Enhancement of scattering of surface plasmon polaritons by surface defects: Technique and results

The intensities of scattering of surface plasmon polaritons by regular surface structures significantly exceed (by several orders of magnitude) the intensities of scattering of evanescent surface waves from these structures. When plasmon polaritons are scattered by diffraction grating grooves a few micrometers wide, the scattering from the trailing edge of a grating groove greatly exceeds the scattering level from the groove leading edge. Some of our original developments are presented that make it possible to put into effect an inexpensive software-hardware optical complex with a wide dynamic range, high sensitivity, and digital lock-in detection based on the use of a computer sound card.     

Why metallic surfaces with grooves a few nanometers deep and wide may strongly absorb visible light

It is theoretically shown that nanometric silver lamellar gratings present very strong visible light absorption inside the grooves, leading to electric field enhancement of several orders of magnitude. It is due to the excitation of quasistatic surface plasmon polaritons with particular small penetration depth in the metal. This may explain the abnormal optical absorption observed a long time ago on almost flat Ag films. Surface enhanced Raman scattering in rough metallic films could also be due to the excitation of such quasistatic plasmon polaritons in grain boundaries or notches of the films.     

Modification of the photoluminescence anisotropy of semiconductor nanowires by coupling to surface plasmon polaritons

We demonstrate efficient modification of the polarized light emission from single semiconductor nanowires by coupling this emission to surface plasmon polaritons on a metal grating. The polarization anisotropy of the emitted photoluminescence from single nanowires is compared for wires deposited on silica, a flat gold film, and a shallow gold grating. By varying the orientation of the nanowire with respect to the grating grooves, the large intrinsic polarization anisotropy can be either suppressed or enhanced. This modification is interpreted by the appearance of an additional emission channel induced by surface plasmon polaritons and their conversion to p-polarized radiation at the grating.     

Gap surface plasmon polaritons enhanced by a plasmonic lens

We numerically investigate the optical field enhancement based on gap surface plasmon polaritons (GSPPs) that are enhanced by propagating surface waves launched by a circular slit at a metal-dielectric interface. The optical field enhancement originates not only from multiple scattering and coupling of GSPPs in the spacer region between two metal layers but also from propagating surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) launched by a circular plasmonic lens. We find that the combination of the GSPPs and the propagating SPPs launched by the plasmonic lens can achieve extremely strong field confinement, and we find that the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) enhancement factor can be up to 10(15) at the tip of the equilateral triangular nanostructures. The structure proposed here is expected to find promising applications where strong field enhancement is desired, such as optical sensing with the SERS effect.     

Dependence of surface enhanced Raman scattering on the plasmonic template periodicity

Surface enhanced Raman scattering has been investigated from rhodamine 6G molecules embedded in polymethyl methacrylate (R6G+PMMA) and coated on one-dimensional and two-dimensional gold-dielectric gratings fabricated by laser interference lithographically. The Raman signals from these plasmonic templates are 200 to 400 times larger than the signal from R6G+PMMA coated on plain gold films. The enhancement of the Raman signal varies almost periodically with the period of the grating. Finite-difference time-domain simulations show that large electromagnetic near fields occur at the metallic edges due to the resonant excitation of localized surface plasmon of the gold patches by the pump laser. These give rise to large enhancements of the Raman signal. The dependence on period is due to the combined effects of the localized surface plasmon and the periodic grating that couples the pump laser to the surface plasmon polariton.     

Surface plasmon model of surface enhanced Raman scattering

We present a simple model for surface enhanced Raman (SER) scattering, in which enhanced surface charge densities and fields, coupled to light through a metallic grating, are modulated by vibrating molecular potentials. The modulated charge densities produce radiation at the Stokes shifted frequency.     

复合Ag/SiO_2正弦光栅基底SERS特性分析

当前微流控表面增强拉曼散射(SERS)检测领域常用的贵金属纳米颗粒溶胶单位体积内热点区域数量有限且热点区域范围较小,而贵金属纳米三维阵列结构加工时间长,成本高昂并存在"记忆效应"。本文提出了集成到微流道的复合Ag/SiO_2正弦光栅SERS基底结构,可以利用激光干涉光刻技术进行制备,无需预制掩膜版,可实现大面积、低成本SERS基底简易快速制备。利用严格耦合波分析方法(RCWA)建立了复合正弦光栅表面电场增强数学评估模型,推导了表面等离子体共振(SPP)耦合吸收率数学模型,分析了入射光、复合正弦光栅结构与外界环境介电常数的优化匹配关系,得到了入射光785 nm条件下的最佳复合正弦光栅结构。通过制备加工并实验验证了复合正弦光栅的SERS性能,SERS增强因子(EF)能够达到10~4。     

Scattering of surface plasmon-polaritons and volume waves by thin gold films

The specific features of elastic scattering of volume waves and surface plasmon polaritons by polycrystalline gold films have been investigated. An analysis of the relative scattered energy, power spectral density of surface roughness, and integral and angular dependences of scattering of waves of different nature indicates a strong nonradiative multiple scattering of surface plasmon polaritons in gold films. When roughness increases, this scattering leads to an increase in scattering isotropy and to a partial loss of structural information about gold films. The analysis of the scattered energy of surface plasmon polaritons with application of the data on multifractal dimension of gold surface indicates also that the radiative scattering of surface plasmon polaritons depends on both the rms surface roughness and the surface wave propagation length.     

Light scattering by a medium with a spatially modulated optical conductivity: the case of graphene

We describe light scattering from a graphene sheet having a modulated optical conductivity. We show that such modulation enables the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons by an electromagnetic wave impinging at normal incidence. The resulting surface plasmon polaritons are responsible for a substantial increase of electromagnetic radiation absorption by the graphene sheet. The origin of the modulation can be due either to a periodic strain field or to adatoms (or absorbed molecules) with a modulated adsorption profile.     

提高OLED光导出效率的异形金属光栅的设计与优化

提出一种用于有机电致发光器件(OLED)的双面对称矩形金属光栅电极,采用时域有限差分方法(FDTD)模拟研究了OLED中表面等离子体激元的激发和耦合传输的物理规律和物理机制,详细计算和分析了该光栅结构的周期、槽宽、光栅高度、槽底厚度、入射光的入射角与电极透射效率的关系,并由此优化了结构的几何参数,使金属电极的光导出效率相对于通常的金属银层电极增强了1.77倍,为基于表面等离子体激元的高效光导出器件的优化设计提供了理论依据。     

Propagating surface plasmon polaritons for remote excitation surface-enhanced Raman scattering spectroscopy

To illustrate the attractive potentials of remote-excitation surface enhanced Raman scattering (RE-SERS), we review the fundamental concepts and typical applications of propagating surface plasmon polaritons (PSPPs). Based on the RE-SERS technic, the adsorbed molecules are protected from being directly illuminated, while the merits of SERS still remained. However, the critical limitations of applying RE-SERS hinder its rapid development. Hence, drawing an overview about the PSPPs would be beneficial for further promoting the significance of RE-SERS in biological application and investigating the mechanism of surface catalytic reactions.     

金属-介质光栅结构表面等离子体耦合效率的模拟研究

表面等离子体可以将光子局域在金属表面附近, 并形成很强的近场能量密度, 可以大大提高金属表面附近分子的发光效率和光电转换吸收材料的利用率, 从而提高发光器件和光电转换器件的效率. 本文研究了在一维周期性金属-介质混合结构的光栅中表面等离子体激元的耦合条件, 给出了耦合效率随着结构和填充因子的变化, 并证明了在光栅的填充因子较高以至光栅的金属间隔较小时, 光子耦合成为表面等离子体的效率较高, 可以达到94%以上. 关键词： 表面等离子体激元 填充因子 光栅 吸收光谱     

Scattering of surface plasmon polaritons by a nanoparticle with the inclusion of the magnetic dipole contribution

Using the method of the tensor Green’s function of the wave equation, the differential and total cross sections for the scattering of surface optical electromagnetic waves (surface plasmon polaritons) by a spherical nanoparticle into surface plasmon polaritons and light have been obtained with the inclusion of the magnetic dipole contribution. Using the example of noble metal systems, it has been shown that the magnetic dipole contribution may significantly affect the angular dependence of the differential cross sections and increase their anisotropy as the plasmon wavelength increases.     

Exact calculations of p-polarized electromagnetic fields incident on grating surfaces: Surface polariton resonances

Exact calculations of the interaction of p-polarized light from grating surfaces are presented by using the theory of Toigo, Marvin, Celli and Hill. New features for the scattered field are found for light resonating with surface plasmon polaritons; the reflectivity present maxima for large amplitude gratings. The electromagnetic field is calculated on a fine grid near the grating. We find enhancements of the order of 200 to 300 for the square of the field that could partly explain SERS.     

表面等离子体-微腔激元对顶入射有机薄膜太阳能电池光吸收效率的增强

为了提高顶入射有机薄膜太阳能电池(TOSCs)的光吸收效率,我们将周期性矩形光栅结构引入到TOSCs中,分析了具有光栅结构的空气/Ag_1/有源层/Ag_2/空气(IMIMI)结构理想模型中复合表面等离子激元(SPPs)与微腔模式的耦合机制。通过调节光栅周期和有源层厚度,实现了复合SPPs、微腔模式以及有机材料本征吸收3个区域的重合。由于复合SPPs与微腔模式的反交叉耦合作用形成了表面等离子体-微腔激元,其局域场增强作用有效地提高了有源层的光吸收效率,提高了近19%。     

Nanosphere Templated Metallic Grating Assisted Enhanced Fluorescence

In this paper, enhanced fluorescence from a silver film coated nanosphere templated grating is presented. Initially, numerical simulation was performed to determine the plasmon resonance wavelength by varying the thickness of the silver film on top of a monolayer of 400 nm nanospheres. The simulation results are verified experimentally and tested for enhancing fluorescence from fluorescein isothiocyanate whose excitation wavelength closely matches with the plasmon resonance wavelength of the substrate with 100 nm silver film over nanosphere. The 12 times enhancement in the intensity is attributed to the local field enhancement in addition to the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons along the surface.     

表面等离子激元非线性表面增强拉曼散射效应

本文采用热蒸发法制备得到纳米Ag颗粒作为增强拉曼衬底, 利用入射光子与纳米颗粒表面价电子的相互作用机理, 激发出高能表面等离子激元, 其表面等离子形成的高能"热点"起到表面增强拉曼散射效果. 通过比较不同入射光强下的拉曼峰强, 指出纳米Ag颗粒的增强拉曼散射效果可以实现低探测光强下的高散射强度, 即纳米Ag颗粒的表面等离子激元具有非线性的表面增强拉曼散射效果, 可降低对样品的光、热损伤, 以利于拓展拉曼散射光谱的应用范围. 同时比较不同纳米Ag颗粒衬底的表面增强拉曼散射效果表明, 采用的热蒸发工艺具有较大的工艺域度, 具有较强的工艺兼容性.     

Anomalous transmission of terahertz wave through one-dimensional lamellar metallic grating

The anomalous transmission through one-dimensional lamellar metallic gratings was investigated in terahertz (THz) regime. The extraordinary optical transmission (EOT) is identified to originate from two possible ways: coupling of incident light with waveguide resonances and coupling of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) at the upper and lower interfaces of metal grating. The dual effects of SPPs have been clarified in this study: (i) the excitation of SPP modes at each individual interface results in the weakness of the THz wave transmission; and (ii) the coupling of SPP modes at two interfaces of metal grating is attributed to enhancement of THz wave transmission. The enhanced transmission is dominated by the coupling of incident light with transverse waveguide resonances. Numerical simulation based on finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) agrees well with experimental results.     

Surface Plasmon Polaritons of Two-Dimensional Three-Order Dendritic Structures

We study surface plasmon polaritons excited on two-dimensional three-order dendritic structures. Previous studies show that split ring resonators (SRRs)
can be used to obtain magnetic resonance, thus sustaining surface waves behaving like surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs). In this paper, we obtain detailed results on surface plasmon polaritons of several different grating structures and theoretically prove that this kind of structures can sustain SPPs. Besides, since dendritic structures can be fabricated by double template-assisted electrochemical deposition, it is worth noting that fabrication of SPP-based materials might be much easier.     

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.