Hamburg 2009 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 55: Poster III
Q 55.48: Poster
Thursday, March 5, 2009, 16:30–19:00, VMP 8 Foyer
Concentration and enhancement of dipole radiation by nano-spheres — •Sarina Wunderlich1,2, Oleksandr Zhuromskyy1, and Ulf Peschel1 — 1MPI für die Physik des Lichts, Erlangen — 2Erlangen Graduate School in Advanced Optical Technologies (SAOT)
Resonantly excited atoms and molecules emit dipolar radiation thus forming the smallest light sources. Many applications as e.g. sensing or imaging would benefit from an enhancement of these fields.
Here we demonstrate by numerical simulations that nanospheres can fulfil that purpose. We present simulations of surface modes and field distributions, which are excited by a single dipole attached to a sphere of metallic or dielectric material with a thin metallic layer. Surface plasmons are excited at the metal to air interface and show resonant behaviour if the circumference of the sphere is an integer multiple of the plasmon wavelength. The plasmon propagation constant can be tuned by varying the permittivity of the material or the thickness of the metallic layer. In a resonance, the field distribution is highly symmetric and allows for sub-wavelength resolution imaging of the position of one or more dipoles at the surface.