Search results for "POLARITON"
showing 10 items of 162 documents
Nondiffracting Bessel plasmons.
2011
We report on the existence of nondiffracting Bessel surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), advancing at either superluminal or subluminal phase velocities. These wave fields feature deep subwavelength FWHM, but are supported by high-order homogeneous SPPs of a metal/dielectric (MD) superlattice. The beam axis can be relocated to any MD interface, by interfering multiple converging SPPs with controlled phase matching. Dissipative effects in metals lead to a diffraction-free regime that is limited by the energy attenuation length. However, the ultra-localization of the diffracted wave field might still be maintained by more than one order of magnitude. This research was funded by the Spanish Mini…
Molecular coupling of light with plasmonic waveguides.
2007
We use molecules to couple light into and out of microscale plasmonic waveguides. Energy transfer, mediated by surface plasmons, from donor molecules to acceptor molecules over ten micrometer distances is demonstrated. Also surface plasmon coupled emission from the donor molecules is observed at similar distances away from the excitation spot. The lithographic fabrication method we use for positioning the dye molecules allows scaling to nanometer dimensions. The use of molecules as couplers between far-field and near-field light offers the advantages that no special excitation geometry is needed, any light source can be used to excite plasmons and the excitation can be localized below the d…
Diffraction-free propagation of subwavelength light beams in layered media
2010
Self-collimation of tightly localized laser beams demonstrated in periodic media relies on a perfect-matched rephasing of the Fourier constituents of the wavefield induced by a plane isofrequency curve. An alternate way paved for the achievement of such a phase matching condition developed a suitable spatial filtering in order to select those frequencies experiencing the same phase velocity projected over a given orientation. In principle this procedure is valid for complex structured metamaterials. However, a great majority of studies have focused on free-space propagation leading to the well-known Bessel beams. This paper is devoted to the analysis of this sort of nondiffracting beams tra…
Excitation of a one-dimensional evanescent wave by conical edge diffraction of surface plasmon
2011
International audience; The experimental observation of a one-dimensional evanescent wave supported by a 90◦ metal edge is reported. Through a measurement of in-plane momenta, we clearly demonstrate the dimensional character of this surface wave and show that it is non-radiative in the superstrate. Excitation conditions, lateral extension and polarization properties of this wave are discussed. Finally, we explore the effect of the surrounding dielectric medium and demonstrate that a single edge can sustain distinct excitations.
Determinant role of the edges in defining surface plasmon propagation in stripe waveguides and tapered concentrators
2012
International audience; In this paper, we experimentally show the effect of waveguide discontinuity on the propagation of the surface plasmon in metal stripes and tapered terminations. Dual-plane leakage microscopy and near-field microscopy were performed on Au stripes with varied widths to imag29e the surface plasmon intensity distribution in real and reciprocal spaces. We unambiguously demonstrate that edge diffraction is the limiting process determining the cutoff conditions of the surface plasmon mode. Finally, we determine the optimal tapered geometry leading to the highest transmission.
Dynamical Casimir-Polder interaction between an atom and a real surface
2014
We discuss the dynamical (i.e. time-dependent) Casimir-Polder force between a neutral atom and a real surface of arbitrary material, under non-equilibrium conditions. More specifically, we consider a polarisable neutral atom placed near a surface with arbitrary dielectric properties and we investigate the dynamical dressing and the consequent dynamical Casimir-Polder potential after the non-adiabatic (sudden) change of parameters involved in the atom-field coupling, such as the atomic transition frequency or the transition dipole moment. Using time-dependent perturbation theory and the matter-assisted field approach, we discuss how the physical properties of the real surface can influence t…
Photo-thermal control of surface plasmon mode propagation at telecom wavelengths
2016
Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) is the promising versatile platform proposed for guiding electromagnetic waves at nanoscale dimensions. In this context dynamic control of SPPs prop- agation is of paramount importance. Thermo-optical (TO) effect is considered as an efficient technique for performing active control of plasmonic devices. Among the thermo-optical based plasmonic devices demonstrated so far TO coefficient is dominantly provided by a dielectric material on top of the metal sustaining the SPP mode, however, the role of TO properties of the metal has been rarely investigated for plasmonic applications especially at the telecom frequency ranges. Therefore, the aim of this thesis i…
Study of the angular acceptance of surface plasmon Bragg mirrors
2007
Surface plasmon based photonic devices are promising candidates for highly integrated optics. A surface plasmon (SP) is basically an electromagnetic wave confined in the interface between a metal and a dielectric, and is due to the interaction of the electromagnetic field with the surface bounded electron charges in the metal. A SP can propagate along the interface where it is confined (the propagation length being tens of micrometers in the visible range), but its associated electromagnetic field decreases exponentially in the perpendicular direction, in such a way that this vertical confinement makes SP very attractive for the design of optical devices in coplanar geometry. An important e…
Four-wave mixing and vacuum squeezing in polariton microcavities
2017
In a recent paper [1] it has been shown how a bichromatic fast driving of optomechanical (optical domain) and superconducting circuit systems (microwave domain), operating in a limit where they present a non-linear Kerr-type interaction, can give rise to very strong vacuum squeezing. The driving with two close frequencies of a Kerr cavity changes the usual bistability bifurcation behaviour that takes place under monochromatic driving, into a degenerate four-wave mixing bifurcation, where a phase-bistable component starts oscillating spontaneously at a frequency that lies halfway between the two driving frequencies [2]. This resembles the physics of the optical parametric oscillator threshol…
Suppression of radiative losses of surface polaritons on nanostructured thin metal films
2005
The strong electromagnetic coupling between surface plasmon polariton modes on opposite interfaces of a finite thickness periodically nanostructured metal film has been studied. Surface polariton dispersion and associated electromagnetic field distributions have been analyzed. It was shown that at a frequency that corresponds to the crossing of film Bloch modes of different symmetries, the radiative losses of surface polaritons that are related to the polaritons' coupling to light during propagation on the structured surface are suppressed.