FOR 557:  Light Confinement and Control with Structured Dielectrics and Metals

• Subject Area: Physics
• Term: from 2004 to 2010
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5471245

Dielectics and metals are traditional optical materials, e.g. dielectric glasses and crystals are used for lenses and polarizers, and metals are used for mirrors. However, structuring of such materials on the micrometer and nanometer scale yields entirely new optical properties. In the framework of the Research Unit we perform the structuring of such materials and we study experimentally the optical properties of the samples. These studies are accompanied by theoretical modelling.
In particular we tailor the shape of optical fibers to get high-quality resonators that allow to couple single atoms with single photons. We also create metallic photonic structures on the top of dielectric waveguides and study the interaction of plasmonic excitations with waveguide modes. Furthermore, in dielectric lithium niobate crystals domains are structured such that frequency conversion over a wide spectral range becomes possible. All together there is the perspective to make - based on the new physical insights - optical components smaller and more efficient. This finally may allow to integrate optical systems like it is well-known for electronic chips.

• DFG Programme: Research Units

Projects

• All-Optical Switching and Strong Coupling Using Tunable Whispering-Gallery-Mode Resonators (Applicant Rauschenbeutel, Arno )
• Atom-Light Interaction in High-Pressure Optical Waveguides (Applicant Weitz, Martin )
• Fabrication and Characterization of Dielectric and Metallic Structures with Scanning Probe Techniques (Applicant Soergel, Elisabeth )
• Fabrication and Characterization of Mesoscopic Plasmonic Structures (Applicant Giersig, Michael )
• Light Confinement and Control with Structured Dielectrics and Metals - Coordinator Budget (Applicant Buse, Karsten )
• Microscopic Theory of Light Propagation and Localization in Periodic, Disordered, and Laser-active Media (Applicant Kroha, Johann )
• Molecules on Surfaces as Photon Emitters (Applicant Sokolowski, Moritz )
• Nonlinear Frequency Conversion and Interferometric Sensing with Ultra-Thin Optical Fibers (Applicant Meschede, Dieter )
• Nonlinear Optics with Whispering-Gallery-Mode Resonators made of Lithium Niobate Crystals (Applicant Haertle, Daniel )
• Nonlinear Photonics with Metallic Nanostructures on Top of Dielectrics and Waveguides (Applicant Giessen, Harald )
• Optical Microresonators Based on Tapered Optical Fibers (Applicant Rauschenbeutel, Arno )
• Optical Properties of Metallic Waveguide Structures at the Nanoscale (Applicant Chigrin, Dmitry )
• Periodic Structuring of Material Parameters in Ferroelectric Crystals with Ion Exposure (Applicant Maier, Karl )
• Photorefractive Phase-Conjugating Mirror for Guiding of Light through Sub-Wavelength Metal Holes (Applicant Buse, Karsten )
• Ultraintense Nonlinear Optics on Dielectrics and Structured Metals (Applicant Fiebig, Manfred )
• Wannier Function Formalism for Defects in Periodic Materials for Microlaser Resonator and Cavity QED-Applications (Applicant Kroha, Johann )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Karsten Buse