Search results for "plasmon"
showing 10 items of 614 documents
Efficient surface plasmon field confinement in one-dimensional crystal line-defect waveguides
2006
International audience; The authors operate a near-field optical microscope to investigate surface plasmon polariton (SPP) propagation along linear waveguides opened into one-dimensional (1D) plasmonic crystals, i.e., crystals featuring a single lattice plane orientation. They show that efficient SPP field confinement can be achieved by this type of waveguide although no band gap exists in the direction perpendicular to the waveguide axis. From computed wave-vector diagrams, they show that 1D plasmonic crystals can open a wide range of prohibited propagation directions preventing from a significant coupling of the waveguide SPP modes with the crystal Bloch modes. Finally, the authors demons…
Energy flow canalization of evanescent cylindrical-vector beams
2013
We analyzed ultra-confined vector beams with radial and azimuthal polarizations which are critically self-governed inside plasmonic metamaterials. We succeeded in the separation of polarization singularities in the fields at the nanoscale. The examined metamaterials are suitable for long-range transport of subwavelength Bessel beams without discernible blurring. These results open the door to develop integrated devices for applications such as the manipulation of polarization and angular momentum of surface-plasmon excitations.
Field Emission of Electrons Generated by the Near Field of Strongly Coupled Plasmons
2012
Field emission of electrons is generated solely by the ultrastrong near-field of strongly coupled plasmons without the help of a noticeable dc field. Strongly coupled plasmons are excited at Au nanoparticles in subnanometer distance to a Au film by femtosecond laser pulses. Field-emitted electrons from individual nanoparticles are detected by means of photoelectron emission microscopy and spectroscopy. The dependence of total electron yield and kinetic energy on the laser power proves that field emission is the underlying emission process. We derive a dynamic version of the Fowler-Nordheim equation that yields perfect agreement with the experiment.
Propagation of Dyakonon Wave-Packets at the Boundary of Metallodielectric Lattices
2013
We rigorously analyze the propagation of localized surface waves that takes place at the boundary between a semi-infinite layered metal-dielectric (MD) nanostructure cut normally to the layers and a isotropic medium. It is demonstrated that Dyakonov-like surface waves (also coined dyakonons) with hybrid polarization may propagate in a wide angular range. As a consequence, dyakonon-based wave-packets (DWPs) may feature sub-wavelength beamwidths. Due to the hyperbolic-dispersion regime in plasmonic crystals, supported DWPs are still in the canalization regime. The apparent quadratic beam spreading, however, is driven by dissipation effects in metal. This work was supported by the Spanish Mini…
Uniaxial epsilon-near-zero metamaterials: from superlensing to double refraction
2014
We investigated optical properties of nanostructured metal-dielectric multilayered lattices under the conditions of epsilon-near-zero (ENZ), a concept derived from the effective-medium approach (EMA). We theoretically found that the periodic array of metallic nanolayers may exhibit either superlensing driven by broadband canalization from point emitters or single-polarization double refraction, and conventional positive as well as negative, even at subwavelength regimes. For the latter case, we formulated a modified EMA, and subsequently a generalized refraction law, that describes both refractive behaviors concurrently. The modal coupling of plasmonic lattice resonances, and nonlocality in…
Surface Plasmon Platform for Angle-Resolved Chiral Sensing
2019
Chiral sensitive techniques have been used to probe the fundamental symmetries of the universe, study biomolecular structures, and even develop safe drugs. As chiral signals are inherently weak and...
Field Dependence of the Electron Spin Relaxation in Quantum Dots
2005
Interaction of the electron spin with local elastic twists due to transverse phonons has been studied. Universal dependence of the spin relaxation rate on the strength and direction of the magnetic field has been obtained in terms of the electron gyromagnetic tensor and macroscopic elastic constants of the solid. The theory contains no unknown parameters and it can be easily tested in experiment. At high magnetic field it provides parameter-free lower bound on the electron spin relaxation in quantum dots.
Influence of an Electron Beam Exposure on the Surface Plasmon Resonance of Gold Nanoparticles
2013
Electron beam imaging is a common technique used for characterizing the morphology of plasmonic nanostructures. During the imaging process, the electron beam interacts with traces of organic material in the chamber and produces a well-know layer of amorphous carbon over the specimen under investigation. In this paper, we investigate the effect of this carbon adsorbate on the spectral position of the surface plasmon in individual gold nanoparticles as a function of electron exposure dose. We find an optimum dose for which the plasmonic response of the nanoparticle is not affected by the imaging process. The final publication is available at link.springer.com
Dynamical Casimir-Polder interaction between an atom and surface plasmons
2013
We investigate the time-dependent Casimir-Polder potential of a polarizable two-level atom placed near a surface of arbitrary material, after a sudden change in the parameters of the system. Different initial conditions are taken into account. For an initially bare ground-state atom, the time-dependent Casimir-Polder energy reveals how the atom is "being dressed" by virtual, matter-assisted photons. We also study the transient behavior of the Casimir-Polder interaction between the atom and the surface starting from a partially dressed state, after an externally induced change in the atomic level structure or transition dipoles. The Heisenberg equations are solved through an iterative techni…
Resonance quality, radiative/ohmic losses and modal volume of Mie plasmons
2012
International audience; Molecular sytems are efficiently coupled to metal nanoparticles via the excitation of localized surface plasmons-polaritons (SPPs). The coupling strength between SPP and emitters can be estimated from the ratio Q/V where Q and V refer to the mode quality factor and effective volume, respectively. In this letter, we investigate in details the properties of Mie plasmons supported by a metallic nanosphere (Q-factor, radiative and ohmic losses, modal volume). We particularly focus on the difficulty to unambiguously define the modal volumes of localized SPPs. This leads us to propose two definitions; the first one is based on Purcell factor for a dipolar emitter in close …