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Conductance fluctuations associated with quantum transport through quantumdot systems are currently understood to depend on the nature of the corresponding classical dynamics, i.e., integrable or chaotic. There are a couple of interesting phenomena about conductance fluctuation and quantum tunneling related to geometrical shapes of graphene systems. Firstly, in graphene quantum-dot

Conductance fluctuations associated with quantum transport through quantumdot systems are currently understood to depend on the nature of the corresponding classical dynamics, i.e., integrable or chaotic. There are a couple of interesting phenomena about conductance fluctuation and quantum tunneling related to geometrical shapes of graphene systems. Firstly, in graphene quantum-dot systems, when a magnetic field is present, as the Fermi energy or the magnetic flux is varied, both regular oscillations and random fluctuations in the conductance can occur, with alternating transitions between the two. Secondly, a scheme based on geometrical rotation of rectangular devices to effectively modulate the conductance fluctuations is presented. Thirdly, when graphene is placed on a substrate of heavy metal, Rashba spin-orbit interaction of substantial strength can occur. In an open system such as a quantum dot, the interaction can induce spin polarization. Finally, a problem using graphene systems with electron-electron interactions described by the Hubbard Hamiltonian in the setting of resonant tunneling is investigated.

Another interesting problem in quantum transport is the effect of disorder or random impurities since it is inevitable in real experiments. At first, for a twodimensional Dirac ring, as the disorder density is systematically increased, the persistent current decreases slowly initially and then plateaus at a finite nonzero value, indicating remarkable robustness of the persistent currents, which cannot be discovered in normal metal and semiconductor rings. In addition, in a Floquet system with a ribbon structure, the conductance can be remarkably enhanced by onsite disorder.

Recent years have witnessed significant interest in nanoscale physical systems, such as semiconductor supperlattices and optomechanical systems, which can exhibit distinct collective dynamical behaviors. Firstly, a system of two optically coupled optomechanical cavities is considered and the phenomenon of synchronization transition associated with quantum entanglement transition is discovered. Another useful issue is nonlinear dynamics in semiconductor superlattices caused by its key potential application lies in generating radiation sources, amplifiers and detectors in the spectral range of terahertz. In such a system, transition to multistability, i.e., the emergence of multistability with chaos as a system parameter passes through a critical point, is found and argued to be abrupt.
ContributorsYing, Lei (Author) / Lai, Ying-Cheng (Thesis advisor) / Vasileska, Dragica (Committee member) / Chen, Tingyong (Committee member) / Yao, Yu (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
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Nanophotonics studies the interaction of light with nanoscale devices and nanostructures. This thesis focuses on developing nanoscale devices for optical modulation (saturable absorber and all-optical modulator) and investigating light scattering from nanoparticles for underwater navigation and energy sector application. Saturable absorbers and all-optical modulators are essential to generate ultrashort high-power

Nanophotonics studies the interaction of light with nanoscale devices and nanostructures. This thesis focuses on developing nanoscale devices for optical modulation (saturable absorber and all-optical modulator) and investigating light scattering from nanoparticles for underwater navigation and energy sector application. Saturable absorbers and all-optical modulators are essential to generate ultrashort high-power laser pulses and high-speed communications. Graphene-based devices are broadband, ultrafast, and compatible with different substrates and fibers. Nevertheless, the required fluence to saturate or modulate the optical signal with graphene is still high to realize low-threshold, compact broadband devices, which are essential for many applications. This dissertation emphasizes that the strong light-matter interaction in graphene-plasmonic hybrid metasurface greatly enhances monolayer graphene’s saturable absorption and optical signal modulation effect while maintaining graphene’s ultrafast carrier dynamics. Furthermore, based on this concept, simulation models and experimental demonstrations are presented in this dissertation to demonstrate both subwavelength (~λ/5 in near-infrared and ~λ/10 in mid-infrared) thick graphene-based saturable absorber (with record-low saturation fluence (~0.1μJ/cm2), and ultrashort recovery time (~60fs) at near-infrared wavelengths) and all-optical modulators ( with 40% reflection modulation at 6.5μm with ~55μJ/cm2 pump fluence and ultrafast relaxation time of ~1ps at 1.56μm with less than 8μJ/cm2 pump fluence). Underwater navigation is essential for various underwater vehicles. However, there is no reliable method for underwater navigation. This dissertation presents a numerical simulation model and algorithm for navigation based on underwater polarization mapping data. With the methods developed, for clear water in the swimming pool, it is possible to achieve a sun position error of 0.35˚ azimuth and 0.03˚ zenith angle, and the corresponding location prediction error is ~23Km. For turbid lake water, a location determination error of ~100Km is achieved. Furthermore, maintenance of heliostat mirrors and receiver tubes is essential for properly operating concentrated solar power (CSP) plants. This dissertation demonstrates a fast and field deployable inspection method to measure the heliostat mirror soiling levels and receiver tube defect detection based on polarization images. Under sunny and clear sky conditions, accurate reflection efficiency (error ~1%) measurement for mirrors with different soiling levels is achieved, and detection of receiver tube defects is demonstrated.
ContributorsRafique, Md Zubair Ebne (Author) / Yao, Yu (Thesis advisor) / Palais, Joseph (Committee member) / Zhang, Yong-Hang (Committee member) / Sukharev, Maxim (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
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Description
Optical metasurfaces, i.e. artificially engineered arrays of subwavelength building blocks supporting abrupt and substantial light confinement, was employed to demonstrate a novel generation of devices for circularly polarized detection, full-Stokes polarimetry and all-optical modulation with ultra-compact footprint and chip-integrability.

Optical chirality is essential for generation, manipulation and detection of circularly polarized

Optical metasurfaces, i.e. artificially engineered arrays of subwavelength building blocks supporting abrupt and substantial light confinement, was employed to demonstrate a novel generation of devices for circularly polarized detection, full-Stokes polarimetry and all-optical modulation with ultra-compact footprint and chip-integrability.

Optical chirality is essential for generation, manipulation and detection of circularly polarized light (CPL), thus finds many applications in quantum computing, communication, spectroscopy, biomedical diagnosis, imaging and sensing. Compared to natural chiral materials, chiral metamaterials and metasurfaces enable much stronger chirality on subwavelength scale; therefore, they are ideal for device miniaturization and system integration. However, they are usually associated with low performance due to limited fabrication tolerance and high dissipation mainly caused by plasmonic materials. Here, a bio-inspired submicron-thick chiral metamaterial structure was designed and demonstrated experimentally with high contrast (extinction ratio >35) detection of CPL with different handedness and high efficiency (>80%) of the overall device. Furthermore, integration of left- and right-handed CPL detection units with nanograting linear polarization filters enabled full-Stokes polarimetry of arbitrarily input polarization states with high accuracy and very low insertion loss, all on a submillimeter single chip. These unprecedented highly efficient and high extinction ratio devices pave the way for on-chip polarimetric measurements.

All-optical modulation is widely used for optical interconnects, communication, information processing, and ultrafast spectroscopy. Yet, there’s deficiency of ultrafast, compact and energy-efficient solutions all in one device. Here, all-optical modulation of light in the near- and mid-infrared regimes were experimentally demonstrated based on a graphene-integrated plasmonic nanoantenna array. The remarkable feature of the device design is its simultaneous near-field enhancement for pump and probe (signal) beams, owing to the localized surface plasmon resonance excitation, while preserving the ultrafast photocarrier relaxation in graphene. Hence, a distinct modulation at 1560nm with record-low pump fluence (<8μJ/cm^2) was reported with ~1ps response time. Besides, relying on broadband interaction of graphene with incident light, a first-time demonstration of graphene-based all-optical modulation in mid-infrared spectral region (6-7μm) was reported based on the above double-enhancement design concept. Relying on the tunability of metasurface design, the proposed device can be used for ultrafast optical modulation from near-infrared to terahertz regime.
ContributorsBasiri, Ali (Author) / Yao, Yu (Thesis advisor) / Ning, Cun-Zheng (Committee member) / Palais, Joseph (Committee member) / Zhang, Yong-Hang (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020