Programmable temperature profiles become possible with tunable thermoplasmonics
Quantum Photonics and Metamaterials Lab continues its work on applications of thermoplasmonics.
The new paper was part of the Russian Science Foundation-funded project ‘Synthesis and study of a new class of nanocomposite ceramics with degenerate permittivity for optoplasmonic applications’.
“The development of a technological platform for optical photoheating of solids and liquids in a wide temperature range plays an important role in the creation of thermo-optical sensors and bioanalytical laboratories on a chip. The key idea of our technology is to control the local temperature using the spatial localization of the thermostat, rather than changing the laser pump power. This approach turned out to be very effective for solving a number of problems related to measuring the local glass transition temperature of polymers and their melting,” says co-author, Project Engineer Elena Chernykh.
The temperature of nanostructures can reach hundreds and thousands degrees Celsius.
“The thermoplasmonic metasurface is an ordered two-dimensional array of TiN:Si microstructures, each of which consists of a series-connected TiN-cylinder – a plasmonic nano heater and a Si-cylinder – a one-dimensional heat radiator. When such microstructures are illuminated with focused laser light, they can be heated to high temperatures under plasmon resonance conditions. It is important to emphasize that the maximum heating temperature of the TiN:Si microstructure is determined by the size of the Si-cylinder. A smooth temperature change in the selected range is carried out using the intensity of the laser pumping. Metasurface design allows targeted creation of 2D subwavelength temperature profiles,” adds Senior Research Associate Anton Kharitonov.
KFU’s approach can be used for thermo-optical sensors, effective LEDs based on inorganic perovskites, and technologies of subwavelength recording and storage of optical information. That’s why the results are important for various research areas, including analog metamaterials, thermo-optical catalysis, ultrafast optical thermal cycling, thermo-optical additive technology, and others.