Achievement

Technological application of plasmonics in Ag films depends critically on reducing losses due to grain boundary scattering and surface roughness. Trainee Charlotte Sanders, Prof. Shih and members of their research group, have developed a new method of epitaxial growth that produces atomically smooth, single-crystal Ag films on Si exhibiting low plasmonic loss and robust enough to endure post-processing and optical probing in air. Investigation of the optical properties of the films was carried out by collaborators in the groups of Dr. Gennady Shvets (UT Austin) and Dr. Xianggang Qiu (Chinese Academy of Sciences). Her role in this project was the fabrication of the Ag films, using a home-built molecular beam epitaxy setup. The growth process can be quite time-intensive, and because of her IGERT stipend she was able to give it her full attention, without having to simultaneously shoulder the duties of a teaching assistantship. A resulting paper has been submitted for publication.