Elaboration en champ proche de nanoparticules hybrides pour la photonique – Photohybrid

Objective: The control of light by small structures promises to play a major role for the next generation of optical information processes, future quantum computing devices and scalable data storage. Key to this control is to design new photonic structures with advanced or novel functionalities. This project aims at the development of novel hybrids photonic nanostructures based on metal nanoparticles. The project will exploit the peculiar properties of these nanoparticles excited at resonance to create a tunable electromagnetic confinement that will be subsequently used for the photo-generation of hybrid photonic systems (metal/polymer). Two types of hybrids will be considered: hybrid nanoparticles with passive functionalities such as tunable effective indices, and hybrids presenting active behavior such as controllable emission. The novelty of the project originates from the use of confined energy sources (photonic or thermal) to locally induce an enhanced light/matter modification and to integrate these sources as part of the final hybrid structure. This approach allows for an optimal photonic transfer that would be difficult otherwise. The scientific outcomes are manifold spanning from the influence of local indices on the optical properties nanostructures to new dynamics for quantum dots excitation in enhanced electromagnetic field. These novel hybrid nanostructures will find applications in the development of the next generation of integrated optical circuitry, optical nanosensors, and anti-counterfeit measures. Methods: The very first stage of this project will be devoted to the development and characterization of novel photonic nanosource of light based on the enhancement of the electromagnetic field at the vicinity of metallic nanoparticles. Two different elaboration procedures will be implemented to obtain the nanostructures of interest: nanophotolithography and chemical synthesis in solution. The optical properties of those obtained particles will then be characterized both spatially (field cartography) and quantitatively (enhancement factor). In the same time, synthesis and preliminary studies will be held on two photosensitive materials: -polymerizable solution, plain or doped with nanoparticles allowing us to scan through a large range of charge ratio. Moreover, in regard to the pursued applications, we will especially focus our attention on the polymerization threshold and the optical index of the obtained polymer. In the short term, we wish to quickly implement the hybrid particles to define and find the strategy to start breaking the possible arising technological lock. Results and perspectives: - Minimum field enhancement of one order of magnitude up to 50nm away from the nanoparticles. - Control of the optical index, adjustable polymerization threshold, increased kinetic of the different investigated (photo)mechanisms. Our perspectives are mainly related to the possible applications: new versatile and cheap techniques for high resolution lithography, nanosensors, anti-falsification labeling,... Research outcome: In regards to the forthcoming innovative outcomes to be expected at long or middle term, as well as the already significant contribution to be reached through the intermediate stages, we expect to quickly spread our results in scientific journals and conferences