On surface plasmon polariton wavepacket dynamics in metal–dielectric heterostructures

Abstract

The WKB equations for the dynamics of the surface plasmon polariton (SPP) wavepacket are studied. The dispersion law for the SPP in a metal-dielectric heterostructure with varying thickness of a dielectric grating is rigorously calculated and investigated using the scattering matrix method. Two channels of the SPP wavepacket optical losses related to the absorption in a metal and to the SPP leakage are analyzed. It is shown that change of the dielectric layer thickness acts on the SPP as an external force leading to evolution of its quasimomentum and to the wavepacket reversal or even to optical Bloch oscillations (BO). Properties of these phenomena are investigated and discussed. Typical values of the BO amplitude are about tens of microns and the period is around tens or hundreds of femtoseconds.

Terahertz and Infrared Surface Wave Beams and Pulses on Gyrotropic, Nonlinear and Metamaterial Interfaces

“…It was shown recently that such structure acts as an external force on a surface wavepacket, leading to various types of wavepacket dynamics, such as wavepacket reversal and Bloch oscillations [28]. These phenomena can be applied for enhancement of nonlinear effects and so are very promising.…”

Nanoscale magnetophotonics

“…Unfortunately, for noble metal-based plasmonic structures, the magnetic field required to achieve proper control of surface plasmon properties is too high for application purposes. With nanoengineering of complex systems combining ferromagnetic materials and noble metals, which exhibit simultaneously magnetic and plasmonic properties, it became possible to control the plasmon wave vector with a weak (100 mT regime) external magnetic field [35,36], generate ultrashort SPP pulses [37] and produce SPP-induced magnetization in nickel with effective magnetic field of 100 Oe by femtosecond laser pulse [38]. Hybrid magnetoplasmonic systems combining noble metal and iron garnets that are typically highly transparent compared to ferromagnetic metals provide magnetic modulation of light transmittance.…”

“…Magnetoplasmonic nanoantennas and MPCs enable the magnetic control of the nonreciprocal light propagation and thus offer a promising route to bring these devices to the nanoscale, featuring dynamic tunability of light's polarization and phase. Because noble metals provide outstanding light localization and focusing, combining them with ferromagnets became a wise strategy in design of active magnetoplasmonic devices operating with SPP[25,[28][29][30][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42]44].Similar approach was later utilized with nanostructures supporting localized plasmons. Magnetic field-dependent modulation of the polarization of reflected/transmitted light (magneto-optic Kerr/Faraday effects), owing to the intertwined plasmonic and MO properties, has been reported in Au/Co/Au multilayered[46,130] nanoantennas.…”

Breakdown of Far-Field Raman Selection Rules by Light–Plasmon Coupling Demonstrated by Tip-Enhanced Raman Scattering

“…In the case of high carrier concentration, such as in highly doped GaN, the plasma frequency of the sample can be in-resonance or out-of-resonance with the laser excitation. In the case of resonance, the scattering process in TERS can be considered as a resonant tunneling event, in analogy with the case of flat surfaces in metal–insulator–metal structures or, as called in TERS literature, “gap modes” configuration. − Out-of-resonance, after the photon uncouples from the plasmon by tunneling into the medium, the purely plasmonic contribution of the common charge oscillations is mirrored in the sample by Coulomb interaction. The purely plasmonic contribution to the scattering can play a different role depending on the sample carrier concentration.…”