Speaker
Description
This talk will present the investigation into the enhancement of the piezoelectric potential in a metal/ZnO thin film under surface plasmon resonance (SPR) conditions for the development of novel piezo-plasmonic based UV photon detectors. Metal thin films are used in numerous high-tech applications, such as electronic devices, surface plasmon resonance sensors, and integrated photonic circuits because of their excellent electrical, optical and thermal properties. Similarly, ZnO is widely used in various applications because of its high refractive index, wide direct band gap, high thermal conductivity, and piezoelectric properties. To study the effect, COMSOL Multiphysics simulations are used for optimization structure of metal/ZnO layers for the sharpest SPR curve with maximum loss in reflectivity at resonance. The bias piezoelectric voltage was generated using a stress pin on the top ZnO layer and under SPR conditions the enhancement of this voltage signal was measured. Furthermore, for the detection of UV photons, a pump-probe experimental setup was used and at SPR angle, voltage signal was measured as function of intensity of pumped 240 nm UV light. This talk will present first results from prototype detectors designed to work in a cryogenic environment such as those found in liquid noble detectors
