nl400644r_si_001.pdf (222.32 kB)
Control and Near-Field Detection of Surface Plasmon Interference Patterns
journal contribution
posted on 2013-06-12, 00:00 authored by Petr Dvořák, Tomáš Neuman, Lukáš Břínek, Tomáš Šamořil, Radek Kalousek, Petr Dub, Peter Varga, Tomáš ŠikolaThe
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.