JP2023178161A - waveguide tape - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a trial product of a biological waveguide tape that can transfer photons through a human body, and application of the same.SOLUTION: A biological waveguide element device (100) is such that a polymer-based tape (18) is arranged at a predetermined position, a deliquescent chevron facet substrate is arranged on the polymer tape, a dielectric substance sandwiched by SiO films (15) or a metal-based nano-periodic structure (16) is arranged on the facet substrate, a waveguide tape formed through hydrogen bond (17) of the polymer tape (18) and the nano-periodic structure (16) is manufactured through a lift-off technique, the waveguide tape has a function to transfer photons, and the waveguide tape has application to an imaging system or a quantum information system by attaching the waveguide tape to the human body.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to the prototype production of an optical material for a waveguide tape made of a dielectric nanoperiodic structure and a polymer structure for the purpose of photon transmission, and its biological utilization.

Conventionally, optical fibers made of quartz and hollow fibers coated with silver have been used as materials for transmitting photons (for example, see Document 1). Using fibers, it was possible to transport (guide) photons from the tip of the fiber to the end using techniques such as total internal reflection (TIR).

In recent years, substrates made of metal or dielectric periodic structures (gratings) are used as bridges, making it possible to similarly guide photons from one end to the other (for example, see Document 2). However, regardless of whether fibers or substrates were used, the materials involved were large and heavy, so making them more compact was definitely an issue.

Due to these issues, there has recently been an expectation for the use of thin-film waveguide gratings. If a thin film material is used, it is thin, light, and durable, making it convenient in all aspects of use. On the other hand, a new challenge is the need to increase the degree of freedom in installation by making the material flexible or adhesive. By attaching it to a soft place such as the skin of the human body, it can be expected to be applied as a biological waveguide element that transmits information on the skin surface. Ultimately, by extracting light from the biological waveguide element and creating a focal point in the air, we can expect applications such as line-of-sight guide light and spatial illumination light in imaging systems, and photon keys in quantum information systems. .

Special Publication No. 2022/510319 Distributed sensing using optical fibers transmitting high-speed data Special table 2008/107141 Publication Optical wavelength detection physical quantity measurement sensor using ring resonator and Bragg grating

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and is aimed at developing a biological waveguide device that transports photons through the human body. The aim is to prototype a waveguide tape that can also be bonded.

In order to solve the above problems, the material of the present invention is characterized in that the sample constituting the waveguide is tape-shaped, as shown in FIG.

Such a waveguide tape of the present invention has a cross section as shown in FIG. 2, and the upper part is a composite material made of a grating material and the lower part is a composite material made of a polymer material.

Optically, it has the characteristics of a waveguide that can transmit photons on the tape. Mechanically, it has excellent flexibility and adhesive properties, allowing it to be pasted anywhere and in any shape.

In addition, in one aspect of the present invention, photons are not only transmitted, but also branched, looped, condensed/diffused, intensified, or changed into a completely different state of light. Convenient functions are provided.

In addition, in one aspect of the present invention, the part through which photons travel is not limited to the skin of the human body, but may also be any of the nails, eyeballs, and body hair, which is convenient for use as a biological waveguide. You can select both.

Aiming at the development of biological waveguide elements, the present invention can provide a waveguide tape that is thin, light, and durable, and has high flexibility and adhesive properties.

FIG. 1 is a three-dimensional diagram showing an outline of a waveguide tape 100 according to a first embodiment. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional block diagram of a waveguide tape 100 according to a first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a mechanism diagram of generation of line-of-sight guide light and spatial illumination light with an eye toward application of the present invention to an imaging system. FIG. 2 is a mechanism diagram of photon cryptographic key generation with an eye toward application of the present invention to a quantum information system.

(First embodiment)
Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. Identical or equivalent components, members, and processes will be given the same reference numerals, and redundant explanations will be omitted as appropriate. FIGS. 1 and 2 are an illustration and a cross-sectional view, respectively, showing an overview of the material according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the material of this embodiment is a waveguide tape configured by a combination of a waveguide structure made of a metal/dielectric grating and a tape structure made of a polymer. As shown in Figure 2, the cross section of the waveguide tape consists of a SiO film, a metal dielectric grating layer, a SiO film, and a polymer layer from top to bottom. allows for adhesion through

As shown in Figure 1, waveguide tape is a composite material in which a waveguide structure consisting of a grating with a sub-micrometer period is adhered onto a colorless and transparent tape structure made of flexible and adhesive polymer. It is.

To use the waveguide tape, it is sufficient to make light incident on the grating portion on the surface of the waveguide tape at a specific angle, as shown in FIG. By doing so, photons can travel along the tape from the left side of the tape to the right side as shown in FIG. The transmission path may be a grating layer on the surface of the tape as shown in FIG. 2(a), or a polymer layer inside as shown in FIG. 2(b), but is not limited. In either case, after transmission, light can be extracted by providing some kind of light exit on the right side of the tape.

The waveguide tape principle uses the commonly known surface propagation phenomenon or diffraction phenomenon when light is irradiated onto a grating on the tape. If the surface propagation phenomenon is used, as shown in FIG. 2(a), the light irradiated onto the grating is first guided from the left to the right of the grating layer. After that, by making some structural change on the right side of the grating or by arranging some kind of optical element, it becomes possible to extract light to the outside. Furthermore, if we use the diffraction phenomenon, as shown in Figure 2(b), the light irradiated onto the grating enters the lower polymer tape and is guided from the left side of the tape to the right side via TIR waveguide there. I will do it. Thereafter, the light is diffracted by another grating attached in the opposite direction, making it possible to extract the light to the outside.

The method for manufacturing a waveguide tape will be explained using the cross-sectional structure shown in FIG. First, a facet substrate is used to fabricate the uppermost grating. It is desirable to use NaCl having a highly transparent FCC structure for the facet substrate. If a NaCl (110) substrate is used, the initial surface after processing and polishing will be flat, but if a homoepitaxially grown film is formed using an electron beam (EB) evaporation system, the surface will be flat from (100) and (010). A new stable surface is precipitated, and a mountain-shaped facet structure as shown in FIG. 2 can be precipitated (see papers [ac] below). If you want to deposit a wavy facet structure with a deeper slope, you can change the cut of the substrate to (210) or (410) and use the same homoepitaxial growth. The selection is not very limited.
Reference papers;
[a]T. Kitahara, A. Sugawara, H. Sano, and G. Mizutani, Appl. Surf. Sci. , 219, 271-275 (2003)
[b]N. Hayashi, K. Aratake, R. Okushio et al. , Appl. Surf. Sci. , 253, 8933-8938 (2007)
[c]Y. Ogata, N. A. Tuan, S. Takase, and G. Mizutani, Surf. Inter. Anal. , 42, 1663-1666 (2010)

It is preferable to use a reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) device for rough confirmation of the above-mentioned facet structure. RHEED is a technology that irradiates an electron beam just past the surface of a sample (up to 2 degrees) and causes it to diffract, and understands the surface shape from an optical pattern projected on a screen. In the surface shape of this sample, cross-shaped emission lines derived from reciprocal lattice vectors standing perpendicularly from the facet slopes are confirmed, and based on the results, it can be said that mountain-shaped facets are formed. By the way, in the case of wave-shaped facets, it is expected that the crosshair will be slightly tilted. (See paper [d] below)
[d]Y. Ogata and G. Mizutani, Appl. Phys. Lett. , 103, 093107 (2013)

The height of the chevron facet shape is not greatly limited in the present invention, but if 532 nm light is used as the incident beam, it is desirable for waveguide to be 250 nm or less, and there is no limit on the groove period. However, under the above conditions, a wavelength of 500 to 1000 nm is desirable for waveguiding. These structural parameters can be adjusted by increasing/decreasing the amount of evaporation, heating temperature, degree of vacuum, etc. during the production of the homoepitaxial film. It is desirable to use an atomic force microscope (AFM) or a transmission electron microscope (TEM) to confirm the final surface shape. Since AFM and TEM are both effective in observing and analyzing surface nanostructures on the nano-order, it is possible to determine the height and period of the grooves in this sample.

Next, a SiO film several nm thick is deposited on the chevron-shaped facet structure to protect the surface shape. Thereafter, metal is deposited to a thickness of several tens of nanometers using an oblique electron beam (EB) to produce a nano grating waveguide structure. Thereafter, a SiO film is deposited again to a thickness of several nm to protect the nanoperiodic structure from the atmosphere [b].

The NaCl substrate underlying the nano grating waveguide is deliquescent and completely dissolves in water. Therefore, the obtained sample is placed on a separately prepared commercially available or prepared polymeric tape, and lifted off in water. By doing so, a waveguide tape consisting of the nano grating waveguide element and the polymer tape is completed.

In the above, NaCl was proposed as a suitable lift-off substrate, but any +1 valent atomic species may be used as long as it has the same fcc structure as NaCl and exhibits deliquescent properties, such as KCl, RbCl, CsCl, and FrCl.

As shown in Figure 2, the fabricated waveguide tape can be applied to parts of the human body, such as the skin, nails, eyeballs, and body hair, to transport photons to a target point, as an imaging system, or as a quantum information system. We are considering using it as a.

If it is used as an imaging system, as shown in Figure 3, a waveguide tape is attached to the bottom of the eyeball near the eyelid, and it is used to emit and focus light onto the line of sight, and it can be used as a line of sight guiding light. It is possible to do so. By viewing targets using line-of-sight guide light, new uses can be expected as aiming equipment and space illumination, and it also has the advantage of making it easier to recognize the position and shape of targets.

In addition, if it is used as a quantum information system, as shown in Figure 4, a waveguide tape is pasted on the side of the finger and used to emit and focus light near the fingertip, which can be used as a user authentication device etc. It can serve as a photon key that you hold up. When user authentication is performed using a photon key, the photon state, such as orbital angular momentum, spin, and polarization, is changed during the tape waveguide process to encrypt it, which has the advantage of increasing the security level.

(Second embodiment)
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described below. Description of contents that overlap with those of the first embodiment will be omitted. In the first embodiment, the structure of the waveguide tape and typical usage examples were shown, but in this embodiment, the waveguide tape is processed and devised to explore and propose new usage examples for the human body.

In the second embodiment, a waveguide is fabricated by processing a waveguide tape. Multiple branching, B. The C. wavelength tunable, D. We propose cascade plasmon enhancement to change the photon state. If each of the A to D methods can be realized on tape, we expect that new quantum physics knowledge and utilization methods for wavefront control will be provided. The functions of each of AD are described below.

A. In the multiple branching method, we propose to take advantage of the flexibility of the tape structure and create three-dimensional branches by making cuts in the tape with scissors. If there are multiple destinations for photons, they are branched into multiple locations to correspond to the locations. When it is assumed that the adhesive will adhere to the skin, it is desirable to use it in such a way that it will run over blood vessels, depending on the purpose. It is also possible to create a ring by connecting one end of the split tape to the starting point of the tape to form a ring resonant structure. In this case, a new property can be added that allows only light of a selected wavelength to be emitted. In this case, it could be used as an accessory with an optical filter effect that can be worn around the wrist.

B. In the tapered shape method, the sides of the tape are cut into a widening or narrowing shape to reduce or expand the long axis direction of the waveguide structure, and the purpose is to adjust the optical density distribution in the waveguide. do. At the end of the waveguide, light is emitted to the outside, and at this time, a light condensing characteristic is added in the case of taper reduction, and a radiation characteristic is added in the case of taper expansion. Taking advantage of the flexibility and adhesive properties of the tape structure, it could be used to attach the tape to the side of the finger, transmit light, and utilize its light-gathering properties to be used as spatial illumination light or as a quantum sensor.

C. To achieve the wavelength conversion effect of It is possible to perform wavelength conversion. The flexibility and adhesive properties of the tape structure allow it to be used like a nonlinear fiber for remote wavelength conversion. For example, it could be applied to the optical parametric generator/amplifier (OPG/OPA) of a laser unit and contribute to the miniaturization of the device.

D. In the cascade plasmon enhancement effect, the flexibility of the tape structure is used to bend the grating array into an inner arc, shortening the distance between the grating corners of the waveguide, increasing the electric field enhancement gathered in that area, and transmitting it. It is possible to improve electric field efficiency. For example, if tape is attached to an area such as the elbow, the optical loss increases when the elbow is bent, and decreases when the elbow is stretched.This could be used as a quantum switch of some kind.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims, and embodiments obtained by appropriately combining technical means disclosed in different embodiments. are also included within the technical scope of the present invention.

100...Waveguide tape configuration 11...Polymer tape 12...Grating waveguide 13...Incoming beam 14...Outgoing beam 15...SiO film 16...Dielectric or metal nanostructure 17...Hydrogen bonding method or other weak bonding method 18... Polymer 19...Eyeball 20...Laser light source 21...Prism 22...Waveguide tape 23...Glass 24...Focusing point 25...Finger

Claims (3)

Place a polymer-based tape against a predetermined location;
A deliquescent chevron-shaped facet substrate is placed on the polymer tape, and a nanoweek structure based on a dielectric or metal sandwiched between SiO films is placed on the facet substrate, and a lift-off technique is applied. Via
Producing a waveguide tape consisting of a combination of the polymer tape and metal/dielectric nanoperiodic structures such as hydrogen bonding,
The waveguide tape has a function of transporting photons,
Furthermore, the biological waveguide element device is characterized in that the waveguide tape is applied to a human body and has applicability to an imaging system or a quantum information system. The device according to claim 1 comprises:
A biological waveguide element device that can be attached to the human skin, eyeballs, nails, or body hair, and because it is flexible, it can also be attached to the joints of the human body. The device according to claim 1 comprises:
It is a living body that can be processed by cutting, and the shape obtained by processing can change the direction of photon transmission and the state of the transmitted photons, and can have value as a quantum device at various locations depending on the usage situation. Waveguide element device.