unDrift: A versatile software for fast offline SPM image drift correction

• Tobias Dickbreder,
• Franziska Sabath,
• Lukas Höltkemeier,
• Ralf Bechstein and
• Angelika Kühnle

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 1225–1237, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.101

• the actual probe position; thus, the SPM image is distorted [1][2][4][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. The determination of linear calibration parameters and scanner non-orthogonality based on atomic structures [1][2][3][8][9][18][19] and calibration gratings [1][20][21][22] have been discussed

A mid-infrared focusing grating coupler with a single circular arc element based on germanium on silicon

• Xiaojun Zhu,
• Shuai Li,
• Ang Sun,
• Yongquan Pan,
• Wen Liu,
• Yue Wu,
• Guoan Zhang and
• Yuechun Shi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 478–484, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.38

• , Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China 10.3762/bjnano.14.38 Abstract A mid-infrared (MIR) focusing grating coupler (FGC) with a single circular arc element (CAE) in the front of the gratings based on a germanium-on-silicon (Ge-on-Si) platform is designed and demonstrated. It can be used equivalently

• to a traditional FGC with all-focusing gratings. By optimizing the structural parameters of the CAE, the combination of a tapered linear grating and the CAE can improve the coupling efficiency to 8.61%, which is twice as large as that of the traditional MIR grating couplers. To the best of our

• tapered linear gratings and a single CAE, which can be equivalent to the traditional FGC with all-focusing gratings. Also, it is a full-etch grating coupler, which can be achieved by a single etch step. The maximum coupling efficiency can be up to 8.61% (−10.65 dB) at 6.878 μm by optimizing the structural

Quasi-guided modes resulting from the band folding effect in a photonic crystal slab for enhanced interactions of matters with free-space radiations

• Kaili Sun,
• Yangjian Cai,
• Uriel Levy and
• Zhanghua Han

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 322–328, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.27

• ]. Other structures, such as diatomic [18] or dimerized [19][20] gratings, have been also investigated in recent years, but mainly with emphasis on the far-field spectrum, using one-dimensional (1D) grating structures. In addition, band folding was also employed to realize terahertz radiation from

• difference frequency generation (DFG) by using 1D leaky modes of binary waveguide gratings [21] and to manipulate the radiation coupling in the vertical directions in some photonic crystal cavities [22][23]. A similar structure of a ZnO photonic crystal slab (PCS) with doubled periods in both directions has

Double-layer symmetric gratings with bound states in the continuum for dual-band high-Q optical sensing

• Chaoying Shi,
• Jinhua Hu,
• Xiuhong Liu,
• Junfang Liang,
• Jijun Zhao,
• Haiyan Han and
• Qiaofen Zhu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1408–1417, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.116

• , Hebei 056038, P. R. China 10.3762/bjnano.13.116 Abstract Herein, we theoretically demonstrate that a double-layer symmetric gratings (DLSG) resonator consisting of a low-refractive-index layer sandwiched between two high-contrast gratings (HCG) layers, can host dual-band high-quality (Q) factor

• resonance. We find that the artificial bound states in the continuum (BIC) and Fabry–Pérot BIC (FP-BIC) can be induced by optimizing structural parameters of DLSG. Interestingly, the artificial BIC is governed by the spacing between the two rectangular dielectric gratings, while the FP-BIC is achieved by

• controlling the cavity length of the structure. Further, the two types of BIC can be converted into quasi-BIC (QBIC) by either changing the spacing between adjacent gratings or changing the distance between the upper and lower gratings. The simulation results show that the dual-band high-performance sensor is

Tunable high-quality-factor absorption in a graphene monolayer based on quasi-bound states in the continuum

• Jun Wu,
• Yasong Sun,
• Feng Wu,
• Biyuan Wu and
• Xiaohu Wu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 675–681, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.59

• absorption of graphene may find potential applications for the realization of ultrasensitive biosensors, photodetectors, and narrow-band filters. Keywords: bound states in the continuum; graphene; gratings; selective absorption; Introduction Absorbers possess a wide range of applications, including radar

Polarity in cuticular ridge development and insect attachment on leaf surfaces of Schismatoglottis calyptrata (Araceae)

• Venkata A. Surapaneni,
• Tobias Aust,
• Thomas Speck and
• Marc Thielen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1326–1338, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.98

• hydrophobicity of the leaf surfaces [8][9]. On petals, they might act additionally as diffraction gratings producing structural colors to attract pollinators [10][11][12]. Ridges are relatively robust compared with other cuticular morphologies [8] such as epicuticular wax crystals. They may also provide

Application of contact-resonance AFM methods to polymer samples

• Sebastian Friedrich and
• Brunero Cappella

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1714–1727, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.154

• moduli requires the knowledge of geometrical parameters, for example, the tip radius. This is a drawback, since measurements on test gratings may damage the tip and blunt it. Moreover, small deviations from the paraboloidal shape, for example, small protrusions, are likely to seriously affect

The influence of an interfacial hBN layer on the fluorescence of an organic molecule

• Christine Brülke,
• Oliver Bauer and
• Moritz M. Sokolowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1663–1684, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.149

• an achromatic lens and focused by a second achromatic lens onto the entrance slit of the spectrometer. The spectrometer (Acton, Spectra Pro 2300i, f = 0.3 m) was operated with three different gratings (300, 600, and 1200 grooves per millimeter, yielding a resolution of 48, 24, and 12 cm−1

Nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond for nanoscale magnetic resonance imaging applications

• Alberto Boretti,
• Lorenzo Rosa,
• Jonathan Blackledge and
• Stefania Castelletto

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2128–2151, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.207

• accurately setting the magnetic field to make the NV center resonate with the external target spin. The method has been tested by imaging a diamond chip with an image mask made up of a series of gratings of width ≈500 nm and a pitch of 1 μm. The minimum resolution compares with the microscope diffraction

Precise local control of liquid crystal pretilt on polymer layers by focused ion beam nanopatterning

• Maxim V. Gorkunov,
• Irina V. Kasyanova,
• Vladimir V. Artemov,
• Alena V. Mamonova and
• Serguei P. Palto

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1691–1697, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.164

• diffraction gratings [23][24][25][26], lenses [27][28], q-plates [29], and holographic images [30] all require alternating surface anchoring conditions to stabilize complex director patterns in the LC bulk. Presently, those are realized by photoalignment [8] of organic layers that, upon irradiation with

Development of a new hybrid approach combining AFM and SEM for the nanoparticle dimensional metrology

• Loïc Crouzier,
• Alexandra Delvallée,
• Sébastien Ducourtieux,
• Laurent Devoille,
• Guillaume Noircler,
• Christian Ulysse,
• Olivier Taché,
• Elodie Barruet,
• Christophe Tromas and
• Nicolas Feltin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1523–1536, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.150

• . To calibrate both AFM and SEM used in this study, specific gratings were developed in collaboration with CNRS/C2N (Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology). These gratings, called P900H60, consist of a pitch of 900 nm and a step height of 60 nm. The fabrication of these gratings was carried out on

Fabrication of phase masks from amorphous carbon thin films for electron-beam shaping

• Lukas Grünewald,
• Dagmar Gerthsen and
• Simon Hettler

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1290–1302, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.128

• were generally smoother compared to the FIB-prepared thin films, higher quality PM gratings could be fabricated. For the highest spatial frequency of kρ = 10 µm−1 only the floated aC thin films showed good results (cf. Figure 4a,b). To study the depth profile of the PMs, cross-section TEM lamellas were

Angle-dependent structural colors in a nanoscale-grating photonic crystal fabricated by reverse nanoimprint technology

• Xu Zheng,
• Qing Wang,
• Jinjin Luan,
• Yao Li,
• Ning Wang and
• Rui Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1211–1216, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.120

• attracted great interest because of a possible application in visual sensors. The appearance of a photonic crystal is mainly influenced by the optical properties, structural parameters and the observation angle. In this work, an angle-sensitive photonic crystal with nanoscale gratings was fabricated through

Quantification and coupling of the electromagnetic and chemical contributions in surface-enhanced Raman scattering

• Yarong Su,
• Yuanzhen Shi,
• Ping Wang,
• Jinglei Du,
• Markus B. Raschke and
• Lin Pang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 549–556, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.56

• lithography (IL) and oblique angle deposition (OAD) methods [23]. The Ag substrates with nanostructures are gratings with and without nanogap, which can achieve field enhancements as high as 106. The samples were pre-characterized by AFM (see example of Ag grating with nanogap in inset in Figure 1a, for

In situ characterization of nanoscale contaminations adsorbed in air using atomic force microscopy

• Jesús S. Lacasa,
• Lisa Almonte and
• Jaime Colchero

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2925–2935, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.271

• sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), alcohols (e.g., ethanol) or acetone [24], ultraviolet (UV) [25] and ozone treatment [26], imaging of gratings [27][28], heating to evaporate contaminants [29][30], argon bombardment and even ultrasound, to much more aggressive methods, such as cleaning in piranha solution

Review on nanoparticles and nanostructured materials: history, sources, toxicity and regulations

• Jaison Jeevanandam,
• Ahmed Barhoum,
• Yen S. Chan,
• Alain Dufresne and
• Michael K. Danquah

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1050–1074, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.98

• . Indeed, the literature reveals that they possess nanostructures in multilayers which act as diffraction gratings, induce interference, and consequently iridescence [227][228]. Nanoparticles and nanostructures in animals and birds Animals (insects belonging to Kingdom Animalia) such as flies, spiders, and

Nematic liquid crystal alignment on subwavelength metal gratings

• Irina V. Kasyanova,
• Artur R. Geivandov,
• Vladimir V. Artemov,
• Maxim V. Gorkunov and
• Serguei P. Palto

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 42–47, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.6

• system, has been applied. We show that the gratings provide stable planar alignment only for shorter periods and narrower slits (p < 400 nm, w/p < 2/3). As these parameters increase, the homogeneous surface alignment changes to domains with different tilt angles or to spatially modulated alignment. We

• a liquid crystal into a hybrid system is especially interesting as it can result in even more novel and interesting properties. In our recent work, we showed that liquid crystals strongly affect both the plasmon resonance and light polarization properties of subwavelength metal gratings [9

• ]. Meanwhile, these gratings can also be used as nanoelectrodes, which allow the LC to be driven by an electric field, enabling a very fast electro-optical effect due to the influence of the adjacent liquid crystal layer on the plasmonic resonance [10]. In all of these effects, the alignment of LC molecules on

Study of the vertically aligned in-plane switching liquid crystal mode in microscale periodic electric fields

• Artur R. Geivandov,
• Mikhail I. Barnik,
• Irina V. Kasyanova and
• Serguei P. Palto

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 11–19, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.2

• is defined by the thickness of the LC layer, and is significantly higher (a few tens of milliseconds for the same LC layer thickness of 3–4 μm). Of course, it is curious to know how short the relaxation can be if we further decrease the electrode gratings period to the micrometer and sub-micrometer

• electrodes. Figure 10 shows the relaxation (switching-off) time for different width-to-gap ratios (w/g = 2.0, 1.0 and 0.5) as a function of the electrode gratings period, p. The calculated data are in agreement with the experimental results showing that smaller values of p result in faster relaxation. The

• saturate. At short gratings periods the switching is very fast (it is well below 1 ms if p <1.5 µm), and there is a quadratic dependence of the switching time on p. It is also intriguing that at a fixed value of p the dependence of the switching time on the gap is rather weak. To understand what is going

Refractive index sensing and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy using silver–gold layered bimetallic plasmonic crystals

• Somi Kang,
• Sean E. Lehman,
• Matthew V. Schulmerich,
• An-Phong Le,
• Tae-woo Lee,
• Stephen K. Gray,
• Rohit Bhargava and
• Ralph G. Nuzzo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2492–2503, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.249

• cannot directly elicit plasmonic excitations on metal films in air due to conservation requirements [16][17]. To compensate for the mismatch in momentum between an incident photon and a plasmonic resonance, most studies to date have focused on metallic nanostructures such as nanoparticles, line gratings

Selective photodissociation of tailored molecular tags as a tool for quantum optics

• Ugur Sezer,
• Philipp Geyer,
• Moritz Kriegleder,
• Maxime Debiossac,
• Armin Shayeghi,
• Markus Arndt,
• Lukas Felix and
• Marcel Mayor

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 325–333, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.35

• the idea of Young’s double slit experiment and demonstrated diffraction of fullerenes [1] and functionalized phthalocyanines [9] at nanomechanical gratings. Later studies used variants of Talbot–Lau interferometry to demonstrate the quantum wave nature of more than a dozen of different molecules and

• absorptive optical gratings. Standing waves of light can imprint a spatially periodic structure onto molecular beams – very similar to nanomechanical material gratings – if they are capable of depleting the molecular beam in the antinodes of the optical grating. In previous studies, this goal has been

• achieved by exposing molecules to a vacuum ultra-violet (VUV) light emitted by a laser of 157.6 nm wavelength [18][19]. The light field can ionize or dissociate the incident clusters of molecules in the anti-nodes of the optical gratings [13][18][20]. These previous attempts proved successful but were not

Flexible photonic crystal membranes with nanoparticle high refractive index layers

• Torben Karrock,
• Moritz Paulsen and
• Martina Gerken

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 203–209, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.22

• ; flexible membrane; nanostructure; photonic crystal; resonance shift; Introduction Photonic crystal slabs (also called resonance waveguide gratings) consist of a guiding layer with high refractive index on a nanostructured substrate. A subwavelength grating gives the incident light a lateral momentum and

• gratings properties, the waveguide properties, and the angle of incidence. Many different fabrication approaches have been presented and recent publications show high potential for future products, including multiparametric label-free biosensing [4], photonic crystal enhanced microscopy [5], single

• highly flexible photonic crystal slabs by utilizing nanoreplication of a linear grating nanostructure with a period of 400 nm into a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane and subsequent spin coating of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles. Investigations with 300 nm and 500 nm gratings lead to similar

Thickness-modulated tungsten–carbon superconducting nanostructures grown by focused ion beam induced deposition for vortex pinning up to high magnetic fields

• Ismael García Serrano,
• Javier Sesé,
• Isabel Guillamón,
• Hermann Suderow,
• Sebastián Vieira,
• Manuel Ricardo Ibarra and
• José María De Teresa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1698–1708, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.162

• , which favors the location of vortices in the thinnest parts of the superconductor for vortices perpendicular to the film [31]. In the past, some experiments were performed to generate microscale thickness modulation by pressing diffraction gratings on superconducting foils [25] or by photolithography

Nano- and microstructured materials for in vitro studies of the physiology of vascular cells

• Alexandra M. Greiner,
• Adria Sales,
• Hao Chen,
• Sarah A. Biela,
• Dieter Kaufmann and
• Ralf Kemkemer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1620–1641, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.155

• varieties. However, common architectures are pores, gratings, wells, pits, cones, posts, pillars, grooves (Figure 4A) or mesh-like structures that can either be organized in a regular or irregular manner. For a systematic overview of the information presented in this section and about the fabrication

Large-scale fabrication of achiral plasmonic metamaterials with giant chiroptical response

• Morten Slyngborg,
• Yao-Chung Tsao and
• Peter Fojan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 914–925, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.83

• . When the θ angle is increased to 40 and 50° the peak re-separates into two peaks. These changes may originate from the transition from a hole array towards a film with gratings upon increasing angles and subsequent larger backscattering. At θ = 60° the backscattering has increased significantly

Highly compact refractive index sensor based on stripe waveguides for lab-on-a-chip sensing applications

• Chamanei Perera,
• Kristy Vernon,
• Elliot Cheng,
• Juna Sathian,
• Esa Jaatinen and
• Timothy Davis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 751–757, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.66

• input end to increase the energy transfer of incoming light into the input waveguide [22]. The gratings were excited through an inverted microscope set-up using a 633 nm wavelength laser, further details are provided in [22]. The plasmon propagation and coupling in the RI sensor was imaged using CdSe