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10th Anniversary of Nanomaterials—Recent Advances in Nanophotonics: Characterization, Modelling, and Nanodevices

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A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Nanophotonics Materials and Devices".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2020) | Viewed by 17248

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Prof. Dr. Paul F. McMillan

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Department of Chemistry, University College London, 20 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AJ, UK
Interests: Solid state inorganic/materials chemistry; high pressure-high temperature research; amorphous solids and liquids; optical spectroscopy; synchrotron X-ray and neutron scattering; mineral physics/geochemistry; high-pressure biology/biophysics; physical techniques applied to biomedical science; energy science
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Dear Colleagues,

We are celebrating the 10th anniversary of Nanomaterials with a Special Issue in the Section “Nanophotonics: Characterization, Modelling, and Nanodevices” (ISSN 2079-4991; CODEN: NANOKO) in 2020.

On behalf of the Editor in Chief, Prof. Dr. Shirley Chiang, and of members of the Editorial Office, we would like to take this opportunity to thank our authors and reviewers for their valuable contributions and for ensuring that Nanomaterials is a successful and respected journal in its field. To highlight this anniversary, we will lead a Special Issue that will cover various topics related to nanophotonics. It will consider manuscripts dealing with topics ranging from the design, creation, and experimental measurements of nanomaterials with novel and potentially useful optical properties to the testing and applications of nanophotonic devices.

Prof. Paul F. McMillan
Guest Editor text

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nanomaterials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 5719 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Metasurface Spiral Focusing Generators with Tunable Orbital Angular Momentum Based on Slab Silicon Nitride Waveguide and Vanadium Dioxide (VO₂)

by Li Chen, Lin Zhao, Yuan Hao, Wenyi Liu, Yi Wu, Zhongchao Wei, Ning Xu, Shuai Qin, Xiangbo Yang and Hongzhan Liu

Nanomaterials 2020, 10(9), 1864; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10091864 - 17 Sep 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2675

Abstract

The metasurface spiral focusing (MSF) generator has gained attention in high-speed optical communications due to its spatial orthogonality. However, previous MSF generators only can generate a single orbital angular momentum (OAM) mode for one polarized light. Here, a MSF generator with tunable OAM is proposed and it has the ability to transform linearly polarized light (LPL), circularly polarized light or Gaussian beams into vortex beams which can carry tunable OAM at near-infrared wavelength by controlling the phase transition of vanadium dioxide (VO₂). Utilizing this MSF generator, the beams can be focused on several wavelength-sized rings with efficiency as high as 76%, 32% when VO₂ are in the insulating phase and in the metallic phase, respectively. Moreover, we reveal the relationship between the reflective focal length and transmissive focal length, and the latter is 2.3 times of the former. We further demonstrate the impact of Gaussian beams with different waist sizes on MSF generators: the increase in waist size produces the enhancement in spiral focusing efficiency and the decrease in size of focal ring. The MSF generator we proposed will be applicable to a variety of integrated compact optical systems, such as optical communication systems and optical trapping systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary of Nanomaterials—Recent Advances in Nanophotonics: Characterization, Modelling, and Nanodevices)

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11 pages, 4237 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Multiple Energy Transfer in Luminescence-Tunable Single-Phased Phosphor NaGdTiO₄: Tm³⁺, Dy³⁺, Sm³⁺

by Jun Xiao, Cong Wang, Xin Min, Xiaowen Wu, Yangai Liu, Zhaohui Huang and Minghao Fang

Nanomaterials 2020, 10(7), 1249; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10071249 - 27 Jun 2020

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2418

Abstract

Advances in solid-state white-light-emitting diodes (WLEDs) necessitate the urgent development of highly efficient single-phase phosphors with tunable photoluminescence properties. Herein, the Tm³⁺, Dy³⁺, and Sm³⁺ ions are incorporated into the orthorhombic NaGdTiO₄ (NGT) phosphors, resulting in phosphors that fulfill the aforementioned requirement. The emission spectrum of Tm³⁺ ions overlaps well with the adsorption spectra of both Dy³⁺ and Sm³⁺ ions. Under the excitation at 358 nm, the single-phase NaGdTiO₄: Tm³⁺, Dy³⁺, Sm³⁺ phosphor exhibits tunable emission peaks in the blue, yellow, and red regions simultaneously, resulting in an intense white-light emission. The coexisting energy transfer behaviors from Tm³⁺ to Dy³⁺ and Sm³⁺ ions and the energy transfer from Dy³⁺ to Sm³⁺ ions are demonstrated to be responsible for this phenomenon. The phosphors with multiple energy transfers enable the development of single-phase white-light-emitting phosphors for phosphor-converted WLEDs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary of Nanomaterials—Recent Advances in Nanophotonics: Characterization, Modelling, and Nanodevices)

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12 pages, 3027 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Subwavelength Silicon Nanoblocks for Directional Emission Manipulation

by Tianyue Zhang, Xuewei Li, Jian Xu, Xiaoming Zhang, Zi-Lan Deng and Xiangping Li

Nanomaterials 2020, 10(6), 1242; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10061242 - 26 Jun 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2936

Abstract

Manipulating the light emission direction and boosting its directivity have essential importance in integrated nanophotonic devices. Here, we theoretically propose a single dielectric silicon nanoblock as an efficient, multifunctional and ultracompact all-dielectric nanoantenna to direct light into a preferential direction. Unidirectional scattering of a plane wave as well as switchable directive emission fed by a localized emitter are demonstrated within the nanoantenna. The high directionalities are revealed to originate from a variety of mechanisms that can coexist within a single nanoblock, which contribute to the far-field radiation patterns of the outcoming light, thanks to the wealth of multipolar electric and magnetic resonances. The efficient beam redirections are also observed, which are sensitive to the local configurations of the emitter antenna coupled system. The designed antenna, with extreme geometry simplicity, ultracompact and low-loss features, could be favorable for highly sensitive sensing as well as applications in optical nanocircuits. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary of Nanomaterials—Recent Advances in Nanophotonics: Characterization, Modelling, and Nanodevices)

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8 pages, 1512 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Near-Infrared Rewritable, Non-Volatile Subwavelength Absorber Based on Chalcogenide Phase Change Materials

by Jianfa Zhang, Yiqiong Zhang, Qilin Hong, Wei Xu, Zhihong Zhu and Xiaodong Yuan

Nanomaterials 2020, 10(6), 1222; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10061222 - 23 Jun 2020

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 3109

Abstract

Chalcogenide phase change materials enable the realization of novel, non-volatile, switchable electronic and photonic devices. In this paper, we propose a type of rewritable, non-volatile near infrared subwavelength absorber based on chalcogenide phase change materials. Our numerical simulations show that nearly perfect absorption more than 0.99 can be realized in the written state while the absorption of as-deposited or erased state is lower than 0.15 in the studied spectral range, leading to high contrast ratio of reflection more than 20 dB. Continuous tuning of the absorption spectra can be realized not only by varying the geometric parameters of the absorber but also by changing the crystallization ratio of the switched Ge

_{2}

_{2}

_{5}

(GST). The proposed device may find widespread applications in optical modulation, beam steering and so on. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary of Nanomaterials—Recent Advances in Nanophotonics: Characterization, Modelling, and Nanodevices)

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13 pages, 1983 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Magnetron-Sputtered Polytetrafluoroethylene-Stabilized Silver Nanoisland Surface for Surface-Enhanced Fluorescence

by Martin Šubr, Petr Praus, Anna Kuzminova, Eva Kočišová, Ondřej Kylián, Franck Sureau, Marek Procházka and Josef Štěpánek

Nanomaterials 2020, 10(4), 773; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10040773 - 16 Apr 2020

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2475

Abstract

Surface-enhanced fluorescence (SEF) requires the absorption/emission band of the fluorophore, the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of the nanostructure and the excitation wavelength to fall in the same (or very close) spectral range. In this paper, we monitor the SEF intensity and lifetime dependence of riboflavin (vitamin B2) adsorbed on a spacer-modified Ag substrate with respect to the thickness of the spacer. The substrates were formed by silver nanoislands deposited onto magnetron-sputtered polytetrafluoroethylene (ms-PTFE). The spacer was formed by the ms-PTFE layer with the thickness ranging from ~5 to 25 nm. The riboflavin dissolved in dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) at a 10 µM concentration forms, at the ms-PTFE surface, a homogeneous layer of adsorbed molecules corresponding to a monomolecular layer. The microspectroscopic measurements of the adsorbed layer were performed through a sessile droplet; our study has shown the advantages and limitations of this approach. Time-resolved fluorescence enabled us to determine the enhanced fluorescence quantum yield due to the shortening of the radiative decay in the vicinity of the plasmonic surface. For the 5 nm ms-PTFE layer possessing the largest (estimated 4×) fluorescence enhancement, the quantum yield was increased 2.3×. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary of Nanomaterials—Recent Advances in Nanophotonics: Characterization, Modelling, and Nanodevices)

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12 pages, 2877 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Tb³⁺/Eu³⁺ Complex-Doped Rigid Nanoparticles in Transparent Nanofibrous Membranes Exhibit High Quantum Yield Fluorescence

by Peng Lu, Yanxin Wang, Linjun Huang, Sixian Lian, Yao Wang, Jianguo Tang, Laurence A. Belfiore and Matt J. Kipper

Nanomaterials 2020, 10(4), 694; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10040694 - 06 Apr 2020

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3164

Abstract

In this study, transparent membranes containing luminescent Tb³⁺ and Eu³⁺ complex-doped silica nanoparticles were prepared via electrospinning. We prepared the electrospun fibrous membranes containing Tb(acac)₃phen- (acac = acetylacetone, phen = 1,10-phenanthroline) and/or Eu(tta)₃phen- (tta = 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone) doped silica (M-Si-Tb³⁺ and M-Si-Eu³⁺) and studied their photoluminescence properties. The fibrous membranes containing the rare earth complexes were prepared by electrospinning. The surface morphology and thermal properties of the fibrous membrane were studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), respectively. Fluorescence spectroscopy was used to characterize the fluorescence properties of the membranes. During the electrospinning process, the PVDF transitions from the α phase to the β phase, which exhibits a more rigid structure. The introduction of rigid materials, like PVDF and silica, can improve the fluorescence properties of the hybrid materials by reducing the rate of nonradiative decay. So the emission spectra at 548 nm (Tb) and 612 nm (Eu) were enhanced, as compared to the emission from the pure complex. Furthermore, the fluorescence lifetimes ranged from 0.6 to 1.5 ms and the quantum yields ranged from 32% to 61%. The luminescent fibrous membranes have potential applications in the fields of display panels, innovative electronic and optoelectronic devices. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary of Nanomaterials—Recent Advances in Nanophotonics: Characterization, Modelling, and Nanodevices)

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