Instituto de Óptica "Daza de Valdés"

Graphene plasmons provide a suitable alternative to noble-metal plasmons because they exhibit much tighter confinement and relatively long propagation distances, with the advantage of being highly tunable via electrostatic gating. Here, we propose to use graphene plasmons as a platform for strongly enhanced light-matter interactions. Specifically, we predict unprecedented high decay rates of quantum emitters in the proximity of a carbon sheet, observable vacuum Rabi splittings, and extinction cross sections exceeding the geometrical area in graphene nanoribbons and nanodisks. Our theoretical results provide the basis for the emerging and potentially far-reaching field of graphene plasmonics, offering an ideal platform for cavity quantum electrodynamics, and supporting the possibility of single-molecule, single-plasmon devices.

This review discusses how low-energy valence excitations created by swift electrons can render information on the optical response of structured materials with unmatched spatial resolution. Electron microscopes are capable of focusing electron beams on subnanometer spots and probing the target response either by analyzing electron energy losses or by detecting emitted radiation. Theoretical frameworks suited to calculate the probability of energy loss and light emission (cathodoluminescence) are reconsidered and compared with experimental results. More precisely, a quantum-mechanical description of the interaction between the electrons and the sample is discussed, followed by a powerful classical dielectric approach that can be applied in practice to more complex systems. The conditions are assessed under which classical and quantum-mechanical formulations are equivalent. The excitation of collective modes such as plasmons is studied in bulk materials, planar surfaces, and nanoparticles. Light emission induced by the electrons is shown to constitute an excellent probe of plasmons, combining subnanometer resolution in the position of the electron beam with nanometer resolution in the emitted wavelength. Both electron energy-loss and cathodoluminescence spectroscopies performed in a scanning mode of operation yield snapshots of plasmon modes in nanostructures with fine spatial detail as compared to other existing imaging techniques, thus providing an ideal tool for nanophotonics studies.

This Colloquium analyzes the interaction of light with two-dimensional periodic arrays of particles and holes. The enhanced optical transmission observed in the latter and the presence of surface modes in patterned metal surfaces is thoroughly discussed. A review of the most significant discoveries in this area is presented first. A simple tutorial model is then formulated to capture the essential physics involved in these phenomena, while allowing analytical derivations that provide deeper insight. Comparison with more elaborated calculations is offered as well. Finally, hole arrays in plasmon-supporting metals are compared to perforated perfect conductors, thus assessing the role of plasmons in these types of structures through analytical considerations. The developments that have been made in nanophotonics areas related to plasmons in nanostructures, extraordinary optical transmission in hole arrays, complete resonant absorption and emission of light, and invisibility in structured metals are illustrated in this Colloquium in a comprehensive, tutorial fashion.

This tutorial review presents an overview of theoretical methods for predicting and understanding the optical response of gold nanoparticles. A critical comparison is provided, assisting the reader in making a rational choice for each particular problem, while analytical models provide insights into the effects of retardation in large particles and non-locality in small particles. Far- and near-field spectra are discussed, and the relevance of the latter in surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy and electron energy-loss spectroscopy is emphasized.

We present a method for finding the hierarchy of rational solutions of the self-focusing nonlinear Schrödinger equation and present explicit forms for these solutions from first to fourth order. We also explain their relation to the highest amplitude part of a field that starts with a plane wave perturbed by random small amplitude radiation waves. Our work can elucidate the appearance of rogue waves in the deep ocean and can be applied to the observation of rogue light pulse waves in optical fibers.

We introduce a numerical technique to investigate the temperature distribution in arbitrarily complex plasmonic systems subject to external illumination. We perform both electromagnetic and thermodynamic calculations based upon a time-efficient boundary element method. Two kinds of plasmonic systems are investigated in order to illustrate the potential of such a technique. First, we focus on individual particles with various morphologies. In analogy with electrostatics, we introduce the concept of thermal capacitance. This geometry-dependent quantity allows us to assess the temperature increase inside a plasmonic particle from the sole knowledge of its absorption cross section. We present universal thermal-capacitance curves for ellipsoids, rods, disks, and rings. Additionally, we investigate assemblies of nanoparticles in close proximity and show that, despite its diffusive nature, the temperature distribution can be made highly non-uniform even at the nanoscale using plasmonic systems. A significant degree of nanoscale control over the individual temperatures of neighboring particles is demonstrated, depending on the external light wavelength and direction of incidence. We illustrate this concept with simulations of gold sphere dimers and chains in water. Our work opens new possibilities for selectively controlling processes such as local melting for dynamic patterning of textured materials, chemical and metabolic thermal activation, and heat delivery for producing mechanical motion with spatial precision in the nanoscale.

Multipod Au nanoparticles (nanostars) with single crystalline tips were synthesized in extremely high yield through the reduction of HAuCl(4) in a concentrated solution of poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), in the presence of preformed Au nanoparticle seeds, but with no need for external energy sources. Nanostar dispersions display a well-defined optical response, which was found (through theoretical modeling) to comprise a main mode confined within the tips and a secondary mode confined in the central body. Calculations of the surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) response additionally show that this morphology will be relevant for sensing applications.

Spatial nonlocality in the optical response of noble metals is shown to produce significant blue shift and near-field quenching of plasmons in nanoparticle dimers, nanoshells, and thin metal waveguides. Compared with a local description relying on the use of frequency-dependent dielectric functions, we predict resonance shifts as large as 10% and field-intensity reduction of an order of magnitude at interparticle distances or metal thicknesses below 2 Å, although sizable effects are already observed for dimers separated by 2 nm. The calculation method (a combination of the specular-reflection model and a suitable nonlocal extension of measured local dielectric functions) is simple to implement and can be easily generalized to arbitrarily complex nanostructures.

The Hirota equation is a modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) that takes into account higher-order dispersion and time-delay corrections to the cubic nonlinearity. In describing wave propagation in the ocean and optical fibers, it can be viewed as an approximation which is more accurate than the NLSE. We have modified the Darboux transformation technique to show how to construct the hierarchy of rational solutions of the Hirota equation. We present explicit forms for the two lower-order solutions. Each one is a regular (nonsingular) rational solution with a single maximum that can describe a rogue wave in this model. Numerical simulations reveal the appearance of these solutions in a chaotic field generated from a perturbed continuous wave solution.

Sparse seismic instrumentation in the oceans limits our understanding of deep Earth dynamics and submarine earthquakes. Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS), an emerging technology that converts optical fiber to seismic sensors, allows us to leverage pre-existing submarine telecommunication cables for seismic monitoring. Here we report observations of microseism, local surface gravity waves, and a teleseismic earthquake along a 4192-sensor ocean-bottom DAS array offshore Belgium. We observe in-situ how opposing groups of ocean surface gravity waves generate double-frequency seismic Scholte waves, as described by the Longuet-Higgins theory of microseism generation. We also extract P- and S-wave phases from the 2018-08-19 [Formula: see text] Fiji deep earthquake in the 0.01-1 Hz frequency band, though waveform fidelity is low at high frequencies. These results suggest significant potential of DAS in next-generation submarine seismic networks.

PURPOSE: To determine objectively the changes in the ocular aberrations (3rd order and above) induced by myopic LASIK refractive surgery and its impact on image quality. METHODS: The ocular aberrations of 22 normal myopic eyes (preoperative refraction ranged from -13 to -2 D) were measured before (2.9 +/- 4.3 weeks) and after (7.7 +/- 3.2 weeks) LASIK refractive surgery using a laser ray tracing technique. A set of laser pencils is sequentially delivered onto the eye through different pupil locations. For each ray, the corresponding retinal image is collected on a CCD camera. The displacement of the image centroid with respect to a reference provides direct information of the ocular aberrations. Root-mean-square (RMS) wavefront error was taken as image quality metric. RESULTS: RMS wavefront error increased significantly in all eyes but two after surgery. On average, LASIK induced a significant (P = 0.0003) 1.9-fold increase in the RMS error for a 6.5-mm pupil. The main contribution was due to the increase (fourfold, P < 0.0001) of spherical aberration. The increase in the RMS for a 3-mm pupil (1.7-fold) was also significant (P = 0.02). The modulation transfer (computed for 6.5-mm pupil) decreased on average by a factor of 2 for middle-high spatial frequencies. CONCLUSIONS: (1) Laser ray tracing is a well-suited, robust, and reliable technique for the evaluation of the change of ocular aberrations with refractive surgery. (2) Refractive surgery induces important amounts of 3rd and higher order aberrations. The largest increase occurs for spherical aberration. Decentration of the ablation pattern seems to generate 3rd order aberrations. (3) This result is important for the design of customized ablation algorithms, which should cancel existing preoperative aberrations while avoiding the generation of new aberrations.

We have found a dissipative soliton resonance which applies to nonlinear dynamical systems governed by the complex cubic-quintic Ginzburg-Landau equation. Specifically, for particular values of the equation parameters, the soliton energy increases indefinitely. These equation parameters can easily be found using approximate methods, and the results agree very well with numerical ones. The phenomenon can be very useful in the design of high-power passively mode-locked lasers.

We consider a schematic human eye with four centered aspheric surfaces. We show that by introducing recent experimental average measurements of cornea and lens into the Gullstrand-Le Grand model, the average spherical aberration of the actual eye is predicted without any shape fitting. The chromatic dispersions are adjusted to fit the experimentally observed chromatic aberration of the eye. The polychromatic point-spread function and modulation transfer function are calculated for several pupil diameters and show good agreement with previous experimental results. Finally, from this schematic eye an accommodation-dependent model is proposed that reproduces the increment of refractive power of the eye during accommodation. The variation of asphericity with accommodation is also introduced in the model and the resulting optical performance studied.

Rare events of extremely high optical intensity are experimentally recorded at the output of a mode-locked fiber laser that operates in a strongly dissipative regime of chaotic multiple-pulse generation. The probability distribution of these intensity fluctuations, which highly depend on the cavity parameters, features a long-tailed distribution. Recorded intensity fluctuations result from the ceaseless relative motion and nonlinear interaction of pulses within a temporally localized multisoliton phase.

We present novel stable solutions which are soliton pairs and trains of the 1D complex Ginzburg-Landau equation (CGLE), and analyze them. We propose that the distance between the pulses and the phase difference between them is defined by energy and momentum balance equations. We present a two-dimensional phase plane (``interaction plane'') for analyzing the stability properties and general dynamics of two-soliton solutions of the CGLE.

We present three novel pulsating solutions of the cubic-quintic complex Ginzburg-Landau equation. They describe some complicated pulsating behavior of solitons in dissipative systems. We study their main features and the regions of parameter space where they exist.

We present a fully quantum mechanical approach to describe the coupling between plasmons and excitonic systems such as molecules or quantum dots. The formalism relies on Zubarev's Green functions, which allow us to go beyond the perturbative regime within the internal evolution of a plasmonic nanostructure and to fully account for quantum aspects of the optical response and Fano resonances in plasmon-excition (plexcitonic) systems. We illustrate this method with two examples consisting of an exciton-supporting quantum emitter placed either in the vicinity of a single metal nanoparticle or in the gap of a nanoparticle dimer. The optical absorption of the combined emitter-dimer structure is shown to undergo dramatic changes when the emitter excitation level is tuned across the gap-plasmon resonance. Our work opens a new avenue to deal with strongly interacting plasmon-excition hybrid systems.

This tutorial-review introduces the fundamentals of polarized light interaction with biological tissues and presents some of the recent key polarization optical methods that have made possible the quantitative studies essential for biomedical diagnostics. Tissue structures and the corresponding models showing linear and circular birefringence, dichroism, and chirality are analyzed. As the basis for a quantitative description of the interaction of polarized light with tissues, the theory of polarization transfer in a random medium is used. This theory employs the modified transfer equation for Stokes parameters to predict the polarization properties of single- and multiple-scattered optical fields. The near-order of scatterers in tissues is accounted for to provide an adequate description of tissue polarization properties. Biomedical diagnostic techniques based on polarized light detection, including polarization imaging and spectroscopy, amplitude and intensity light scattering matrix measurements, and polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography are described. Examples of biomedical applications of these techniques for early diagnostics of cataracts, detection of precancer, and prediction of skin disease are presented. The substantial reduction of light scattering multiplicity at tissue optical clearing that leads to a lesser influence of scattering on the measured intrinsic polarization properties of the tissue and allows for more precise quantification of these properties is demonstrated.

Electron energy loss spectroscopy performed in transmission electron microscopes is shown to directly render the photonic local density of states with unprecedented spatial resolution, currently below the nanometer. Two special cases are discussed in detail: (i) 2D photonic structures with the electrons moving along the translational axis of symmetry and (ii) quasiplanar plasmonic structures under normal incidence. Nanophotonics in general and plasmonics, in particular, should benefit from these results connecting the unmatched spatial resolution of electron energy loss spectroscopy with its ability to probe basic optical properties such as the photonic local density of states.

The VIRTIS (Visible, Infrared and Thermal Imaging Spectrometer) instrument on board the Rosetta spacecraft has provided evidence of carbon-bearing compounds on the nucleus of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The very low reflectance of the nucleus (normal albedo of 0.060 ± 0.003 at 0.55 micrometers), the spectral slopes in visible and infrared ranges (5 to 25 and 1.5 to 5% kÅ(-1)), and the broad absorption feature in the 2.9-to-3.6-micrometer range present across the entire illuminated surface are compatible with opaque minerals associated with nonvolatile organic macromolecular materials: a complex mixture of various types of carbon-hydrogen and/or oxygen-hydrogen chemical groups, with little contribution of nitrogen-hydrogen groups. In active areas, the changes in spectral slope and absorption feature width may suggest small amounts of water-ice. However, no ice-rich patches are observed, indicating a generally dehydrated nature for the surface currently illuminated by the Sun.