Boston Chapter of the IEEE Photonics Society

Abstract:  The fields of plasmonics and electromagnetic metamaterials have seen enormous growth during recent years, fueled by advances in experimental techniques such as near field spectroscopy, chemical synthesis and advanced fabrication, and theory and simulation. However, a great deal of the fundamental electromagnetic theory and conceptual ideas were developed in the first half of the 20th century in the study of surface waves and artificial dielectrics. A fair portion of this work focused on understanding phenomena at radio and microwave frequencies. There was also interesting work in the 1970’s and 80’s at terahertz (1 THz -> 300 um) and mid-infrared frequencies driven by the invention of gas-lasers. More recently, the development of techniques such as terahertz time-domain spectroscopy have enabled facile measurement of the electromagnetic response of plasmons and metamaterials at terahertz frequencies. Following a brief overview of this history, I will present recent representative experimental results on metamaterials and plasmonics at terahertz frequencies. A primary factor which motivates these studies is that in comparison to the neighboring infrared and microwave regions, the terahertz regime is still in need of fundamental technological advances. This derives, in part, from a paucity of naturally occurring materials with useful electronic or photonic properties at terahertz frequencies. Plasmonic and metamaterial electromagnetic composites are relevant for creating devices in this increasingly important frequency range with a view towards enabling applications ranging from non-invasive imaging to chemical detection.

Biography:  Richard Averitt received a BS in Electrical Engineering from UC San Diego and the MS and PhD degrees in Applied Physics from Rice University. His PhD thesis work, completed in 1998, was for the synthesis and optical characterization of gold nanoshells, a new type of nanoparticle for which Richard has several patents. Richard was a Los Alamos Director’s postdoctoral fellow from February 1999 to February 2001. His postdoctoral work at Los Alamos focused on time resolved terahertz spectroscopy of strongly correlated electron materials. In February 2001, Richard became a member of the technical staff in the condensed matter and thermal physics group at Los Alamos, and in 2005 a member of the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies. In 2007, Richard joined the Physics department at Boston University. Richard’s research interests are primarily directed towards characterizing the electrodynamic properties of materials including metamaterials, plasmonic composites, and conducting transition metal oxides.