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Nanoscale Research Letters

Tunable optical Kerr effects of DNAs coupled to quantum dots

Yang Li, Ka‐Di Zhu

Published Nov 29, 2012• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

: The coupling between DNA molecules and quantum dots can result in impressive nonlinear optical properties. In this paper, we theoretically demonstrate the significant enhancement of Kerr coefficient of signal light using optical pump-probe technique when the pump-exciton detuning is zero, and the probe-exciton detuning is adjusted properly to the frequency of DNA vibration mode. The magnitude of optical Kerr coefficient can be tuned by modifying the intensity of the pump beam. It is shown clearly that this phenomenon cannot occur without the DNA-quantum dot coupling. The present research will lead us to know more about the anomalous nonlinear optical behaviors in the hybrid DNA-quantum dot systems, which may have potential applications in the fields such as DNA detection.

DOI
10.1186/1556-276x-7-660

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: The coupling between DNA molecules and quantum dots can result in impressive nonlinear optical properties. In this paper, we theoretically demonstrate the significant enhancement of Kerr coefficient of signal light using optical pump-probe technique when the pump-exciton detuning is zero, and the probe-exciton detuning is adjusted properly to the frequency of DNA vibration mode. The magnitude of optical Kerr coefficient can be tuned by modifying the intensity of the pump beam. It is shown clearly that this phenomenon cannot occur without the DNA-quantum dot coupling. The present research will lead us to know more about the anomalous nonlinear optical behaviors in the hybrid DNA-quantum dot systems, which may have potential applications in the fields such as DNA detection.
High-order sideband nonlinear optical properties in a DNA–quantum dot coupled system are investigated theoretically here. In this paper, we demonstrate the significant enhancement of the third- and fifth-order optical nonlinear properties of the system by applying the pump-probe technique with pump-exciton detuning tuned to zero. It is shown clearly that these phenomena cannot occur without the DNA–quantum dot coupling, implying some potential applications like DNA detection. We can also obtain and tune the significantly amplified sideband beams at frequencies ωp±2ωD. This research could provide people a deeper insight into the nonlinear optical behaviors in coupled DNA–quantum dot systems.
We theoretically investigate the slow- and fast-light phenomena caused by the coupling between peptide quantum dot (QD) and DNA molecules with the presence of strong pump light and weak signal light simultaneously. In this QD–DNA system, significant changes of the velocity of signal light can be observed when pump-exciton detuning and signal-exciton detuning are adjusted properly. Slow and fast signal light with little absorption can be obtained by adjusting the pump intensity when the pump field is off-resonant. It can be shown clearly that these phenomena cannot occur without the QD–DNA coupling. The scheme proposed here will lead people to know more about the optical behaviors of the QD–DNA system with the currently popular pump-probe technique.
We have theoretically demonstrated the large enhancement of the optical Kerr effect in a scheme of a nanomechanical resonator coupled to a quantum dot and shown that this phenomenon can be used to realize a fast optical Kerr switch by turning the control field on or off. Due to the vibration of the nanoresonator, as we pump on the strong control beam, the optical spectrum shows that the magnitude of this optical Kerr effect is proportional to the intensity of the control field. In this case, a fast and tunable optical Kerr switch can be implemented easily by an intensity-adjustable laser. Based on this tunable optical Kerr switch, we also provide a detection method to measure the frequency of the nanomechanical resonator in this coupled system.
The optical nonlinearity of hybrid nanocrystal molecules composed of semiconductor and metal nanoparticles with a weak probe in a strong control field is investigated theoretically. Excitons in such a hybrid molecule demonstrate novel optical properties due to the coupling between excitons and plasmons. It is shown that Kerr nonlinear coefficients as functions of the detuning of the control field from the exciton frequency and the centre-to-centre distance between the two nanoparticles are greatly enhanced due to exciton–plasmon couplings.
In the present work, we theoretically/numerically study the optical second-order sideband generation in a hybrid structure consisting of a semiconductor quantum dot (QD) conjugated with DNA molecules, and coupled to a solid metallic nanoparticle (MNP) or a metallic nanoshell (MNS) with core-shell geometry. The hybrid system is driven by a strong control (pump) laser field and a weak signal (probe) field. The dynamics of the system is analyzed using the Heisenberg equation of motion in the frame of rotating wave approximation. We discuss the role of plasmon-exciton interaction in enhancing third- and fifth-order nonlinear susceptibilities through the nonlinear optical response of the system and the effects of the presence of a MNP or a MNS near the QD-DNA system on the nonlinear optical absorption spectrum is investigated. We demonstrate that the second-order sideband is generated, and the hybrid system considered here enables robust control and tunability of the second-order sidebands. It is shown that the second-order sideband spectrum (or absorption) is significantly affected by plasmonic nanoparticle size, the interparticle distance, the control field (Rabi frequency ), and the control-exciton detuning.
Abstract We propose a scheme of a sensitive biosensor based on optical bistability (OB) in a biological semiconductor quantum dot (SQD)-DNA coupled nanohybrid. By plotting bistability phase diagrams within the system’s parameter space, we show that the bistable effect can be switched on or off by only tuning the pumping intensity or the detuning of the pump field from the exciton resonance. Simultaneously, we reveal that the bistability only exists in the strong SQD-DNA coupling regime. Specifically, we derive the matching relation between the excitation conditions and the coupling strength when the bistability just appears. Moreover, we demonstrate that the OB is highly sensitive to the SQD-DNA coupling strength which is strongly correlated to the length of DNA molecules and DNA concentration. This investigation may be useful for opening a new way to build optical switches and providing a novel and convenient platform to detect DNA molecules.