Optical nanofountain: A biomimetic device that concentrates optical energy in a nanometric region

Abstract

We have proposed and demonstrated a nanophotonic device, which concentrates optical energy in a nanometric region. We call this device an "optical nanofountain," which uses the energy transfer among quantum dots and acts like a light-harvesting photosynthetic system. We experimentally concentrated optical energy in a nanometric area less than 20 nm by using the optical nanofountain which was composed of CuCl quantum dots embedded in a NaCl matrix. Its focal diameter of 20 nm corresponds to the numerical aperture of 12. © 2005 American Institute of Physics.