Mapping local optical densities of states in silicon photonic structures with nanoscale electron spectroscopy

Journal Article · Mon Mar 15 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVB.81.113102· OSTI ID:21366701

Cha, Judy J; Couillard, Martin; Muller, David A ^[1]; Zongfu, Yu; Shanhui, Fan ^[2]; Smith, Eric ^[3]

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1. School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853 (United States)
2. Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States)
3. Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027 (United States)

Relativistic electrons in a structured medium generate radiative losses such as Cherenkov and transition radiation that act as a virtual light source, coupling to the photonic densities of states. The effect is most pronounced when the imaginary part of the dielectric function is zero, a regime where in a nonretarded treatment no loss or coupling can occur. Maps of the resultant energy losses as a sub-5 nm electron probe scans across finite waveguide structures reveal spatial distributions of optical modes in a spectral domain ranging from near infrared to far ultraviolet.

• OSTI ID: 21366701
• Journal Information: Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, Vol. 81, Issue 11; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.81.113102; (c) 2010 The American Physical Society; ISSN 1098-0121
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
CHERENKOV RADIATION
COUPLING
DENSITY
DIELECTRIC MATERIALS
ELECTRON PROBES
ELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY
ELECTRONS
FAR ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
INFRARED SPECTRA
LIGHT SOURCES
LOSSES
OPACITY
OPTICAL MODES
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
SILICON
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
TRANSITION RADIATION
VISIBLE RADIATION
WAVEGUIDES
DISTRIBUTION
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ELEMENTS
ENERGY RANGE
FERMIONS
LEPTONS
MATERIALS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
OSCILLATION MODES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PROBES
RADIATION SOURCES
RADIATIONS
SEMIMETALS
SPECTRA
SPECTROSCOPY
ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION