Mid-IR plasmon-mediated photoluminescence from gallium-doped zinc oxide bow-tie nanoantennas

Semiconductor devices that interact with mid-infrared (mid-IR) wavelengths have a variety of applications in communications, sensing, and defense. However, most mid-IR sources, particularly incoherent emitters, are practically limited as a result of significant non-radiative losses. One proposed method of reducing these non-radiative losses is to use plasmonic materials due to their ability to enhance light-matter interactions. For inherently inefficient sources, such as many mid-IR emitters, coupling of the emitting element to a plasmonic structure could enhance emission efficiency. This thesis explores the effectiveness of 3% gallium doped zinc oxide (GZO) as a mid-IR designer plasmonic material. We design, simulate, fabricate, and characterize a two-dimensional periodic array of bow-tie nanoantennas patterned on various mid-IR emitters. Thin films of GZO are grown by pulsed laser deposition and are characterized electrically and optically, with the extracted material parameters used as inputs in our simulations. GZO plasmonic nanoantennas are then fabricated. The spectral response of the patterned nanoantennas is then characterized using Fourier transform infrared reflection spectroscopy. Afterwards, samples are characterized by temperature and polarization dependent photoluminescence spectroscopy in order to determine the extent to which the emission efficiency improves as a result of coupling to the nanostructures.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Electrical & Computer Engr

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2016

Author dc:creator

• Dev, Sukrith U

Contributors dc:contributor

• Wasserman, Daniel M.

• Infrared
• Gallium doped zinc oxide (GZO)
• Plasmonic
• Nanoantennas

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2016 Sukrith Dev

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/90661

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/90661