Optimal open-loop near-field control of plasmonic nanostructures

Abstract

Optimal open-loop control, i.e. the application of an analytically derived control rule, is demonstrated for nanooptical excitations using polarization-shaped laser pulses. Optimal spatial near-field localization in gold nanoprisms and excitation switching is realized by applying a π shift to the relative phase of the two polarization components. The achieved near-field switching confirms theoretical predictions, proves the applicability of predefined control rules in nanooptical light-matter interaction and reveals local mode interference to be an important control mechanism.

Time-Resolved Surface-Enhanced Coherent Sensing of Nanoscale Molecular Complexes

“…Optimal pulse shapes could be found using open-24 and closed-loop25 coherent control methods applied on the nanoscale. Improvements of sample preparation could also increase enhancement factors.…”

Coherent spectroscopies on ultrashort time and length scales

“…We show that recently derived analytic control rules can also be employed experimentally and provide the desired nanooptical excitation in a direct fashion (Fig. 2d) [6]. …”

Sorting linearly polarized photons with a single scatterer

“…It is known that shaping the polarization and amplitude of incoming pulses of light can be used to switch between propagation paths or localized spots [3][4][5][6][7]. Recently, a series of works have shown that the interaction of monochromatic circularly polarized light with structures having one mirror-symmetry plane can result in asymmetric excitation of surface plasmons (surface electromagnetic waves in metals) toward mirror-symmetric directions, enabling the sorting of light into different directions according to its spin [8][9][10][11][12][13].…”