Control and Near-Field Detection of Surface Plasmon Interference Patterns

Abstract

The tailoring of electromagnetic near-field properties is the central task in the field of nanophotonics. In addition to 2D optics for optical nanocircuits, confined and enhanced electric fields are utilized in detection and sensing, photovoltaics, spatially localized spectroscopy (nanoimaging), as well as in nanolithography and nanomanipulation. For practical purposes, it is necessary to develop easy-to-use methods for controlling the electromagnetic near-field distribution. By imaging optical near-fields using a scanning near-field optical microscope, we demonstrate that surface plasmon polaritons propagating from slits along the metal-dielectric interface form tunable interference patterns. We present a simple way how to control the resulting interference patterns both by variation of the angle between two slits and, for a fixed slit geometry, by a proper combination of laser beam polarization and inhomogeneous far-field illumination of the structure. Thus the modulation period of interference patterns has become adjustable and new variable patterns consisting of stripelike and dotlike motifs have been achieved, respectively.

Control of randomly scattered surface plasmon polaritons for multiple-input and multiple-output plasmonic switching devices

“…For coupling optics to electronics, surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) are ideal carriers because they propagate as electromagnetic waves along the dielectric/metal interface and yet induce collective charge oscillations in a metal123. For this reason, the use of SPPs for on-chip optical interconnects has gained interest in recent years456789101112, although they have long been applied in biosensing13141516, lithography171819, subwavelength imaging2021 and nanomanipulation2223 due to their subwavelength-scale spatial confinement and strong local field enhancement24.…”

“…In recent years, various multiplexing methods have been proposed to increase the deliverable channel number. For instance, structures have been designed in such a way that either the directionality25 or the beam shape of the output SPPs is controlled by the polarization23, wavelength26 and intensity patterns of incident waves22. While these studies demonstrated great potential, the number of controllable transmission channels remains small mainly due to the use of periodically ordered structures.…”

Strong coupling in hybrid plasmon-modulated nanostructured cavities

“…Plasmonic nanostructures can be coupled via their near-field when the hot spots (two adjacent) space is pronounced lower than the plasmon resonance wavelength, and this effect has garnered much interest. 1 Such as the apertureless near-field optical microscopy of single molecules, 2 the Au SP interference patterns using Scanning Near Field Optical Microscope (SNOM) optical microscope system, 3 and later, the plasmon-enhanced Raman Scattering by carbon nanotubes optically coupled with near-field cavities 4 have been investigated. All the near-field coupled investigations have in common that the fundamental SP resonance is hybridized due to interactions.…”

One-dimensional Tamm plasmons: Spatial confinement, propagation, and polarization properties

“…6(a). These patterns should be detectable in the near-field measurements and have much in common with the standing waves of surface plasmon polaritons excited between a pair of thin slits cut out of a metal film which were investigated recently both experimentally and theoretically [24]. The similar field structure was also predicted to describe the plasmon-assisted two-slit Young's experiment [25].…”