Singular and Chiral Nanoplasmonics


Book Description

Plasmonics has already revolutionized molecular imaging, cancer research, optical communications, sensing, spectroscopy, and metamaterials development. This book is a collective effort by several research groups to push the frontiers of plasmonics research into the emerging area of harnessing and generation of photon angular momentum on micro- and nanoscales. It offers a glimpse into the ongoing research efforts to develop new types of plasmonic vortex–pinning platforms and chiral nanostructures for light harvesting, bio(chemical) sensing, drug discovery, and nanoscale energy transfer.




Singular and Chiral Nanoplasmonics


Book Description

Plasmonics has already revolutionized molecular imaging, cancer research, optical communications, sensing, spectroscopy, and metamaterials development. This book is a collective effort by several research groups to push the frontiers of plasmonics research into the emerging area of harnessing and generation of photon angular momentum on micro- and




Chirality, Magnetism and Magnetoelectricity


Book Description

This book discusses theoretical and experimental advances in metamaterial structures, which are of fundamental importance to many applications in microwave and optical-wave physics and materials science. Metamaterial structures exhibit time-reversal and space-inversion symmetry breaking due to the effects of magnetism and chirality. The book addresses the characteristic properties of various symmetry breaking processes by studying field-matter interaction with use of conventional electromagnetic waves and novel types of engineered fields: twisted-photon fields, toroidal fields, and magnetoelectric fields. In a system with a combined effect of simultaneous breaking of space and time inversion symmetries, one observes the magnetochiral effect. Another similar phenomenon featuring space-time inversion symmetries is related to use of magnetoelectric materials. Cross-coupling of the electric and magnetic components in these material structures, leading to the appearance of new magnetic modes with an electric excitation channel – electromagnons and skyrmions – has resulted in a wealth of strong optical effects such as directional dichroism, magnetochiral dichroism, and rotatory power of the fields. This book contains multifaceted contributions from international leading experts and covers the essential aspects of symmetry-breaking effects, including theory, modeling and design, proven and potential applications in practical devices, fabrication, characterization and measurement. It is ideally suited as an introduction and basic reference work for researchers and graduate students entering this field.




Raman Spectroscopy


Book Description

This book gives a wide overview of the state-of-the-art applications of Raman spectroscopy in characterization of materials and biomaterials. The Raman signal is intrinsically smaller than other vibrational techniques; however, mainly through intensification processes, such as resonance Raman (RR) and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), the Raman cross section can be strongly amplified. Thoroughly in these signal amplifications, the study of a diversity of chemical systems and the use of Raman technique for in situ and in vivo measurements is possible. The main goal of this book is to open up to an extended audience the possibilities of uses of Raman spectroscopy. In fact, this collective work will be beneficial to students, teachers, and researchers of many areas who are interested to expand their knowledge about Raman spectroscopy applied to nanotechnology, biotechnology, environmental science, inorganic chemistry, and health sciences.




Surfaces and Interfaces for Renewable Energy


Book Description

Environmental problems derived from the massive use of conventional energy resources are one of the main issues that our society has been facing in recent decades. Renewable energies (and particularly solar energy) have become a highly competitive means to meet the world’s increasing energy demands in a sustainable and clean manner. One of the key research challenges for the commercial deployment of several solar energy technologies is focused on the development of feasible and durable coatings that withstand appropriate optical and thermal performance over the lifetime of the solar facilities. This book addresses a number of relevant aspects related to coatings for renewable energies, including a deep survey of coatings used in photovoltaic solar energy, the development of a superhydrophobic and thermal stable silica coating that is potentially suitable for various industrial applications related to renewable technologies, the development of coatings to improve the resistance of structural materials used in concentrating solar thermal technologies with molten salts, and several research works related to solar reflectors for concentrating solar thermal technologies (such us the advanced analysis of the corrosion, the suitability of anti-soiling coatings, and the development of top protective coatings for high-temperature secondary concentrators).




Coatings to Improve Optoelectronic Devices


Book Description

This selection is focused on coatings and films with applications in optoelectronics, such as photovoltaics, photocatalysis, and light-based sensors and phenomena. The studies investigate the optimal composition, crystalline structure, and morphology to deliver the different functionalities sought. Obtaining transparent p-type electrodes is challenging but extremely relevant in optoelectronics. Electric conduction mechanisms and the correlations with structure and doping are discussed. The important issue of the degradation pathways in perovskite-based solar cells and the possibilities offered by different types of coatings to encapsulate the devices as well as the beneficial effect of silica coating as an antireflection and antisoiling layer on well-established solar cells are discussed. New designs of nanoplasmonic films for chemical and biological molecule sensing are reviewed, such as the combination of metallic nanoparticles and nanostructured semiconductors and dispersing metallic or bi-metallic nanoparticles in CuO films. The impacts of structure, defects, and morphology on the photoactivated properties of WO3 films and on the shape memory behavior in Cu–Al–Ni thin films are discussed. Aggregated TiO2 nanoparticles on TiO2 layers are shown to enhance optical transmittance and confer a superhydrophilic characteristic. Finally, aspects of the fundamental characterization of thin films, Drude damping in thin films, and laser-induced deflection technique are discussed.




Antenna Engineering Handbook


Book Description

The gold-standard reference on the design and application of classic and modern antennas—fully updated to reflect the latest advances and technologiesThis new edition of the “bible of antenna engineering” has been updated to provide start-to-finish coverage of the latest innovations in antenna design and application. You will find in-depth discussion of antennas used in modern communication systems, mobile and personal wireless technologies, satellites, radar deployments, flexible electronics, and other emerging technologies, including 5G, terahertz, and wearable electronics. Antenna Engineering Handbook, Fifth Edition, is bolstered by real-world examples, hundreds of illustrations, and an emphasis on the practical aspects of antennas.Featuring 60 chapters and contributions from more than 80 renowned experts, this acclaimed resource is edited by one of the world’s leading antenna authorities. This edition features all of the classic antenna types, plus new and emerging designs, with 13 all-new chapters and important updates to nearly all chapters from past editions.Antenna Engineering Handbook, Fifth Edition, clearly explains cutting-edge applications in WLANs, automotive systems, PDAs, and handheld devices, making it an indispensable companion for today’s antenna practitioners and developers.Coverage includes:•Antenna basics and classic antennas•Design approaches for antennas and arrays•Wideband and multiband antennas•Antennas for mobile devices and PDAs, automotive applications, and aircraft•Base station and smart antennas•Beamforming and 5G antennas•Millimeter-wave and terahertz antennas•Flexible, wearable, thin film, origami, dielectric, and on-chip antennas•MIMO antennas and phased arrays•Direction-finding and GPS antennas•Active antennas•Low-profile wideband antennas•Nanoantennas•Reflectors and other satellite and radio-telescope antennas•Low-frequency, HF, VHF, UHF, ECM, and ESM antennas•Impedance-matching techniques and material characteristics•Metastructured and frequency selective surfaces•Propagation and guided structures•Computational techniques and toolsets•Indoor and outdoor measurements




Structured Surfaces as Optical Metamaterials


Book Description

Optical metamaterials are an exciting new field in optical science. A rapidly developing class of these metamaterials are those that allow the manipulation of volume and surface electromagnetic waves in desirable ways by suitably structuring the surfaces they interact with. They have applications in a variety of fields, such as materials science, photovoltaic technology, imaging and lensing, beam shaping and lasing. Describing techniques and applications, this book is ideal for researchers and professionals working in metamaterials and plasmonics, as well as those just entering this exciting new field. It surveys different types of structured surfaces, their design and fabrication, their unusual optical properties, recent experimental observations and their applications. Each chapter is written by an expert in that area, giving the reader an up-to-date overview of the subject. Both the experimental and theoretical aspects of each topic are presented.




Metamaterials


Book Description

Leading experts explore the exotic properties and exciting applications of electromagnetic metamaterials Metamaterials: Physics and Engineering Explorations gives readers a clearly written, richly illustrated introduction to the most recent research developments in the area of electromagnetic metamaterials. It explores the fundamental physics, the designs, and the engineering aspects, and points to a myriad of exciting potential applications. The editors, acknowledged leaders in the field of metamaterials, have invited a group of leading researchers to present both their own findings and the full array of state-of-the-art applications for antennas, waveguides, devices, and components. Following a brief overview of the history of artificial materials, the publication divides its coverage into two major classes of metamaterials. The first half of the publication examines effective media with single (SNG) and double negative (DNG) properties; the second half examines electromagnetic band gap (EBG) structures. The book further divides each of these classes into their three-dimensional (3D volumetric) and two-dimensional (2D planar or surface) realizations. Examples of each type of metamaterial are presented, and their known and anticipated properties are reviewed. Collectively, Metamaterials: Physics and Engineering Explorations presents a review of recent research advances associated with a highly diverse set of electromagnetic metamaterials. Its multifaceted approach offers readers a combination of theoretical, numerical, and experimental perspectives for a better understanding of their behaviors and their potentialapplications in components, devices, and systems. Extensive reference lists provide opportunities to explore individual topics and classes of metamaterials in greater depth. With full-color illustrations throughout to clarify concepts and help visualize actual results, this book provides a dynamic, user-friendly resource for students, engineers, physicists, and other researchers in the areas of electromagnetic materials, microwaves, millimeter waves, and optics. It equips newcomers with a basic understanding of metamaterials and their potential applications. Advanced researchers will benefit from thought-provoking perspectives that will deepen their knowledge and lead them to new areas of investigation.




Handbook of Full-Field Optical Coherence Microscopy


Book Description

Full-field optical coherence microscopy (FF-OCM) is an imaging technique that provides cross-sectional views of the subsurface microstructure of semitransparent objects. The technology is based on low-coherence interference microscopy, which uses an area camera for en face imaging of the full-field illuminated object. FF-OCM benefits from the lateral imaging resolution of optical microscopy along with the capacity of optical axial sectioning at micrometer-scale resolution. The technique can be employed in diverse applications, in particular for non-invasive examination of biological tissues. This handbook is the first to be entirely devoted to FF-OCM. It is organized into four parts with a total of 21 chapters written by recognized experts and major contributors to the field. After a general introduction to FF-OCM, the fundamental characteristics of the technology are analyzed and discussed theoretically. The main technological developments of FF-OCM for improving the image acquisition speed and for endoscopic imaging are presented in part II. Extensions of FF-OCM for image contrast enhancement or functional imaging are reported in part III. The last part of the book provides an overview of possible applications of FF-OCM in medicine, biology, and materials science. A comprehensive compilation of self-contained chapters written by leading experts, this handbook is a definitive guide to the theoretical analyses, technological developments, and applications of FF-OCM. Using the rich information the book is replete with, a wide range of readers, from scientists and physicists to engineers as well as clinicians and biomedical researchers, can get a handle on the latest major advances in FF-OCM.