Regensburg 2010 – scientific programme

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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 72: Plasmonics and Nanooptics VI

O 72.2: Talk

Thursday, March 25, 2010, 15:15–15:30, H32

Determination of surface plasmon polariton velocity measured by scattering scanning nearfield optical microscopy — •Brian Ashall and Dominic Zerulla — School of Physics, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland.

Surface Plasmon Polaritons (SPPs) are electromagnetic waves, propagating at the interface of a metal and a dielectric material, that are coupled to a charge density oscillation of the free electrons of the metal. In order to examine the optical nearfields of SPPs as they interact with nanoscale topography features, the technique of scattering Scanning Nearfield Optical Microscopy (sSNOM) is used. Presented here is an example of direct imaging of standing SPP interference patterns following interaction with a sharp topographic reflector. Analysis of this SPP interference pattern demonstrates a SPP propagation velocity of 0.93 times the speed of light. In addition to this, interaction of SPPs with specifically designed surface patterns will be demonstrated to yield a focussing of the plasmon nearfield.