@inproceedings{5ce5509922dc4475be077c69d032fbbc,
title = "Quantum Cascade Laser integrated with metal-dielectric-metal plasmonic antenna",
abstract = "In the near field region, optical antennas can generate local hot spots with high energy density. It can be very useful in increasing the photon-matter interactions for bio-sensing applications. There are several important bio-molecules having signature frequency (vibrational resonance) matching the mid infrared region of the optical spectrum. Thus mid-infrared antenna integrated with Quantum cascade laser (QCL) is highly desirable as it is currently considered to be one of the most efficient mid-infrared laser sources with a huge gamut of commercial applications. Here, we present a novel metal-dielectric-metal (MDM) based plasmonic nanorod antenna integrated on the facet of a room temperature working Quantum Cascade Laser. Simulations showed that at an optimized SiO2 thickness of 20nm, the antenna can generate a local electric field with intensity 500 times higher than the incident field intensity. Further, it can increase the number of regions with local hot spots due to a higher number of geometrical singularities or sharp edges present in the MDM structure. This feature can be extremely useful, especially for bio-sensing applications. All device structures have been optimized based on 3d finite-difference timedomain (FDTD) numerical simulations. The antenna was fabricated on the facet of QCL using focused ion beam (FIB). The integrated plasmonic QCL has been measured using an apertureless mid-infrared near field scanning optical microscopy (a-NSOM). The measurement set-up is based on an inverted microscope coupled with a commercially available Atomic Forced Microscopy (AFM). We have experimentally found that such integrated nano antenna can generate a very narrow optical spot size, much below the diffraction limit, with high power density that matches well with the simulation results.",
keywords = "Bio-sensing, Field enhancement, Focused ion beam milling, Near-field imaging, Optical antenna, Plasmonics, Quantum cascade laser, Surface plasmon resonance",
author = "Dibyendu Dey and Gelfand, \{Ryan M.\} and John Kohoutek and Alireza Bonakdar and Hooman Mohseni",
year = "2010",
doi = "10.1117/12.861451",
language = "English (US)",
isbn = "9780819482853",
series = "Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering",
booktitle = "Laser Beam Shaping XI",
note = "Laser Beam Shaping XI ; Conference date: 02-08-2010 Through 02-08-2010",
}