The most important achievements

The most important achievements of the Institute for the last four years (2009-2012), which have strong prospects for high technology implementations:

1. A development model of broadband (190÷980 nm) laser-induced breakdown spectrometer was designed. It can serve to solve various tasks of geology, pedology, criminology and powder metallurgy. Its main advantages are: the opportunity to carry out an analysis of practically all analytically important elements in granular (powder) materials at high concentrational sensitivity (0,01-0,00001 weight percentage); the simplicity of sample preparation; the possibility of local analysis of the chemical composition of inclusions from 30 to 100 microns; the possibility of sulfur determination starting from 0.01 weight percentage in the spectral range of λ = 921 nm and not in the conventional near ultraviolet region of 185 nm.
2. A theory of electron fluid collective excitations in the case of chiral two-dimensional electron liquid on the surface of three-dimensional topological insulator was developed. The properties of such excitations were predicted. Due to the tight coupling between the spin and the momentum of the electrons, they are essentially bound waves of charge density and spin density - spin-plasmons. The internal structure of the spin-plasmons was investigated. In a state with spin-plasmons a system acquires full spin polarization. The scattering of spin-plasmons on an external potential was considered. It was shown that due to their complex internal structure both backscattering and forward scattering are hampered. The scatter plot for spin plasmons has a shape of two lobes with a maximum at a finite scattering angle. Spin-plasmons can be used in quantum plasmonics, spintronics and for the information transmission in nanoelectronics.
3. The possibility of a polariton trap with a long lifetime in microcavities with metallic mirrors was predicted. The construction of such traps can simplify the formation of the polariton condensate with a long lifetime, as well as encourage the study of various nonlinear optical processes in the condensate.
4. The migration of vibrational energy in (CF3)2CCO molecule was investigated by means of femtosecond laser spectroscopy. It was shown that there is a multi-photon mode-selective excitation of n1 oscillation with resonant infrared radiation (~ 5 mm) up to the level of v = 6. The lifetime of such selectivity is ~ 5 ps. The on-line monitoring of the intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution (IVR) of the resonance-excited oscillation n1 into oscillations n2, n3 and n4 in the mid-IR region (~ 5.8 microns) was implemented for the first time.
5. Periodically varying potential difference was shown to emerge in the flow of spin current through a thin ferromagnetic layer containing a Josephson junction between two superconducting filaments. The oscillation frequency depends on the spin current, and the amplitude may sharply increase in resonance with the collective Carlson-Goldman modes. This effect can be used in electronic devices with quantum memory based on the interaction between spins with superconducting qubits.
6. The effects of entrainment of exciton polariton by electrons electron current in optical microcavity and, conversely, the entrainment of electrons with the polariton flow. These effects are a sensitive indicator of the polariton superfluidity, as after the transition to superfluidity the entrainment effects are suppressed, and also give the possibility to control photon flux in the cavity with voltage and, consequently, to determine the angular distribution of the photons emitted from the cavity.
7. Intense peaks of radiation recorded in the area of 6.5-7.5 nm in the spectra of gadolinium and terbium excited in a low-inductance vacuum spark and laser-produced plasma. The width and the position of the maximum intensity of the peaks depend on the excitation conditions. The spectra are interpreted as a superposition of a large number of lines of ions from the eighth to the twenty-second ionization, the contribution of which varies with the excitation conditions. It is suggested to use the substance to create a radiation source for nanolithography at a wavelength shorter than 13.5 nm.
8. A novel method for far-field optical diagnostics of solid media with nanometer spatial resolution with spectra and images of single molecules imbedded as nanoprobes was developed. The method is based on the simultaneous monitoring of coordinates and a large number of spectra (hundreds of thousands - millions) molecules and the statistical analysis of the data. New data were acquired on the relation between the macroscopic properties of polycrystals, polymers and glasses with their microscopic characteristics.
9. The concept of a nanomass spectrometer based on a new type of nanoresonator with small relative oscillations of non-chiral commensurate doubled-wall carbon nanotubes (DWNT) layers. This nanoresonator is designed to measure the mass of molecules adsorbed on the outer layer or nanoparticles attached to the outer layer. Using the density functional theory, the frequencies of nanoresonators based on different DWNTs are calculated. Q-factors of nanoresonators were determined by computer simulation. The sensitivity assessment of the nanoresonators as mass sensors indicate the possibility of sub-atomic resolution.

The most important achievements of the Institute for the last four years (2003-2008):

1. A set of studies on the creation of radiation sources in the extreme ultraviolet range (10 ÷ 17 nm) for nanolithography was carried out. The result was the creation of a laboratory source with an ingenious scheme of liquid tin as a working element with the emission at a wavelength of 13.5 nm, sufficient for an industrial use of such a source in photonanolithografic production of extra large-scale and ultrahigh-speed integrated circuits.
2. A concept of the atomic nanophotonics based on "photonic dots" and "photonic holes" was suggested. On its basis a new technology of a large number (> 107) of identical atomic nanodevices and nanoelements production with typical dimensions in the range of 20 nm has been suggested. The technology is supposed to be realised by direct (bypassing the stage of lithography) deposition of atoms on the silicon surface using the principle of the pinhole camera and laser nanofields. Identical nanostructures smaller than 50 nm have already been obtained.
3. Nanolocalized narrowly focused beams (for example, silicon-containing fragments) were obtained in a short time scale by irradiating various materials or carbon/silicon-containing arrays of nanotubes with femtosecond laser pulses and the subsequent transmission of the photoproducts (fragments) through a nanocapillary (less then 100 nm). These beams can be used in a controllable process of modification of the chemical composition and relief surfaces of various materials and structures.
4. The possibility of detecting a single atom with a single photon with nanometer spatial and nanosecond time resolution was proposed and investigated (atomic nanoprobe with a single photon). The results are of great practical importance for high efficiency single atom detection, which includes the creation of ultra-sensitive detectors.
5. The scheme of atom diffraction at a controllable diffraction grating formed by laser beams was proposed and experimentally implemented. It allows to control the atomic beam spatially and temporally, similar to the electron beam in the electron optics. The possibility of creating an "atomic-beam tube" for the purposes of the atomic and molecular nanolithography was demonstrated. Ultracold atoms with a temperature T~10-4 K were obtained in an experiment with a magneto-optical trap (jointly with the University of electrocommunications, Tokyo, Japan).
6. A theory of electron spin polarization transport in semiconductor microstructures was developed, as well as a theory for opto-electrical properties of fundamentally new nanomaterials predicted at the Institute: hybrid heterostructures formed by layers of organic and semiconductor nanofilms. The results are important for the development of spintronics - the new trend of solid state electronics, and for the creation of high optical radiation sources with an electric pump.
7. A set of investigations was conducted and portable biosensor devices were made for a rapid detection of biologically active and toxic compounds (BAC) in liquids for clinical medicine problems, pharmacology, food and biotechnology industries (with Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences). The novelty of the technology protected by Russian and international patents is in the use of nanostructures based on DNA as biosensors capable of recognizing BAC (Institute of Molecular Biology development) and a portable dichrometer measuring an abnormal optical signal generated by the interaction of BAC from the analyzed liquid with a DNA biosensor.
8. A microoptoacoustic laser detector for impurity molecules traces in the air was developed. It is based on the principles of laser optoacoustic spectroscopy using a high Q quartz tuning fork. The device allows the detection of toxic and hazardous substances leakage at chemical plants and in storage, the analysis of gases in confined spaces with the utmost sensitivity (a few ppb) and huge (more then 10 000) dynamic range with extremely low required volume of the gas mixture (~ 0.1 mm3).
9. A new method for individual parameters of molecular nanoobjects diagnosis is developed. It is based on the measurement of the optical spectra of single chromophore molecules used as nanoprobes. The principal advantage of this nanotools is the obtainment of various microscopic information about the environment, among other things without averaging over an ensemble of impurity molecules or nanoobjects under study.
10. A new method for individual parameters of molecular nanoobjects diagnosis is developed. It is based on the measurement of the optical spectra of single chromophore molecules used as nanoprobes. The principal advantage of this nanotools is the obtainment of various microscopic information about the environment, among other things without averaging over an ensemble of impurity molecules or nanoobjects under study.