Nanophotonics enabled by plasmonic metamaterials, nanoantennas, and nanolasers

The diffraction limit imposes a fundamental technology barrier in optoelectronics, photonics, and information technology. In the past decade, a new discipline coined as “plasmonics” has emerged as an enabling technology not only to overcome the diffraction limit, but also to enhance the capabilities of light harvesting (solar cells), emission (light-emitting devices), and detection (optical detectors and sensors). In the paper, several new developments including fabrication of plasmonic structures or metamaterials (artificially structured materials exhibiting unusual and tunable plasmonic properties), optical nanoantennas, and nanolasers are described. The emergence of plasmonic devices can enable a fundamental paradigm shift in designing optical components and optoelectronic devices in the deep subwavelength regime.