About

Domenico Pacifici is an Associate Professor of Engineering and an Associate Professor of Physics at Brown University. He serves as the Director of the Nanofabrication Central Facility (NCF) at Brown University. His research interests include silicon-based microphotonics, nanophotonics, plasmonics, and nanoengineered materials and devices. His work focuses on applications for information processing, sensing, and energy-harvesting. Pacifici's contributions involve advancing the understanding and development of nanoscale photonic and plasmonic technologies, which are critical for the development of innovative devices in these fields.

Research topics

• Materials science
• Optoelectronics
• Optics
• Physics
• Nanotechnology

Selected publications

• Plasmonic Interferometers as TREM2 Sensors for Alzheimer’s Disease

  Biosensors · 2021-07-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  We report an effective surface immobilization protocol for capture of Triggering Receptor Expressed on Myeloid Cells 2 (TREM2), a receptor whose elevated concentration in cerebrospinal fluid has recently been associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD). We employ the proposed surface functionalization scheme to design, fabricate, and assess a biochemical sensing platform based on plasmonic interferometry that is able to detect physiological concentrations of TREM2 in solution. These findings open up opportunities for label-free biosensing of TREM2 in its soluble form in various bodily fluids as an early indicator of the onset of clinical dementia in AD. We also show that plasmonic interferometry can be a powerful tool to monitor and optimize surface immobilization schemes, which could be applied to develop other relevant antibody tests.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Fast and efficient germanium quantum dot photodetector with an ultrathin active layer

  Applied Physics Letters · 2021-11-29 · 14 citations

  articleOpen access

  An ultrathin layer (13 nm) of germanium (Ge) quantum dots embedded in a SiO2 matrix was deposited on a Ge substrate for photodetection in both the visible and near-infrared (IR). Operated at T = 150 K, the device exhibits higher than 105% internal quantum efficiency (IQE) at a reverse bias of −1.3 V under low light conditions (<30 nW) at both λ= 640 and 1550 nm. The transient response of 640 nm pulses stays below 15 ns for both rise and fall times; the IR response is only slightly slower. Our work demonstrates a high-performance broadband photodetector with high IQE and fast response in a simple silicon technology-compatible device structure.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Arrays of Plasmonic Nanostructures for Absorption Enhancement in Perovskite Thin Films

  Nanomaterials · 2020-07-09 · 18 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  We report optical characterization and theoretical simulation of plasmon enhanced methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI 3 ) thin-film perovskite solar cells. Specifically, various nanohole (NH) and nanodisk (ND) arrays are fabricated on gold/MAPbI 3 interfaces. Significant absorption enhancement is observed experimentally in 75 nm and 110 nm-thick perovskite films. As a result of increased light scattering by plasmonic concentrators, the original Fabry-Pérot thin-film cavity effects are suppressed in specific structures. However, thanks to field enhancement caused by plasmonic resonances and in-plane interference of propagating surface plasmon polaritons, the calculated overall power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the solar cell is expected to increase by up to 45.5%, compared to its flat counterpart. The role of different geometry parameters of the nanostructure arrays is further investigated using three dimensional (3D) finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations, which makes it possible to identify the physical origin of the absorption enhancement as a function of wavelength and design parameters. These findings demonstrate the potential of plasmonic nanostructures in further enhancing the performance of photovoltaic devices based on thin-film perovskites.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• High-performance germanium quantum dot photodetectors: Response to continuous wave and pulsed excitation

  Applied Physics Letters · 2020-12-21 · 10 citations

  articleSenior author

  Efficiency and response speed are key figures of merit for high-performance photodetectors, with high efficiency often obtained at the expense of slow photoresponse. Here, we report on germanium quantum dot photodetectors (Ge QD PDs) with a 25-nm-thick active layer that possesses both high internal quantum efficiency (IQE) and fast photoresponse, yet is still based on simple design and fabrication. We characterize these devices with continuous wave (CW) and pulsed excitation at room temperature as a function of incident power and applied bias. Under the reverse bias of –4 V, the IQE approaches ∼2000% over a broad spectral range (λ = 500–800 nm). The transient photoresponse speed to a 4.5 ns laser pulse at λ = 640 nm is under 20 ns. Furthermore, we observe an interesting phenomenon: by superimposing a weak CW HeNe laser beam (λ= 632.8 nm) on the laser pulse, we obtain an optically tunable photoresponse while retaining fast speed. This study elucidates the role of photocarrier generation, trapping, and hopping in the percolative Ge QD oxide matrix and helps explain the observed high gain and fast response speed. The demonstrated IQE and nanosecond response time render our devices suitable for low-light detection and imaging.

  PublisherDOI

• Reduced angle sensitivity of structural coloration on an industrial aluminium platform

  Coloration Technology · 2020-03-17 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author

  Abstract Existing structural coloration methods using thin films, commonly implemented in high‐purity aluminium, produce colours which are highly dependent on the viewing angle because of the inherent angular dependence of thin film interference. Adapting the thin film coloration mechanism to anodisation of industrial‐quality aluminium alloys, which scatter light more efficiently than their high‐purity counterparts, reduces angle dependence in the colour produced. This reduction of angle dependence, as well as the wide use of anodised aluminium in consumer products, suggests that structural colour based on anodised aluminium could potentially be scaled up for commercial scale production.

  PublisherDOI

• Revisiting the Photon-Drag Effect in Metal Films

  Physical Review Letters · 2019-08-02 · 63 citations

  articleOpen access

  The photon-drag effect, the rectified current in a medium induced by conservation of momentum of absorbed or redirected light, is a unique probe of the detailed mechanisms underlying radiation pressure. We revisit this effect in gold, a canonical Drude metal. We discover that the signal for p-polarized illumination in ambient air is affected in both sign and magnitude by adsorbed molecules, opening previous measurements for reinterpretation. Further, we show that the intrinsic sign of the photon-drag effect is contrary to the prevailing intuitive model of direct momentum transfer to free electrons.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Revisiting the Photon-Drag Effect in Metal Films

  2019-06-01

  article

  We demonstrate that the sign of the photon-drag effect in smooth gold films is crucially dependent on the surface environment and contrary to the prevailing intuitive model of direct momentum transfer to free electrons.

  PublisherDOI

• Revisiting the Photon-Drag Effect in Gold Films

  APS March Meeting Abstracts · 2019-01-01

  article
  Publisher

• All-Optical Plasmonic Modulators and Interconnects

  2019-05-08

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  This chapter investigates the use of subwavelength scatterers and corrugations in a metal as efficient, localized sources of surface plasmon polaritons propagating for several micrometers at the dielectric/metal interface. Plasmonics, with its ability to confine and guide electromagnetic waves in subwavelength metallo-dielectric structures, promises to be a valuable alternative to the implementation of compact, fast and power-efficient optical integrated networks. The chapter presents a design study for three-dimensional plasmonic vias and modulators, and investigate several schemes for coupling light into such devices, evaluating their power efficiency. It demonstrates that essential building blocks for all-optical computation and networks, such as logic elements and modulators. In all-optical modulators, two different light beams are generally employed: one of the two beams is used to copy information onto the other at a different wavelength. The chapter discusses a multilayer metal/dielectric stack which defines two horizontal dielectric waveguides, separated from each other by a 150-nm-thick layer of silver cladding.

  PublisherDOI

• Determining the Nature of Optical Forces with the Photon-Drag Effect

  Frontiers in Optics + Laser Science APS/DLS · 2019-01-01

  articleCorresponding

  The photovoltage generated in metal films conflicts with the prevailing intuitive model of light-metal momentum exchange, establishing the need for a new microscopic model of radiation pressure, and newly revealing the distribution of optical forces.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Germanium Nanostructures for Efficient Silicon-Compatible Optoelectronics

  NSF · $400k · 2012–2016

• EAGER: Development of Surface Chemistry and Plasmonic Interferometers for Early-Onset Detection of Alzheimer Disease

  NSF · $100k · 2018–2021

• "Multispectral Plasmonic Interferometry: A New Tool for High-throughput, Real-time Detection of Cytokines"

  NSF · $594k · 2012–2016

Frequent coauthors

• F. Iacona

  60 shared

• Henri J. Lezec

  59 shared

• A. Zaslavsky

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  51 shared

• Dongfang Li

  45 shared

• F. Priolo

  University of Catania

  43 shared

• Wenqi Zhu

  43 shared

• G. Franzò

  42 shared

• Glenn Holland

  41 shared

Awards & honors

• Hazeltine Innovation Awards (2024)
• Seven Engineering Faculty Receive University Research Awards…