Publications

The creation of millimeter wave, 3D-printable dielectric nanocomposite is demonstrated. Alumina nanoparticles were combined with styrenic block copolymers and solvent to create shear thinning, viscoelastic inks that are printable at room temperature. Particle loadings of up to 41 vol % were achieved. Upon being dried, the highest-performing of these materials...

In this paper, we report on a method to probe the breakdown of the organophosphate (OP) simulants o, s-diethyl methyl phosphonothioate (OSDMP) and demeton S by the enzyme organophosphorous hydrolase (OPH) in a microfluidic device by surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). SERS hotspots were formed on-demand inside the microfluidic device...

The anchoring energy of liquid crystals was shown to be tunable by surface nanopatterning of periodic lines and spaces. Both the pitch and height were varied using hydrogen silsesquioxane negative tone electron beam resist, providing for flexibility in magnitude and spatial distribution of the anchoring energy. Using twisted nematic liquid...

Silicon photonics offers the possibility of a reduction in size weight and power for many optical systems, and could open up the ability to build optical systems with complexities that would otherwise be impossible to achieve. Silicon photonics is an emerging technology that has already been inserted into commercial communication...

Single-pulse irradiation of Au and Ag suspensions of nanospheres and nanodisks with 532-nm 4-ns pulses has identified complex optical nonlinearities while minimizing material damage. For all materials tested, we observe competition between saturable absorption (SA) and reverse SA (RSA), with RSA behavior dominating for intensities above ~50 MW/cm^2. Due to...

A highly scalable approach for producing surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy substrates is introduced. The novel method involves assembling individual nanoparticles in pre-defined templates, one particle per template, forming a high denisity of nanogaps over large areas, while decoupling nanostructure synthesis from placement.

Optical limiting by suspensions of Au nanoparticles is enhanced by several orders of magnitude with the use of complex plasmonic shapes, such as spined "nanourchins," instead of nanospheres. Similar enhancements are observed by changing the material of nanospheres from Au to Ag. The experiments, measuring intensity-dependent transmission over a wavelength...

Pellicle materials for use at 157 nm must display sufficient transparency at this wavelength and adequate lifetimes to be useful. We blended a leading candidate fluoropolymer with silica nanoparticles to examine the effect on both the transparency and lifetime of the pellicle. It is anticipated that these composite materials may...