Dresden 2014 – scientific programme

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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 71: Plasmonics and Nanooptics III

O 71.3: Talk

Thursday, April 3, 2014, 11:00–11:15, GER 38

Probing coherent surface plasmon polaritons propagation in gold films using ultrabroadband spectral interferometry — •Dongchao Hou, Heiko Kollmann, Martin Silies, and Christoph Lienau — AG Ultraschnelle Nano-Optik, Institut für Physik, Fakultät V, Universität Oldenburg, 26111 Oldenburg, Deutschland

Surface Plasmon Polaritons (SPP), generated by ultrashort laser pulses at thin dielectric-metal interfaces can transport energy in metallic structures over mesoscopic distances. They can then be used to couple far-field radiation into nanoscopic dimensions reaching extreme light intensities, e.g. at the end of metallic nanotips [1,2].

These SPPs propagate as coherent wavepackets and with propagation properties that are defined by the geometry of the material and the composition of the metal film, e.g. grain boundaries and surface quality. So far, coherent SPP propagation in metallic nanostructures has been studied to a limit extent.

Here, we introduce a new ultrabroadband far-field spectral interferometry method to characterize coherent SPP propagation in metallic nanostructures. Group velocity and dispersion of SPPs are determined with high precision in a wide frequency range in the visible and near-infrared region. Our results shed new light on the interplay between nanostructure geometry and coherent SPP propagation.

[1] S. Schmidt et al., ACS Nano 6, 6040-6048 (2012)

[2] C.C. Neacsu et al., Nano Letters 10, 592-596 (2010)