Optoelectronics Research Centre and Centre for Photonic Metamaterials, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom.
Phys Rev Lett. 2012 Nov 21;109(21):217401. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.217401. Epub 2012 Nov 20.
We demonstrate experimentally that the energy from a highly localized free-electron-beam excitation can be converted via a planar plasmonic metamaterial to a low-divergence free-space light beam. This emission, which emanates from a collectively oscillating coupled metamolecule nanoantenna ensemble much larger in size than the initial excitation, is distinctly different from cathodoluminescence and bears some similarity with laser light. It offers a novel, flexible paradigm for the development of scalable, threshold-free light sources.
我们通过实验证明，高度局域化的自由电子束激发的能量可以通过平面等离子体超材料转换为低发散度的自由空间光束。这种发射源自集体振荡的耦合超分子纳米天线集合体，其尺寸远远大于初始激发，与阴极射线发光明显不同，与激光有一定的相似性。它为开发可扩展、无阈值的光源提供了一种新颖、灵活的范例。
