M.Sc. in physics - Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, UFPE, Recife,
Brazil
Title:
Plasmonic
nanostructures for nonlinear optics applications
(in Portuguese)
Advisor: Cid Bartolomeu de Araújo
Co-advisor: Edilson Lucena Falcão Filho
Scholarship: Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento
Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)
B.Sc. in physics - Universidade de Brasília, UnB, Brasília, Brazil
Advisor: Sebastião William da Silva
Scholarship: Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento
Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)
Angular momentum of light and optical vortices - Fundamentals and applications
A well known property of light is that it can
possess linear momentum. Pressure from light
radiation can be observed, for example, in optical
tweezers, where a light beam manipulates small
particles. If this linear momentum rotates around a
point, it means that there is a non-zero angular
momentum of light around that point.
Nonlinear optics - Manipulation of light with light
It is usually observed that light propagation
through materials can be described as a linear
phenomenon (i.e., the 'output is proportional to the
input'). However this approximation breaks down for
a sufficiently strong light source, and a large
variety of phenomena can be observed. In the
nonlinear optics regime, light interacts with light
at the nonlinear material.
Plasmonics - Light interaction with metal structures
Metals can be considered as an ideal gas of
free-electrons. If one produces a metallic structure
such that the electrons can move from one edge to
its opposite during half-optical cycle, its
interaction with light becomes resonant. This
implies an increased accumulation of charges and an
enhancement of the optical electric and magnetic
fields. The light becomes confined near the metallic
structure. Plasmonics can be used for nonlinear
optics and also in sensing applications.