Electro-optic nanoscale probes
AssigneeUniversity of Connecticut
InventorBrian G. Willis
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An antenna electrode including a first electrode that includes a core and a first conductive surface; a second electrode that includes a second conductive surface; and an electrical tunnel junction between the first conductive surface and the second conductive surface, the tunnel junction having a gap width greater than about 0.1 nm and less than about 10 nm.
Claims19
An antenna-based photon sensor comprising:
- a first electrode including a conductive material deposited by additive deposition on a hydrogen-adsorbing material;
- a second electrode;
- and
- an electrical tunnel junction between the second electrode and a surface of the conductive material of the first electrode, the electrical tunnel junction having a gap width greater than about 0.1 nm and less than about 10 nm, the tunnel junction being configured to provide a path across which hot electrons or holes with energy higher than the Fermi level tunnel.
A broadband photon sensing system comprising:
- a plurality of antenna-based photon sensors, each antenna-based photon sensor comprising:
- a first electrode including a conductive surface formed by atomic layer deposition of a conductive material on a hydrogen-adsorbing material;
- a second electrode including a non-hydrogen-adsorbing material;
- an electrical tunnel junction between the non-hydrogen-adsorbing material of the second electrode and the conductive surface of the first electrode;
- and
- an antenna of at least one selected from a group consisting of a different size, a different shape, and a different material, such that each antenna corresponds to a different sensing frequency.
An infrared vision system comprising:
- a plurality of antenna-based photon sensors, each antenna-based photon sensor comprising:
- a first electrode including a conductive surface formed by atomic layer deposition of a conductive material on a hydrogen-adsorbing material;
- a second electrode including a non-hydrogen-adsorbing material;
- and
- an electrical tunnel junction between the non-hydrogen-adsorbing material of the second electrode and the conductive surface of the first electrode;
- and
- an antenna of at least one selected from a group consisting of a different size, a different shape, and a different material, such that each antenna corresponds to a different sensing frequency.
A spectrometer comprising:
- a plurality of antenna-based photon sensors, each antenna-based photon sensor comprising:
- a first electrode including a conductive surface formed by atomic layer deposition of a conductive material on a hydrogen-adsorbing material;
- a second electrode including a non-hydrogen-adsorbing material;
- an electrical tunnel junction between the non-hydrogen-adsorbing material of the second electrode and the conductive surface of the first electrode;
- and
- an antenna of at least one selected from a group consisting of a different size, a different shape, and a different material, such that each antenna corresponds to a different sensing frequency.
A method of constructing an antenna-based photon sensor, the antenna-based photon sensor including a first electrode and a second electrode, the first electrode including a conductive surface formed by atomic layer deposition of a conductive material on a hydrogen-adsorbing material, the method comprising:
- selectively depositing the conductive material on the hydrogen-adsorbing material of the first electrode to form the conductive surface of the first electrode;
- and
- tuning a performance characteristic of the antenna-based photon sensor by continued additive deposition of the conductive material until a gap width between the second electrode and the conductive surface of the first electrode reaches a target distance associated with the tuned performance characteristic.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.