Wednesday June 29, 2005
9 AM - 10:30 AM
ENG Z-50 Auditorium

Office Hours:
Thursday June 30, 2005
10:30 AM - 11 AM
ENG B-30

"The Optical Antenna - a Nanophotonics Tool with Large Potential"
Prof. Dieter Pohl
University of Basel

Antennas of radio-wave type convert radiation effectively into a local oscillation in the so-called feed gap. This is the region between the antenna arms where contact to antenna wires or waveguide is made. In the reverse case, the antenna converts electro-magnetic energy produced in the feed gap into emitted radiation. The dimensions of the feed gap are much smaller than the wavelength. Thus, when adapted in size to optical wavelengths, antennas may provide effective field localization in the low nanometer regime. Such capability is of considerable interest for optical characterization and manipulation of individual nano structures, for sub-wavelength imaging, and single quantum interactions. We therefore began to study the properties of such optical antennas, specifically half wave dipoles of rod and bow tie shape. In my lecture, I will discuss some properties and potential applications of optical antennas, differences to antennas operating in the radio-wave regime, computer simulations, and first steps towards experimental verification. Specifically, we observed strong field enhancement in the feed gap, nonlinear light generation, and the interaction with single quantum emitters.