AbstractsBiology & Animal Science

Doped semiconductors are investigated as a foundation for plasmonic waveguides and gratings in the mid-infrared. The potential applications of plasmonics to the MIR are reviewed, along with a brief derivation of a mathematical formalism for hybrid plasmonic waveguides which utilize both doped semiconductors and noble metals. A COMSOL Multiphysics model for these waveguides is demonstrated, with a high degree of automation. In addition, I demonstrate lateral control of carrier concentration in doped silicon, by patterning commercially available spin-on dopants down to the subwavelength scale. Samples are characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and microscopy, surface profilometry, and infrared emissivity measurements. Samples show strong diffraction from 1D arrays of 'metal' lines patterned using the spin-on dopants.