Generation and near-field imaging of Airy surface plasmons

We demonstrate experimentally the generation and near-field imaging of nondiffracting surface waves, plasmonic Airy beams, propagating on the surface of a gold metal film. The Airy plasmons are excited by an engineered nanoscale phase grating, and demonstrate significant beam bending over their propagation. We show that the observed Airy plasmons exhibit self-healing properties, suggesting novel applications in plasmonic circuitry and surface optical manipulation.     

Analysis of surface and guided wave plasmon polariton modes in insulator–metal–insulator planar plasmonic waveguides

Theoretical and experimental study of the surface plasmon–polariton and guided wave plasmon polariton modes is presented for the Sapphire/Ag/Polycarbonate/Air structure. Theoretical results are obtained by solving complex multilayer eigenvalue equations as well as the reflectivity equation for this structure. It is proposed that the mode attenuation can be significantly reduced by inserting a low index dielectric buffer between the metal and the guiding dielectric layer. The dispersion and attenuation curves are generated. Both the surface plasmon and guided wave plasmon polariton modes are studied experimentally. The experimental values of the effective refractive indices agree well with the theoretical values. The electric field profiles are generated and used to examine the nature of modes. After optimization of various parameters the condition for low loss single mode guiding is obtained for the proposed structure. Effect of metal thickness on surface plasmon mode is also discussed. It is inferred that in a properly optimized plasmonic waveguide, the losses can be reduced by a factor of 4.     

Airy plasmons: non‐diffracting optical surface waves

Airy beams represent an important class of non‐diffracting waves which can be realized on a flat surface. Being generated in the form of surface‐plasmon polaritons, such Airy plasmons demonstrate many remarkable properties: they do not diffract while propagating along parabolic trajectories, and they recover their shape after passing through obstacles. This paper reviews the basic physics of Airy plasmons in both paraxial and non‐paraxial cases, and describes the experimental methods for generation of Airy surface waves on metal surfaces, including a control of their trajectories, as well as the interference of Airy plasmons and hot‐spot generation. Many unusual properties of Airy plasmons can be utilized for useful applications, including plasmonic circuitry and surface tweezers. Picture: Observation of two colliding Airy plasmons.     

Plasmonic Airy beams with dynamically controlled trajectories

We report the experimental generation and dynamic trajectory control of plasmonic Airy beams (PABs). The PABs are created by directly coupling free-space Airy beams to surface plasmon polaritons through a grating coupler on a metal surface. We show that the ballistic motion of the PABs can be reconfigured in real time by either a computer addressed spatial light modulator or mechanical means.     

Manipulating surface plasmon waves by transformation optics:Design examples of a beam squeezer,bend,and omnidirectional absorber

We present several design examples of how to apply transformation optics and curved space under coordinate transformation to manipulating the surface plasmon waves in a controlled manner.We demonstrate in detail the design procedure of the plasmonic wave squeezer,in-plane bend and omnidirectional absorber.We show that the approximation method of modifying only the dielectric material of a dielectric-metal surface of the plasmonic device could lead to acceptable performance,which facilitates the fabrication of the device.The functionality of the proposed plasmonic device is verified using three-dimensional full-wave electromagnetic simulations.Aiming at practical realization,we also show the design of a plasmonic in-plane bend and omnidirectional absorber by an alternative transformation scheme,which results in a simple device structure with a tapered isotropic dielectric cladding layer on the top of the metal surface that can be fabricated with existing nanotechnology.     

金膜上亚波长小孔阵列表面等离激元颜色滤波器偏振性质

金属薄膜上制备的表面等离激元颜色滤波器具有很强的颜色可调性. 在200 nm厚的金膜上, 通过聚焦离子束刻蚀, 制备一系列周期逐渐变化的圆形、方形、矩形亚波长尺寸小孔方阵列表面等离激元颜色滤波器, 改变入射光的偏振方向, 观察其超透射滤波现象. 研究发现: 对于矩形小孔阵列, 其透射光颜色随入射光偏振方向的变化而改变; 而对于圆形、方形的小孔阵列, 其透射光颜色对入射光的偏振方向并不敏感. 分析表明, 对于金膜上刻蚀的小孔结构, 虽然结构的周期性导致的表面等离激元极化子会对透射光的颜色变化产生一定影响, 但是随小孔形状变化的局域表面等离激元共振才是影响透射光颜色的决定性因素. 如果入射光没有在小孔中激发出局域表面等离激元, 则表面等离激元极化子对透射光的影响也会消失. 根据不同形状小孔周期结构透射光颜色随入射光的偏振变化特点, 制备出了包含两种小孔形状的复合周期结构. 随着入射光偏振方向的改变, 该结构会显示出不同的颜色图案. 关键词： 表面等离激元极化子 局域表面等离激元 颜色滤波器 亚波长小孔阵列     

Tunable Omnidirectional Surface Plasmon Resonance in Cylindrical Plasmonic Structure

The tunable omnidirectional surface plasmon resonance in the optical range is theoretically demonstrated in a cylindrical plasmonic crystal by using rigorous coupled-wave analysis. The cylindrical plasmonic crystal consists of an infinite chain of two-dimensional cylindrical metal--dielectric-dielectric-metal structures. The dispersion relation of the cylindrical plasmonic crystal is obtained by calculating the absorptance as a function of a TM-polarized incident plane wave and its in-plane wave vector. The omnidirectional surface plasmon resonance can be tuned from UV region to visible region by adjusting the thickness of the cylindrical dielectric layers. The absorption spectrum of the infinite chain of nanocylinders is also investigated for comparison.     

Manipulating surface plasmon waves by transformation optics: Design examples of beam squeezer, bend, and omnidirectional absorber

We present several design examples of how to apply the transformation optics and curved space under coordinate transformation to manipulating the surface plasmon waves in a controlled manner. We demonstrate in detail the design procedure of the plasmonic wave squeezer, in-plane bend and omnidirectional absorber. We show that the approximation method of modifying only the dielectric material of a dielectric-metal surface of the plasmonic device could lead to acceptable performance, which facilitates the fabrication of the device. The functionality of the proposed plasmonic device is verified using three-dimensional full-wave electromagnetic simulations. Aiming at practical realization, we also show the design of plasmonic in-plane bend and omnidirectional absorber by an alternative transformation scheme, which results in simple device structure with a tapered isotropic dielectric cladding layer on the top of the metal surface that can be fabricated with the existing nanotechnology.     

Airy光纤:基于阵列波导耦合的光场调控方法

近年来,Airy光束作为一种无衍射光束,其特性引起了研究者的广泛关注,人们对它的理论研究、实验验证、实际应用多个方面都取得了长足的进步.而Airy光纤作为一种可生成Airy光束的波导器件,结合其光纤自身优点可适用于多种应用领域,因此开展新型Airy光纤的探索研究、拓展Airy光束的应用范围具有重要现实意义.本文从Airy光束的原理、光纤结构设计、光纤内部光束生成机理、生成光束波长响应特性以及Airy光纤研究现状和应用五个方面展开了较系统的讨论.     

Extraordinary optical transmission in the ultraviolet region through aluminum hole arrays

We investigated the extraordinary optical transmission phenomenon in the UV range by fabricating large-area, free-standing aluminum hole arrays using extreme UV interference lithography and shadow thermal evaporation. Transmission spectra show strong peaks in the UV region resulting from both surface plasmon polariton and localized surface plasmon excitations. The results indicate that the high plasmon frequency of Al is directly responsible for the presence of strong resonance peaks in the UV region, which supports the role of plasmonic phenomena in the extraordinary transmission. The simple fabrication method enables large-area production of such structures for research and industrial production purposes.     

Hybrid waveguide-surface plasmon polariton modes in a guided-mode resonance grating

We analyze the coupling between surface plasmon polaritons in a metal grating and the guided modes of a dielectric waveguide. Our model structure is a gold wire grating on a slab waveguide made of silicon nitride on silica wafer. The excitation of guided-mode resonances, surface plasmon polariton modes and hybrid waveguide-plasmon modes are observed in numerical simulations. Our experiments verify the existence of the predicted modes. These hybrid modes add significant degrees of freedom in designing structures for plasmonic applications.     

Energy Levels of Coupled Plasmonic Cavities

We demonstrate the hybridization of the plasmonic modes in directly coupled whispering gallery cavities fabricated on silver films and present the mode patterns and energy levels using cathodoluminescence spectroscopy.Although the energy of the most antisymmetrically coupled modes is higher than that of the corresponding symmetrically coupled ones,the contrary cases happen for small quantum number modes.We attribute the phenomenon to the different surface plasmon polariton paths between the symmetrically and antisymmetrically coupled modes.These results provide an understanding of the resonant properties in coupled plasmonic cavities,which have potential applications in nanophotonic devices.     

表面等离激元量子信息应用研究进展

近年来表面等离激元得到了越来越多的关注和研究,得益于其能把电磁场束缚在金属-介质界面附近的亚波长尺度范围内.本文回顾了近年来表面等离激元在量子信息领域中的理论和实验研究,包括表面等离激元的基本量子性质、表面等离激元量子回路、在量子尺度下与物质的相互作用及其潜在应用.量子表面等离激元开辟了对表面等离激元基本物理性质研究的新方向,可以应用于高度集成化的量子集成光学回路,同时也可以用来增强光与量子发光体的相互作用.     

Tapered dielectric structure in metal as a wavelength-selective surface plasmon polariton focuser

Symmetric tapered dielectric structures in metal have demonstrated applications such as the nanofocusing of surface plasmon polaritons, as well as the waveguiding of V-channel polaritons. Yet the fabrication of smooth-surfaced tapered structure remains an obstacle to most researchers. We have successfully developed a handy method to fabricate metal-sandwiched tapered nanostructures simply with electron beam lithography. Though these structures are slightly different from conventional symmetric V-shaped structures, systematic simulations show that similar functionality of surface plasmon polariton nanofocusing can still be achieved. When parameters are properly selected, wavelength-selective nanofocusing of surface plasmon polaritons can be obtained.     

Long-range surface plasmon polaritons propagating on a dielectric waveguide support

In the traditional long-range surface plasmon geometry, an ultrathin metal film is sandwiched between two layers having identical dielectric constants. Here we demonstrate the long-range surface plasmon polariton (LRSPP) properties for a new structure where a thin layer with a dielectric constant exceeding that of the surroundings is inserted within the sandwich, provided the layer thickness d satisfies the condition k(⊥)d=mπ where k(⊥) is the component of the guide wavevector perpendicular to the layer and m is an integer. The resulting plasmon modes have smaller losses and nearly the same phase velocity as the original LRSPP. This provides a strategy to support silver films having thicknesses of 10's of nanometers to create plasmonic devices for sensor applications.     

Characterization of polarization states of surface plasmon polariton modes by Fourier-plane leakage microscopy

We demonstrate that the polarization states of guided wave surface plasmon polariton (SPP) modes can be unambiguously identified by introducing a linear polarizer in the optical path of the light within a leakage-based microscope. We show the use of Fourier-plane leakage-based microscopy as a polarization characterization method to study the polarization states of SPP modes excited in plasmonic waveguides. Our results indicate that the inclusion of a linear polarizer provides additional image processing capabilities to leakage-based microscopes.     

Transmission properties of periodically patterned triangular prisms

Transmission properties of plasmonic structure arrays are simulated by finite element method. The array unit is composed of two combined triangular prisms. Results reveal that several resonant modes are found in the transmission spectra, which are due to the resonance of the surface plasmon polariton in the metal slit or to the localized surface plasmon resonance of the combined prisms. The resonant wavelengths can be tuned by changing the structural parameters of the combined prisms. In addition, the resonant modes are sensitive to small refractive index changes of the surrounding media, revealing potential detection applications in nanophotonic systems.     

Impact of process parameters on pattern formation in the maskless plasmonic computational lithography

The extraordinary optical transmission through a sub-wavelength size metal-aperture and metamaterials has been tremendous interests for the untilization of the surface plasmon polariton (SPP). Its technology, however, is hard to apply for the optical lithography process. In this study, a maskless plasmonic lithography (MPL) is modeled and simulated for 15-nm critical dimension (CD). The near-field intensity with the plasmonic phenomena of aperture shapes is described due to aperture parameters by using a scattering matrix (S-matrix) analysis method and the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. MPL parameters of bowtie structures are optimized and improved for the imperfection of the resist pattern. The most dominant parameter on CD is gap size of bowtie by Taguchi method.     

Optical modulator based on acousto-plasmonic coupling

A possibility of increasing efficiency of acousto-optic interaction at a wavelength of 10.6 μm by surface plasmon polaritons is investigated. The diffraction of a surface plasmon polariton (excited by a volume beam) on a surface acoustic wave is analyzed and numerically simulated.     

Plasmon beams interaction at interface between metal and dielectric with saturable Kerr nonlinearity

We present a novel theory of surface plasmon polariton interaction on the surface of dielectric with saturable Kerr nonlinearity. The effect of the total internal reflection of a weak signal plasmon beam from a high-power reference beam is discussed. Both ray and wave theories are used to describe signal propagation. The effect of the signal tunneling through the narrow inhomogeneity induced by the reference beam is considered.