Nonlinear mixing of oppositely travelling surface plasmons

An analysis of the nonlinear mixing of oppositely travelling surface plasmons on a semi-infinite metal is discussed within the framework of Maxwell's equations. Coupling to free-space radiation fields, and transverse bulk waves in the metal is predicted under certain conditions at the sum frequency of the two surface plasmons.     

表面等离激元与磁表面等离激元

金属微纳结构体系中的表面等离激元以及磁表面等离激元因其独特的光学特性吸引了研究者们的极大兴趣,成为当前的热点研究领域之一.文章对表面等离激元尤其是磁表面等离激元的特点、基本现象、新颖效应及其应用研究前景的最新发展进行了介绍.     

Channelling surface plasmons

Channel plasmon polaritons (CPPs) propagating along the bottom of subwavelength grooves cut into a metal surface were recently shown to exhibit strong confinement combined with low propagation loss, a feature that makes this guiding configuration very promising for the realisation of ultracompact photonic components. Here, the results of our investigations of CPP guiding by V-grooves cut into gold are presented, demonstrating efficient large-angle bending and splitting of radiation as well as waveguide-ring resonators and Bragg grating filters. Additionally, we present a simple model based on the effective-index method that accounts for the main features of CPP guiding, thus, providing a clear physical picture of this phenomenon. PACS 73.20.Mf; 71.36.+c; 42.82.-m; 07.79.Fc     

局域表面等离激元

局域表面等离激元使得贵金属纳米颗粒具有丰富的光学性质,其应用涵盖能源、生物医学、安全、信息、超材料等诸多领域。文章简要介绍局域表面等离激元的基本性质、贵金属纳米结构中的局域表面等离激元共振耦合以及具有局域表面等离激元特性的贵金属纳米结构的一些重要应用。     

Resonant surface plasmons of a metal nanosphere treated as propagating surface plasmons

On the assumption that the resonant surface plasmons on a spherical nanoparticle are formed by standing waves of two counter-propagating surface plasmon waves along the surface, by using Mie theory simulation, we find that the dispersions of surface plasmon resonant modes supported by silver nanospheres match with those of the surface plasmons on a semiinfinite medium-silver interface very well. This suggests that the resonant surface plasmons of a metal nanosphere can be treated as a propagating surface plasmon wave.     

Nonlinear excitation of surface plasmon polaritons by four-wave mixing

We demonstrate nonlinear excitation of surface plasmons on a gold film by optical four-wave mixing. Two excitation beams of frequencies omega(1) and omega(2) are used in a modified Kretschmann configuration to induce a nonlinear polarization at a frequency of omega(4wm)=2omega(1)-omega(2), which gives rise to surface plasmon excitation at a frequency of omega(4wm). We observe a characteristic plasmon dip at the Kretschmann angle and explain its origin in terms of destructive interference. Despite a nonvanishing bulk response, surface plasmon excitation by four-wave mixing is dominated by a nonlinear surface polarization. To interpret and validate our results, we provide a comparison with second-harmonic generation.     

Understanding fractional-order surface plasmons

We show experimentally that diffraction-induced surface plasmon excitation can mimic enhanced transmission and cause a highly sensitive modulation by the coherent interference between zero-order and reflected first-order diffraction in select regions of the terahertz spectrum. Based on the study of a one-dimensional metallic grating, we obtain the physical mechanisms of the fractional-order surface plasmon resonances observed with the two-dimensional grating of the metallic hole array.     

Electrical excitation of surface plasmons

We exploit a plasmon mediated two-step momentum down-conversion scheme to convert low-energy tunneling electrons into propagating photons. Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) propagating along an extended gold nanowire are excited on one end by low-energy electron tunneling and are then converted to free-propagating photons at the other end. The separation of excitation and outcoupling proves that tunneling electrons excite gap plasmons that subsequently couple to propagating plasmons. Our work shows that electron tunneling provides a nonoptical, voltage-controlled, and low-energy pathway for launching SPPs in nanostructures, such as plasmonic waveguides.     

Electrooptic reflection with surface plasmons

Electrooptic reflection with surface plasmons is studied both experimentally and theoretically. An attenuated total reflection (ATR) geometry is used in which a quartz electrooptic crystal onto which a thin Ag film has been evaporated is contacted to the hypotenuse face of a high-index prism. Modulation in the ATR of an He–Ne beam near the angle for surface plasmon excitation is observed when a low-frequency electric field is applied to the quartz crystal. Experiments have been done with both single and multiple boundary surface waves. The angular spectra show phase reversal structure due to the interference of the modulated reflected wave with the ATR wave. The modulated reflectance is calculated directly from a well-known solution to the boundary value problem in nonlinear optics. Good quantitative agreement with the observations is obtained.     

Physical adsorption and surface plasmons

The quantum mechanical formulation of the screening of a point charge by surface plasmons is extended to describe the coupling of a fluctuating atomic dipole with a metallic surface of planar, spherical or cylindrical shape. This allows for the calculation of the nonretarded Van der Waals attraction of an atom by a solid surface in the three different geometries. Applications of the theoretical formulae are made to obtain numerical values of the dispersion energy by a spherical particle, a spherical pore, a thin film, a slot-like prore, a cylindrical fiber or a cylindrical pore.     

Quantum optics with surface plasmons

We describe a technique that enables strong, coherent coupling between individual optical emitters and guided plasmon excitations in conducting nanostructures at optical frequencies. We show that under realistic conditions optical emission can be almost entirely directed into the plasmon modes. As an example, we describe an application of this technique involving efficient generation of single photons on demand, in which the plasmon is efficiently outcoupled to a dielectric waveguide.     

A note on surface plasmons

We consider the dispersion of the surface plasmons in an approximate RPA. It is shown that the usual linear dependence of the frequency on the wave vector is valid in the high density limit.     

Four-step pulses of fractional-order surface plasmons

The 0-order transmission of a 1D metallic grating, on a high-resistivity silicon wafer in optical contact with a silicon plate, has been characterized by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy with subpicosecond resolution over a 400 ps scan range. Two new long-time-delay, powerful pulses are observed after the second reflected pulse. In the frequency domain, these two strong and fast-ringing structures correspond to the bandwidth ranges between the [0, 1] and [0, 2] surface plasmon modes and the range above [0, 2], respectively. A physical optics ray analysis provides an intuitive understanding of these new four-step (reflection, diffraction, total reflection, and diffraction) pulses, caused by fractional-order surface plasmon type beam coupling.     

Dispersion of surface plasmons in InSb-gratings

The reflection of a monochromatic plane electromagnetic wave by a grating consisting of grooves in the surface of a semiconductor plasma (InSb) is investigated theoretically, in particular in that region of frequencies where the complex permittivity of the semiconductor plasma has a negative real part. From the numerically obtained reflection factor pertaining to anH-polarized incident wave, the excitation and the dispersion of surface plasmons at the boundary of the medium is discussed. The grating problem is rigorously formulated as a boundary value problem employing a Green's function technique. Numerical results pertaining to the reflection factor are presented for different grating parameters.     

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由色散方程和流体方程推导得到了横等离激元和对等离子体相互作用的非线性控制方程,利用场论的方法构建非线性控制方程的拉格朗日密度函数并求得相互作用过程中守恒的等离激元数和总能量。通过标度变换发现横等离激元由于调制不稳定性将坍塌形成小尺度的局域结构。在坍塌过程中横等离激元产生的有质动力随场强的增强而增强。由于有质动力对粒子的排斥,对等离子体中将产生小尺度的密度空穴。     

Dielectric optical elements for surface plasmons

Basic optical elements for surface plasmons are fabricated and their functionality (focusing, refraction, and total internal reflection) is demonstrated experimentally. The optical elements consist of dielectric structures of defined geometry on top of a gold film. The working principle of these structures is discussed on the basis of calculated surface plasmon dispersion relations.     

Ultraslow surface plasmons in metamaterial waveguides

A modified planar waveguide made of a metamaterial with negative permittivity and permeability has been considered. The modification of the waveguide by the introduction of an air channel qualitatively changes its dispersion characteristics due to the appearance of an ultraslow mode. The fields and properties of this mode have been investigated. The mode has been shown to be similar to a surface plasmon. In addition, it has been shown that the plasmons can propagate in subwavelength waveguides. Such ultraslow plasmons can be used in plasmonics and microwave and accelerator techniques.     

Single-photon tunneling via localized surface plasmons

Strong evidence of a single-photon tunneling effect, a direct analog of single-electron tunneling, has been obtained in the measurements of light tunneling through individual subwavelength pinholes in a gold film covered with a layer of polydiacetylene. The transmission of some pinholes reached saturation because of the optical nonlinearity of polydiacetylene at a very low light intensity of a few thousand photons per second. This result is explained theoretically in terms of a "photon blockade," similar to the Coulomb blockade phenomenon observed in single-electron tunneling experiments. Single-photon tunneling may find applications in the fields of quantum communication and information processing.