--- title: "Main scientific achievements and findings of V. N. Konopsky (1996-2026): an overview" authors: ["Valery N. Konopsky"] journal: "Site overview" year: 2026 doi: "" type: review url_pdf: "" language: en --- ## Main scientific achievements and findings of V. N. Konopsky (1996-2026): an overview This overview summarizes the principal results of 34 papers (1996-2026) collected in `md_articles/`, grouped into fourteen thematic achievements. Each section names the priority publication first, followed by the papers that develop it. Full texts: `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/`. ### 1. Frequency-sensitive optical gyroscope based on an electro-optical oscillator (1996) A new type of quasi-static optical gyroscope was proposed in which the Sagnac phase shift is converted into the oscillation frequency of an electro-optical oscillator. The device combines the large scale factor and simple registration scheme of an active (laser) gyro with complete freedom from the locking problem that limits active ring lasers. The oscillator is treated as a modulation-based amplifier driven by the shot noise of its own reference beam: any change of the optical path accumulates as a frequency shift of the generated RF signal. - V. N. Konopsky, "A new type of optical gyro via electro-optical oscillator", Optics Communications 126 (1996) 236-239, `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/OpticsCommunications1996.md`. ### 2. Thin-film field-emission display by edge breakdown of a MIS structure (1998) A new cold-cathode field-emission display was proposed using avalanche breakdown in the semiconductor near the edge of the top metal electrode of a metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) stack. The generated electrons are injected through a negative-electron-affinity insulator film into vacuum in the immediate vicinity of the electrode edge. The analytical condition for edge-localized (deep-depletion) breakdown was derived: the ratio of the insulator thickness to the maximum depletion width must stay below `2/(3*pi-2)`, about `0.27`. The influence of a neighbouring electrode and of the electrode thickness was analysed, and practical layouts including an `M/CaF2/Si` structure were considered. - V. N. Konopsky, "A proposal for a new type of thin-film field-emission display by edge breakdown of MIS structure", Journal of Physics D 31 (1998) 617-621, `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/JPhysD1998.md`. ### 3. Raising the laser-damage threshold of metal mirrors with a photonic surface (2000) To suppress laser damage of metal mirrors, it was proposed to pattern the mirror surface with a period of about half the laser wavelength. Such a "photonic surface" opens a band gap for surface-plasmon propagation at the laser frequency and thereby breaks the incident-beam/plasmon interference (ripple-growth) channel of damage. A small additional heat-removal channel via thermostimulated plasmon emission was estimated. The approach was worked out for CO2 (`10.6 um`) and Nd-YAG (`1.06 um`) lasers. - V. N. Konopsky, "A new method for increasing the laser damage threshold of metal mirrors", Optics & Laser Technology 32 (2000) 15-21, `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/OptLaserTechnol2000.md`. ### 4. Tapping-mode scanning plasmon near-field microscope with subtip resolution (2000-2001) A scanning plasmon near-field microscope operating in the tapping mode of an atomic force microscope with gold and silver tips was demonstrated. The scattering maximum observed on approach and withdrawal was interpreted as an electromagnetic resonance of the tip-surface (sphere-plane) structure, strongest for noble metals. At resonance the field is confined to `L approx (2*d*R)^1/2`, so for `d << R` the image resolution is finer than the tip radius; the resonance signal is isolated at the second harmonic of the tapping frequency. Registration modes and the negative contrast of surface hillocks were explained. Fourier analysis of near-field images on rough silver showed that the intensity pattern is the interference of scattered plasmons with the launched plasmon beam, including multiple scattering (backscattering enhancement). Applications to local permittivity and local nonlinear susceptibility probing with subtip resolution were outlined. - V. N. Konopsky, "Operation of scanning plasmon near-field microscope with gold and silver tips in tapping mode: demonstration of subtip resolution", Optics Communications 185 (2000) 83-93, `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/OpticsCommunications2000.md`. - V. N. Konopsky, K. E. Kouyanov, N. N. Novikova, "Investigations of the interference of surface plasmons on rough silver surface by scanning plasmon near-field microscope", Ultramicroscopy 88 (2001) 127-138, `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/Ultramicroscopy2001.md`. ### 5. Surface-plasmon dispersion at photonic band gaps (2001) The photonic band gap for surface plasmons on periodically corrugated surfaces was studied experimentally and theoretically in the regime where the gap exceeds the separation between the flat-surface plasmon dispersion curve and the light line. A three-mode coupled model (two plasmon modes plus one light mode) yields an analytical plasmon wavevector near the gap, and interferometric measurements in the `10 um` band provided the first data on plasmon propagation parameters in the vicinity of such a gap. - V. N. Konopsky, E. V. Alieva, "Dispersion relation of surface plasmons near photonic band gaps: influence of the interaction with light", Journal of Modern Optics 48 (2001) 1597-1615, `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/JModOpt2001.md`. ### 6. Ultra-long-range plasmon-polaritons on a one-dimensional photonic crystal (2006-2010) It was shown that a thin metal film on a properly designed 1D photonic crystal supports ultra-long-range surface plasmon-polaritons with millimetre propagation, about two orders of magnitude beyond the ordinary Kretschmann plasmon at the same frequency, and for any external medium (`air`, `water`, and others) without index-matching fluids or suspended membranes. The mechanism is destructive interference of the two interface plasmons, which places an electric-field minimum (down to zero) inside the metal for incidence near total internal reflection; photonic-crystal surface modes supply wavevectors in exactly that interval. The effect was extended to lossy metals that show no plasmon propagation under ordinary Kretschmann excitation in the visible: an `8 nm` palladium nanofilm at `737.7 nm` guided plasmons over `180 um` (`180x` the ordinary `~1 um`), with the characteristic long-range fringe pattern in the focused-beam resonance curve. A unified impedance theory for s- and p-polarized crystal surface waves gave general existence conditions for long-range modes in nanofilms including lossy ones, a design algorithm for prescribed wavelength and wavevector, and maximization of the propagation length by wavelength-detuning (slight asymmetry). - V. N. Konopsky, E. V. Alieva, "Long-range propagation of plasmon polaritons in a thin metal film on a one-dimensional photonic crystal surface", Physical Review Letters 97 (2006) 253904, `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/PRL2006.md`. - V. N. Konopsky, E. V. Alieva, "Long-range plasmons in lossy metal films on photonic crystal surfaces", Optics Letters 34 (2009) 479-481, `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/OL2009.md`. - V. N. Konopsky, "Plasmon-Polariton Waves in Nanofilms on 1-D Photonic Crystal Surfaces", New Journal of Physics 12 (2010) 093006, `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/NewJoPhysics2010.md`. ### 7. Long-range-plasmon hydrogen and gas sensing (2009-2013) The photonic-crystal-supported long-range plasmon platform was converted into fast optical gas sensors. A palladium-nanofilm hydrogen sensor detects `3% H2` in nitrogen with a signal-to-noise ratio of about `300` at `~1 s` averaging and a response time of about `10 s` at room temperature; the resonance angle is tracked by angle-scanning feedback that uses the long-range-plasmon scattering itself as the signal, allowing a simple photodiode instead of a position-sensitive detector. A nanoparticle variant (Pd nanoparticles on a 1D crystal probed by p-polarized surface waves) revealed a size-dependent sign of the response to `0.5% H2`: negative for `2 nm` particles, where the alpha-beta phase transition is absent, versus positive for `6 nm` particles and continuous films, confirming the narrowing and disappearance of the miscibility gap below `~3 nm`. The platform was extended to the blue range: a long-range plasmon on an `8 nm` gold film at `405 nm` propagates about `7 um` and detects nitrogen dioxide in air with sensitivity comparable to red-range plasmon sensors. - V. N. Konopsky et al., "Registration of long-range surface plasmon resonance by angle-scanning feedback and its implementation for optical hydrogen sensing", New Journal of Physics 11 (2009) 063049, `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/NJP2009.md`. - V. N. Konopsky et al., "Size-dependent hydrogen uptake behavior of Pd nanoparticles revealed by photonic crystal surface waves", Applied Physics Letters 100 (2012) 083108, `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/APL2012.md`. - E. V. Alieva et al., "Blue surface plasmon propagation along thin gold film - gas interface and its use for sensitive nitrogen dioxide detection", Optics Communications 309 (2013) 148-153, `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/OpticsCommunications2013_Au_NO2.md`. ### 8. Dual-surface-wave biosensor separating surface and volume signals (2007-2013) The first experimental label-free biosensor platform using two s-polarized photonic-crystal surface waves from the same surface spot was demonstrated. The two modes have strongly different evanescent depths, one of them excited arbitrarily close to the total-internal- reflection angle (impossible in plasmon sensors, unfeasible in ordinary waveguides) as a bulk-index reference, so adlayer thickness and liquid index are recovered separately rather than mixed as in surface plasmon resonance; metal-free propagation gives long range and high sensitivity (biotin-streptavidin binding at signal-to-noise of about `15` in `1 s`). The technique was made model-independent by direct critical-angle registration in the orthogonal polarization within the same focused beam: the liquid index follows straight from the critical angle while the surface-wave angle gives the adlayer. A multilayer coating additionally sharpens the critical-angle edge far beyond a bare prism, reaching `9e-8` refractive-index units per root hertz in index and `5e-13 m/Hz^1/2` in adlayer thickness. Complete devices were demonstrated on biotin-streptavidin binding, IgG association/dissociation kinetics, and PSS/PAN polyelectrolyte multilayers with per-layer thickness resolution. - V. N. Konopsky, E. V. Alieva, "Photonic crystal surface waves for optical biosensors", Analytical Chemistry 79 (2007) 4729-4735, `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/AC2007.md`. - V. N. Konopsky, E. V. Alieva, "Optical biosensors based on photonic crystal surface waves", Methods in Molecular Biology (Humana Press, 2009), `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/HumanaPress.md`. - V. N. Konopsky, E. V. Alieva, "Critical-angle refractometer enhanced by periodic multilayer coating", Sensors and Actuators B 150 (2010) 794-797, `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/SAB2010.md`. - V. N. Konopsky, E. V. Alieva, "A biosensor based on photonic crystal surface waves with an independent registration of the liquid refractive index", Biosensors and Bioelectronics 25 (2010) 1212-1216, `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/BB2010.md`. - V. N. Konopsky et al., "Photonic Crystal Biosensor Based on Optical Surface Waves", Sensors 13 (2013) 2566-2578, `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/Sensors2013.md`. ### 9. Fine interference structure at total internal reflection of a focused beam (2012) A new classical-optics effect was discovered: a fine interference pattern in the reflection profile of a focused laser beam undergoing total internal reflection near the critical angle (both polarizations; water, ethanol, and air; narrow-line sources). The pattern is absent in plane-wave Fresnel theory and is reproduced only by focused-beam modelling; it shares the physics of the long-range-wave dip fringes (a divergent reflected Gaussian wave interfering with a flatter leaky surface wave backcoupled into the prism). A modified Goos-Hanchen shift formula was given, with maxima reaching tens of microns for wide beams. The result is notable because Abbe refractometry had exploited the critical angle for over 140 years without this structure being reported. - V. N. Konopsky, E. V. Alieva, "Observation of fine interference structures at total internal reflection of focused light beams", Physical Review A 86 (2012) 063807, `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/PRA2012.md`. ### 10. Imaging and multiplex label-free biosensing on photonic-crystal surface modes (2018-2020) The first imaging (two-dimensional) modifications of photonic-crystal-surface-mode biosensors were introduced, solving the dynamic-range block (the narrow crystal resonance is unusable in the classical plasmon-imaging parallel-beam scheme) by spectral registration with crossed polarizers and a colour camera, reading the resonance shift as a blue/green balance per pixel. Demonstrated as surface-mode imaging with plasmon-imaging-comparable or better range and resolution, a planar-waveguide imaging sibling with a complexity comparison, full 96- and 384-spot microarray kinetics with sub-picogram per-spot resolution, and a four-channel flow-multiplex clinical demo (ovarian CA125 plus breast HER2 and CA15-3 in serum, with simultaneous surface-mode-angle and critical-angle readout). - V. N. Konopsky, E. V. Alieva, "Photonic crystal surface mode imaging biosensor based on wavelength interrogation of resonance peak", Sensors and Actuators B (2018), `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/SensorsAndActuatorsB2018.md`. - V. N. Konopsky, E. V. Alieva, "Imaging biosensor based on planar optical waveguide", Optics and Laser Technology (2019), `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/OLT2019.md`. - I. Petrova, V. N. Konopsky, I. Nabiev, A. Sukhanova, "Label-Free Flow Multiplex Biosensing via Photonic Crystal Surface Mode Detection", Scientific Reports 9 (2019) 8745, `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/ScientificReports2019.md`. - V. N. Konopsky et al., "Photonic crystal surface mode imaging for multiplexed and high-throughput label-free biosensing", Biosensors and Bioelectronics (2020), `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/BiosensorsBioelectronics2020.md`. ### 11. Engineered biochip coatings for small-molecule sensing (2022-2023) A surface-chemistry advance lifted the crystal-surface-mode biosensor from proteins to low-molecular-weight analytes in real time: comparative dextran matrices selected `500 kDa` epoxy-dextran as the protein matrix, and poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimer chips then gave about `14x` the sorption of a planar aminosilane layer and `5x` that of 3D epoxy-dextran for oligonucleotide targets in microfluidics, reaching a limit of quantitation of `70 fM` comparable to the best label-based assays without labelling artefacts. - S. Sizova et al., "The Elaboration of Effective Coatings for Photonic Crystal Chips in Optical Biosensors", Polymers 14 (2022) 152, `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/Polymers2022.md`. - R. Shakurov et al., "Dendrimer-Based Coatings on a Photonic Crystal Surface for Ultra-Sensitive Small Molecule Detection", Polymers 15 (2023) 2607, `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/Polymers2023.md`. ### 12. Phase-matched harmonic generation on doubly resonant crystal surface modes (2016-2024) The phase-matching problem for planar harmonic generation was solved with a 1D photonic crystal carrying surface waves at both the fundamental and the harmonic with effective indices close to air at both frequencies, so pump and harmonic stay in phase while tolerating even lossy nonlinear nanofilms. Demonstrated as a visible collinear third harmonic at `410 nm` from a `1230 nm` pump on bare `Ta2O5/SiO2` and on the same stack with a `15 nm` GaAs overlayer; generalized to s- and p-polarizations separately (`1548/516 nm` s, `1524/508 nm` p) as a testbed for two-dimensional nonlinear materials; and extended to second-harmonic generation (`1300 nm` to `650 nm`) in an all-centrosymmetric stack, where the coherent beam appears through phase-matched surface modes combined with interface symmetry breaking and multipolar bulk terms despite vanishing bulk `chi(2)` in the dipole approximation. - V. N. Konopsky et al., "Phase-matched third-harmonic generation via doubly resonant optical surface modes in 1D photonic crystals", Light: Science and Applications (2016), `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/LSA2016.md`. - V. N. Konopsky et al., "Enhanced third harmonic generation for s- and p-polarized optical surface modes of 1D photonic crystal structure", J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 36 (2019) 2871, `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/JOSA_B_2019_THG_510_1530s.md`. - Second-harmonic generation via crystal surface modes in centrosymmetric media (`1300/650 nm`), Optics and Spectroscopy (2024), `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/OpticsAndSpectroscopy2024.md`. ### 13. Current-driven long-range plasmons: amplifier, duplex theory, electrical source (2015-2020) The long-range-plasmon platform was extended to active and electrically pumped plasmonics. A semiconductor 1D crystal with a terminal metal nanofilm and an active quantum-well region was proposed as a current-injected long-range-plasmon amplifier: millimetre propagation needs only about `10 cm^-1` of gain, the near-unity plasmon index removes edge-emission Fresnel reflection (a light-extraction advantage for superluminescent diodes and LEDs), and grating feedback yields a long-range SPASER without etch-and-regrow. Theory for two-metal-nanolayer ("duplex") guides (a dielectric film between two plasmon-capable electrodes, e.g. an electro-optical or electroluminescent film) compared symmetric and crystal-backed asymmetric designs via the impedance method with optimal-film-thickness rules. First electrical excitation was demonstrated in a `PC/Au/OLED/Al/air` hybrid where the OLED film between gold and aluminium electrodes is pumped by injected current and the inverted-Kretschmann dispersion shows the long-range-plasmon resonance. - V. N. Konopsky, "Long-range surface plasmon amplification with current injection on a one-dimensional photonic crystal surface", Optics Letters 40 (2015) 2261-2264, `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/OpticsLetters2015.md`. - V. N. Konopsky, "Long-range surface plasmons on duplex metal nanolayers", Photonics and Nanostructures (2020), `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/PhotonicsAndNanostructures2020.md`. - V. N. Konopsky et al., "Electrical Excitation of Long-Range Surface Plasmons in OLED/PC Structure with Two Metal Nanolayers", Nano-Micro Letters (2020), `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/NanoMicroLetters2020.md`. ### 14. Photonic-crystal atom photonics and the design methods behind it (2022-2026) The surface-mode toolbox was transferred to cold-atom quantum sensors together with the open design methods that enable it: free Windows programs based on the unified impedance approach that compute stack and truncation-layer thicknesses for any prescribed surface-mode wavelength and wavevector; a cutoff-inclusive generalized effective-index method repairing the classical method below and near cutoff (the regime of two-dimensional guides on 1D crystals with deep external penetration), with a program for indices and mode profiles; and rib-waveguide traps on a 1D crystal carrying red- and blue-detuned surface modes with effective indices near unity, holding ultracold atoms hundreds of nanometres above the surface and suppressing Casimir-Polder and surface-heating effects. The non-Gaussian successor shapes a flat-top attractive (`850 nm`) and an edge-enhanced repulsive (`640 nm`) transverse profile, giving lateral confinement without a third auxiliary laser: a stable rubidium trap `170 uK` deep at more than `865 nm` above the surface, verified by full-vectorial simulations. - V. N. Konopsky, "Design of 1D photonic crystals sustaining optical surface modes", Coatings 12 (2022) 1489, `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/Coatings2022.md`. - V. N. Konopsky, "Photonic crystal surface modes for trapping and waveguiding of ultracold atoms in quantum sensors", Sensors 23 (2023) 8812, `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/Sensors2023.md`. - V. N. Konopsky, "Cutoff-inclusive generalized effective index method for waveguide design", Applied Optics 64 (2025) 7230-7234, `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/ApplOpt2025.md`. - V. N. Konopsky, "Non Gaussian Photonic Crystal Surface Modes for Robust Trapping of Ultracold Atoms", Optical and Quantum Electronics (2026), `https://valery.konopsky.com/md_articles/OQE2026.md`.