed plasmon
polaritons. First studied in the late 1950’s by Fano and Hopfield [7] in the context of excitons in bulk solids,
polaritons were shown to represent the relevant modes to describe the light-matter interaction and the
subsequent absorption processes in periodic atomic arrays. In the more recent context of plasmonics,
surface plasmon polaritons along metal-dielectric interfaces were widely studied [1]. Much less investigated
is the case of plasmon polaritons in arrays of metallic nanoparticles. Undoubtedly, there is a need for
investigating such plasmon polaritons in interacting arrays of metallic nanoparticles, where the control of the
microscopic interactions leads to dramatic effects which would otherwise be absent in noninteracting
systems. This is the purpose of the present theoretical Master thesis.
The student will work in the Theoretical Mesoscopic Physics Team at IPCMS, in close contact with
theoretical and experimental teams at the University of Exeter (United Kingdom). The tools that will be
required to tackle the proposed problem consist of analytical ("pen and paper") quantum mechanical
calculations, that will be substantiated by numerics.
[1] W.L. Barnes, A. Dereux, T.W. Ebbesen, Nature 424, 824 (2003).
[2] R.A. Shelby, D.R. Smith, S. Schultz, Science 292, 77 (2001).
[3] J.B. Pendry, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 3966 (2000).
[4] D. Schurig et al., Science 314, 977 (2006).
[5] S.A. Maier et al., Nature Mater. 2, 229 (2003).
[6] G. Weick, C. Woollacott, W.L. Barnes, O. Hess, E. Mariani, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 106801 (2013).
[7] U. Fano, Phys. Rev. 103, 1202 (1956); J.J. Hopfield, Phys. Rev. 112, 1555 (1958).