Laser induced cavitation is one of the effective techniques to generate controlled cavitation bubbles, both for basic study and for applications in different fields of engineering and medicine. Unfortunately, control of bubble formation and symmetry is hardly achieved due to a series of concurrent causes. In particular, the need to focus the laser beam at the bubble formation spot leads, in general, to a conical region proximal to the light source where conditions are met for plasma breakdown. A finite sized region then exists where the electric field may fluctuate depending on several disturbing agents, leading to possible plasma fragmentation and plasma intensity variation. Such irregularities may induce asymmetry in the successive bubble dynamics, a mostly undesired effect if reproducible conditions are sought for. In the present paper, the structure of the breakdown plasma and the ensuing bubble dynamics are analyzed by means of high speed imaging and intensity measurements of the shockwave system launched at breakdown. It is found that the parameters of the system can be tuned to optimize repeatability and sphericity. In particular, symmetric rebound dynamics is achieved almost deterministically when a pointlike plasma is generated at the breakdown threshold energy. Spherical symmetry is also favored by a large focusing angle combined with a relatively large pulse energy, a process which, however, retains a significant level of stochasticity. Outside these special conditions, the elongated and often fragmented conical plasma shape is found to be correlated with anisotropic and multiple breakdown shockwave emission.

We experimentally demonstrate propagation of surface plasmon polaritons in the near-IR window $\lambda ∊(1.45\mu \mathrm{m},1.59\mu \mathrm{m})$ at the interface of indium-tin-oxide films with different thicknesses deposited on glass. Dispersion of such polaritons is strongly dependent on the film thickness, putting into evidence a regime in which polaritons at both films’s interfaces are coupled in surface supermodes. The experimental data are shown to be in good agreement with the analytical model for thin and absorbing conducting films. Measurements on aluminum-doped zinc oxide, characterized by a redshifted plasma resonance, do not show any surface plasmon polariton excitation in the same wavelength window.

We report on the investigation on the resolution of optical sensors exploiting Bloch surface waves sustained by one dimensional photonic crystals. A figure of merit is introduced to quantitatively assess the performance of such sensors and its dependency on the geometry and materials of the photonic crystal. We show that the figure of merit and the resolution can be improved by adopting a full ellipsometric phase-sensitive approach. The theoretical predictions are confirmed by experiments in which, for the first time, such type of sensors are operated in the full ellipsometric scheme.

We report on the design, fabrication, and characterization of optical sensors based on Bloch surface waves propagating at the truncation edge of one-dimensional photonic crystals. The sensors can be simultaneously operated in both a label-free mode, where small refractive index changes at the surface are detected, and a fluorescence mode, where the fluorescence from a novel heptamethyne dye label in the proximity of the surface is collected. The two modes operate in the near-infrared spectral range with the same configuration of the optical reading apparatus. The limit of detection is shown to be smaller than that of equivalent surface plasmon sensors and the fluorescence collection efficiency is such that it can be efficiently analyzed by the same camera sensor used for label-free operation.

A one-dimensional photonic crystal (1DPC) based on a planar stack of dielectric layers is used as an optical transducer for biosensing, upon the coupling of TE-polarized Bloch Surface Waves (BSW). The structure is tailored with a polymeric layer providing a chemical functionality facilitating the covalent binding of orienting proteins needed for a subsequent grafting of antibodies in an immunoassay detection scheme. The polymeric layer is impregnated with Cy3 dye, in such a way that the photonic structure can exhibit an emissive behavior. The BSW-coupled fluorescence shift is used as a means for detecting refractive index variations occurring at the 1DPC surface, according to a label-free concept. The proposed working principle is successfully demonstrated in real-time tracking of protein G covalent binding on the 1DPC surface within a fluidic cell.

The coupling of optical Bloch surface waves at the truncated end of one dimensional porous silicon photonic crystals is exploited for fast vapour sensing. Self-standing multilayered membranes bound to transparent substrates were fabricated by electrochemical etching and used in an attenuated total reflection configuration to resonantly excite the surface waves and perform real-time sensing.