Committee:

Dr. Ali Adibi, ECE, Chair , Advisor

Dr. Mostafa El-Sayed, Chemistry

Dr. Benjamin Klein, ECE

Dr. Wenshan Cai, ECE

Dr. Zhigang Jiang, Physics

Abstract:

The objective of this dissertation is to study the light-matter interaction phenamena at nanoscale in the presence of plasmonic nanostructures and metamaterials. Using the pribciples of nano-optics, a range of  plasmonic nanodevices are developped for molecular sensing, nonlinear optics and surface plasmon lasing. This theoretical and experimental investigation is further extended by studying the effect of plasmon tunneling in sub-nanometer distances and light-matter interaction in atomically thin semiconductors adjacent to plasmonic nanostructures.