Browsing by Author "Zhang, Yu"
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Item Accurate measurement of nanomechanical motion in a fiber-taper nano-optomechanical system(AIP Publishing LLC, 2019) Zheng, Huadan; Qiu, Weiqia; Gu, Xiaohang; Zhang, Yu; Zhu, Wenguo; Huang, Bincheng; Lu, Huihui; Guan, Heyuan; Xiao, Yi; Zhong, Yongchun; Fang, Junbin; Luo, Yunhan; Zhang, Jun; Yu, Jianhui; Tittel, Frank; Chen, ZheThe hybrid systems that couple optical and mechanical degrees of freedom in nanoscale devices offer an unprecedented opportunity and development in laboratories worldwide. A nano-optomechanical (NOM) system that converts energy directly/inversely between optics and mechanics opens an approach to control the behavior of light and light-driven mechanics. An accurate measurement of the mechanical motion of a fiber-taper NOM system is a critical challenge. In this work, an optical microscope was used to measure the nanoscale mechanical motion of the fiber taper by introducing white light interference. The resolution of mechanical motion monitoring achieved 0.356 nm with an optomechanical efficiency of >20 nm/μW. This paper describes an approach to characterize NOM transducers between optical and mechanical signals in both classical and quantum fields.Item Charge Transfer Plasmons: Optical Frequency Conductances and Tunable Infrared Resonances(American Chemical Society, 2015) Wen, Fangfang; Zhang, Yue; Gottheim, Samuel; King, Nicholas S.; Zhang, Yu; Nordlander, Peter; Halas, Naomi J.; Laboratory for NanophotonicsA charge transfer plasmon (CTP) appears when an optical-frequency conductive pathway between two metallic nanoparticles is established, enabling the transfer of charge between nanoparticles when the plasmon is excited. Here we investigate the properties of the CTP in a nanowire-bridged dimer geometry. Varying the junction geometry controls its conductance, which modifies the resonance energies and scattering intensities of the CTP while also altering the other plasmon modes of the nanostructure. Reducing the junction conductance shifts this resonance to substantially lower energies in the near- and mid-infrared regions of the spectrum. The CTP offers both a high-information probe of optical frequency conductances in nanoscale junctions and a new, unique approach to controllably engineering tunable plasmon modes at infrared wavelengths.Item Coherent Fano resonances in a plasmonic nanocluster enhance optical four-wave mixing(National Academy of Sciences, 2013) Zhang, Yu; Wen, Fangfang; Zhen, Yu-Rong; Nordlander, Peter; Halas, Naomi J.; Laboratory for NanophotonicsPlasmonic nanoclusters, an ordered assembly of coupled metallic nanoparticles, support unique spectral features known as Fano resonances due to the coupling between their subradiant and superradiant plasmon modes. Within the Fano resonance, absorption is significantly enhanced, giving rise to highly localized, intense near fields with the potential to enhance nonlinear optical processes. Here, we report a structure supporting the coherent oscillation of two distinct Fano resonances within an individual plasmonic nanocluster. We show how this coherence enhances the optical four-wave mixing process in comparison with other doubleresonant plasmonic clusters that lack this property. A model that explains the observed four-wave mixing features is proposed, which is generally applicable to any third-order process in plasmonic nanostructures. With a larger effective susceptibility χ (3) relative to existing nonlinear optical materials, this coherent double-resonant nanocluster offers a strategy for designing high-performance thirdorder nonlinear optical media.Item Development and Measurements of a Mid-Infrared Multi-Gas Sensor System for CO, CO2 and CH4 Detection(MDPI, 2017) Dong, Ming; Zheng, Chuantao; Miao, Shuzhuo; Zhang, Yu; Du, Qiaoling; Wang, Yiding; Tittel, Frank K.A multi-gas sensor system was developed that uses a single broadband light source and multiple carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) pyroelectric detectors by use of the time division multiplexing (TDM) technique. A stepper motor-based rotating system and a single-reflection spherical optical mirror were designed and adopted to realize and enhance multi-gas detection. Detailed measurements under static detection mode (without rotation) and dynamic mode (with rotation) were performed to study the performance of the sensor system for the three gas species. Effects of the motor rotating period on sensor performances were also investigated and a rotation speed of 0.4π rad/s was required to obtain a stable sensing performance, corresponding to a detection period of ~10 s to realize one round of detection. Based on an Allan deviation analysis, the 1σ detection limits under static operation are 2.96, 4.54 and 2.84 parts per million in volume (ppmv) for CO, CO2 and CH4, respectively and the 1σ detection limits under dynamic operations are 8.83, 8.69 and 10.29 ppmv for the three gas species, respectively. The reported sensor has potential applications in various fields requiring CO, CO2 and CH4 detection such as in coal mines.Item Generation of intense phase-stable femtosecond hard X-ray pulse pairs(National Academy of Sciences, 2022) Zhang, Yu; Kroll, Thomas; Weninger, Clemens; Michine, Yurina; Fuller, Franklin D.; Zhu, Diling; Alonso-Mori, Roberto; Sokaras, Dimosthenis; Lutman, Alberto A.; Halavanau, Aliaksei; Pellegrini, Claudio; Benediktovitch, Andrei; Yabashi, Makina; Inoue, Ichiro; Inubushi, Yuichi; Osaka, Taito; Yamada, Jumpei; Babu, Ganguli; Salpekar, Devashish; Sayed, Farheen N.; Ajayan, Pulickel M.; Kern, Jan; Yano, Junko; Yachandra, Vittal K.; Yoneda, Hitoki; Rohringer, Nina; Bergmann, UweCoherent nonlinear spectroscopies and imaging in the X-ray domain provide direct insight into the coupled motions of electrons and nuclei with resolution on the electronic length scale and timescale. The experimental realization of such techniques will strongly benefit from access to intense, coherent pairs of femtosecond X-ray pulses. We have observed phase-stable X-ray pulse pairs containing more than 3 × 107 photons at 5.9 keV (2.1 Å) with ∼1 fs duration and 2 to 5 fs separation. The highly directional pulse pairs are manifested by interference fringes in the superfluorescent and seeded stimulated manganese Kα emission induced by an X-ray free-electron laser. The fringes constitute the time-frequency X-ray analog of Young’s double-slit interference, allowing for frequency domain X-ray measurements with attosecond time resolution.Item Light-induced off-axis cavity-enhanced thermoelastic spectroscopy in the near-infrared for trace gas sensing(Optical Society of Americ, 2021) Zheng, Kaiyuan; Zheng, Chuantao; Zheng, Chuantao; Hu, Lien; Guan, Gangyun; Ma, Yanming; Song, Fang; Zhang, Yu; Zhang, Yu; Wang, Yiding; Tittel, Frank K.A trace gas sensing technique of light-induced off-axis cavity-enhanced thermoelastic spectroscopy (OA-CETES) in the near-infrared was demonstrated by combing a high-finesse off-axis integrated cavity and a high Q-factor resonant quartz tuning fork (QTF). Sensor parameters of the cavity and QTF were optimized numerically and experimentally. As a proof-of-principle, we employed the OA-CETES for water vapor (H2O) detection using a QTF (Q-factor ∼12000 in atmospheric pressure) and a 10cm-long Fabry-Perot cavity (finesse ∼ 482). By probing a H2O line at 7306.75 cm-1, the developed OA-CETES sensor achieved a minimum detection limit (MDL) of 8.7 parts per million (ppm) for a 300 ms integration time and a normalized noise equivalent absorption (NNEA) coefficient of 4.12 × 10−9cm-1 WHz-1/2. Continuous monitoring of indoor and outdoor atmospheric H2O concentration levels was performed for verifying the sensing applicability. The realization of the proposed OA-CETES technique with compact QTF and long effective path cavity allows a class of optical sensors with low cost, high sensitivity and potential for long-distance and multi-point sensing.Item Long-distance in-situ methane detection using near-infrared light-induced thermo-elastic spectroscopy(Elsevier, 2021) Hu, Lien; Zheng, Chuantao; Zhang, Minghui; Zheng, Kaiyuan; Zheng, Jie; Song, Zhanwei; Li, Xiuying; Zhang, Yu; Wang, Yiding; Tittel, Frank K.A wavelength-locked light-induced thermo-elastic spectroscopy (WL-LITES) gas sensor system was proposed for long-distance in-situ methane (CH4) detection using a fiber-coupled sensing probe. The wavelength-locked scheme was used to speed the sensor response without scanning the laser wavelength across the CH4 absorption line. A small-size piezoelectric quartz tuning fork (QTF) with a wide spectral response range was adopted to enhance the photo-thermal signal. The optical excitation parameters of the QTF were optimized based on experiment and simulation for improving the signal-to-noise ratio of the LITES technique. An Allan deviation analysis was employed to evaluate the limit of detection of the proposed sensor system. With a 0.3 s lock-in integration time and a ∼ 100 m optical fiber, the WL-LITES gas sensor system demonstrates a minimum detection limit (MDL) of ∼ 11 ppm in volume (ppmv) for CH4 detection, and the MDL can be further reduced to ∼ 1 ppmv with an averaging time of ∼ 35 s. A real-time in-situ monitoring of CH4 leakage reveals that the proposed sensor system can realize a fast response (< 12 s) for field application.Item Mid-infrared chalcogenide slot waveguide plasmonic resonator sensor embedded with Au nanorods for surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy(Elsevier, 2022) Pi, Mingquan; Zhao, Huan; Li, Chunguang; Min, Yuting; Peng, Zihang; Ji, Jialin; Huang, Yijun; Song, Fang; Liang, Lei; Zhang, Yu; Wang, Yiding; Tittel, Frank K.; Zheng, ChuantaoThe problem of a traditional waveguide plasmonic resonator sensor is that part of the near-field intensity enhanced area is confined in the waveguide dielectric layer, which decreases the interaction effect between light and analyte. In order to solve this problem, a novel mid-infrared (MIR) chalcogenide (ChG) slot waveguide plasmonic resonator (SWGPR) sensor embedded with Au nanorods was proposed, where Au nanorods were used as antenna for enhancing mode coupling with the waveguide through resonance at the absorption wavelength of the analyte. The antenna parameters were optimized to make the resonance wavelength align with the absorption wavelength of the analyte. The proposed waveguide structure provides a sufficient sensing area and increases the electric field enhancement factor to > 6400. Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and styrene were adopted as the analyte for sensing performance evaluation. The normalized absorption reaches 23.31 when the maximum extinction coefficient of PMMA is 0.08, which is at least 7 times higher than other silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguide plasmonic resonator sensors. The proposed waveguide structure provides a new idea for the design of other waveguide plasmonic resonator sensors with high sensing performance and has the potential for biochemical sensing.Item Near-infrared acetylene sensor system using off-axis integrated-cavity output spectroscopy and two measurement schemes(Optical Society of America, 2018) Zheng, Kaiyuan; Zheng, Chuantao; He, Qixin; Yao, Dan; Hu, Lien; Zhang, Yu; Wang, Yiding; Tittel, Frank K.For highly sensitive and accurate acetylene (C2H2) detection, a near-infrared (NIR) off-axis integrated-cavity output spectroscopy (OA-ICOS) sensor system based on an ultra-compact cage-based absorption cell was proposed. The absorption cell with dimensions of 10 cm × 8 cm × 6 cm realized a dense-pattern and an easily-aligned stable optical system. The OA-ICOS sensor system employed a 6cm-long optical cavity that was formed by two mirrors with a reflectivity of 99.35% and provided an effective absorption path length of ∼9.28 m. The performance of the C2H2 sensor system based on two measurement schemes, i.e. laser direct absorption spectroscopy (LDAS) and wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) is reported. A NIR distributed feedback (DFB) laser was employed for targeting a C2H2 absorption line at 6523.88 cm−1. An Allan deviation analysis yielded a detection sensitivity of 760 parts-per-billion in volume (ppbv) for an averaging time of 304 s using the LDAS-based OA-ICOS. A detection sensitivity of 85 ppbv for an averaging time of 250 s was obtained using the WMS-based OA-ICOS, which was further improved by a factor of ~9 compared to the result obtained with the LDAS method. The proposed sensor system has the advantages of reduced size and cost with acceptable detection sensitivity, which is suitable for applications in trace gas sensing in harsh environments and weight-limited balloon-embedded observations.Item Near-Infrared Dual-Gas Sensor System for Methane and Ethane Detection Using a Compact Multipass Cell(Frontiers Media S.A., 2022) Xi, Zhenhai; Zheng, Kaiyuan; Zheng, Chuantao; Zhang, Haipeng; Song, Fang; Li, Chunguang; Ye, Weilin; Zhang, Yu; Wang, Yiding; Tittel, Frank K.In this invited paper, a compact dense-pattern multipass cell-based near-infrared sensor system was demonstrated for detection of parts-per-billion in volume (ppbv)-level methane (CH4) and ethane (C2H6). The dimension size of the fabricated gas cell is 18.5 × 8 × 9 cm3 with an absorption path length of 9.39 m. CH4 measurement was realized within a spectral range of 6,046–6,048 cm−1 and an absorption line of 6,046.95 cm−1. The spectral range for C2H6 detection is 5,951–5,953 cm−1 with an absorption line of 5,951.73 cm−1. Allan deviation analysis was used for evaluating the dual-gas sensing performance, and a detection limit of 78 ppbv for CH4 and 190 ppbv for C2H6 were achieved, respectively, with an averaging time of 0.8 s. Furthermore, CH4 measurement in the indoor and outdoor atmosphere was both performed to verify the field sensing capability of the sensor system. Compared with two separate sensor systems for CH4/C2H6 sensing, the proposed dual-gas sensor system using two near-infrared lasers and one multipass cell has the advantages of low-cost, compact-size without decreasing the selectivity and sensitivity.Item Nonlinear Nanophotonic Systems for Harmonic Generation, Parametric Amplification, Optical Processing and Single-Molecule Detection(2015-02-19) Zhang, Yu; Halas, Naomi J; Nordlander, Peter J; Link, StephanMetallic nanoparticles support collective oscillations of conduction-band electrons, in response to light incidences. Such phenomenon is called localized surface plasmons, which confine large electromagnetic fields in sub-wavelength dimensions, enabling the light manipulation at the nanoscale. Plasmonic nanoparticles have established many promising applications, such as infrared photodetections, photothermal generation steam, chemical photocatalysis, cancer therapy and surface-enhanced spectroscopy. More interesting, plasmonic nanostructures could generate strong nonlinear-optical effects by relatively low excitation powers, and have been widely used in different processes like second-harmonic generations (SHG), difference-frequency generation (DFG), third-harmonic generation (THG), optical four-wave mixing (FWM) and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). This thesis will focused on two types of second-order and two types of third-order nonlinear-optical processes, enhanced by artificial plasmonic nanostructures. Firstly, the second-harmonic generation on a single nanocup is studied, and the signal is demonstrated to have increasing intensity as the 3D symmetry of the nanocup is reduced. Then, optical four-wave mixing is generated on a plasmonic nanocluster which supports a coherent oscillation of two Fano resonances. The electric fields from both Fano resonances add coherently resulting in strong fields and correspondingly large signals. This nanocluster has a large color-conversion efficiency, and could be used for building blocks of optical processors that convert two input colors into a third color. Later, one specific application of four-wave mixing, the coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) is studied. By exploiting the unique light harvesting properties of a Fano resonance of a specially designed nano-quadrumer, the surface-enhanced CARS (SECARS) technique amplifies the Raman signals of molecules on the quadrumer by about 100 billion times. This enables the accurate identification of a single molecule with less than 20 atoms. Finally, a plasmon-enhanced optical parametric amplifier (OPA) is designed: A BaTiO3 nanosphere is used as the nonlinear OPA medium; A nanoshell wrapping this nanosphere is used as a triply resonant cavity for all the pump, signal and idler beams; The generated idler beam has a wide tuning range in the near-infrared by changing the delay between the narrowband pump beam and broadband signal beam. This surface-plasmon-enhanced OPA could be an efficient light source working in the infrared regime, with large wavelength tunabilities and nanoscale dimensions easily integrated into the next-generation optoelectronic devices.Item On-chip mid-infrared silicon-on-insulator waveguide methane sensor using two measurement schemes at 3.291 μm(Frontiers Media S.A., 2022) Zhao, Huan; Zheng, Chuantao; Pi, Mingquan; Liang, Lei; Song, Fang; Zhang, Yu; Wang, Yiding; Tittel, Frank K.Portable or even on-chip detection of methane (CH4) is significant for environmental protection and production safety. However, optical sensing systems are usually based on discrete optical elements, which makes them unsuitable for the occasions with high portability requirement. In this work, we report on-chip silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguide CH4 sensors at 3.291 μm based on two measurement schemes including direct absorption spectroscopy (DAS) and wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS). In order to suppress noise, Kalman filter was adopted in signal processing. By optimizing the waveguide cross-section structure, an etch depth of 220 nm was selected with an experimentally high power confinement factor (PCF) of 23% and a low loss of only 0.71 dB/cm. A limit of detection (LoD) of 155 parts-per-million (ppm) by DAS and 78 ppm by WMS at an averaging time of 0.2 s were obtained for a 2 cm-long waveguide sensor. Compared to the chalcogenide (ChG) waveguide CH4 sensors at the same wavelength, the reported sensor reveals the minimum waveguide loss and the lowest LoD. Therefore the SOI waveguide sensor has the potential of on-chip gas sensing in the mid-infrared (MIR) waveband.Item Performance Enhancement of Methane Detection Using a Novel Self-Adaptive Mid-Infrared Absorption Spectroscopy Technique(IEEE, 2018) Song, Fang; Zheng, Chuantao; Yan, Wanhong; Ye, Wei Lin; Zhang, Yu; Wang, Yiding; Tittel, Frank K.An electrical-domain self-adaptive mid-infrared absorption spectroscopy for methane detection based on an interband cascade laser was demonstrated. By adding noise into the laser drive signal, denoising and sensing performances were evaluated for the technique. Experiments were made to study the effects of noise level/type on sensor stability, characterized by Allan deviation. High- and low-frequency noise levels have the same functional variation trend on Allan deviation, which differs from white Gaussian noise. Within a noise level range of 0-125 mV for low- and high-frequency noise and 0-62.5 mV for white Gaussian noise in the mercury-cadmium-telluride detector's output (with a pure signal amplitude of ~300 mV), the sensor stability using self-adaptive denoising was enhanced by a factor of 1.05-20, 1.32-6.25, and 1.15-3.33 times compared to that using no filtering, for the three kinds of noise, respectively. The reported self-adaptive methane sensor system shows enhanced stability compared to the direct laser absorption spectroscopy sensor using traditional sensing architecture and classic filtering method. The sensor was further evaluated through outdoor atmospheric methane measurements using such technique. A second-order self-adaptive direct laser absorption spectroscopy technique was also proposed for noise suppression in both optical and electrical domain as an outlook of the concept of this paper.Item Review of Incoherent Broadband Cavity-Enhanced Absorption Spectroscopy (IBBCEAS) for Gas Sensing(MDPI, 2018) Zheng, Kaiyuan; Zheng, Chuantao; Zhang, Yu; Wang, Yiding; Tittel, Frank K.Incoherent broadband cavity-enhanced absorption spectroscopy (IBBCEAS) is of importance for gas detection in environmental monitoring. This review summarizes the unique properties, development and recent progress of the IBBCEAS technique. Principle of IBBCEAS for gas sensing is described, and the development of IBBCEAS from the perspective of system structure is elaborated, including light source, cavity and detection scheme. Performances of the reported IBBCEAS sensor system in laboratory and field measurements are reported. Potential applications of this technique are discussed.Item Slow-light-enhanced on-chip 1D and 2D photonic crystal waveguide gas sensing in near-IR with an ultrahigh interaction factor(Optica Publishing Group, 2023) Peng, Zihang; Huang, Yijun; Zheng, Kaiyuan; Zheng, Chuantao; Pi, Mingquan; Zhao, Huan; Ji, Jialin; Min, Yuting; Liang, Lei; Song, Fang; Zhang, Yu; Wang, Yiding; Tittel, Frank K.Nanophotonic waveguides hold great promise to achieve chip-scale gas sensors. However, their performance is limited by a short light path and small light–analyte overlap. To address this challenge, silicon-based, slow-light-enhanced gas-sensing techniques offer a promising approach. In this study, we experimentally investigated the slow light characteristics and gas-sensing performance of 1D and 2D photonic crystal waveguides (PCWs) in the near-IR (NIR) region. The proposed 2D PCW exhibited a high group index of up to 114, albeit with a high propagation loss. The limit of detection (LoD) for acetylene (C2H2) was 277 parts per million (ppm) for a 1 mm waveguide length and an averaging time of 0.4 s. The 1D PCW shows greater application potential compared to the 2D PCW waveguide, with an interaction factor reaching up to 288%, a comparably low propagation loss of 10 dB/cm, and an LoD of 706 ppm at 0.4 s. The measured group indices of the 2D and 1D waveguides are 104 and 16, respectively, which agree well with the simulation results.