Imaging slit-coupled surface plasmon polaritons using conventional optical microscopy

Optics Express
R MehfuzK J Chau

Abstract

We develop a technique that now enables surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) coupled by nano-patterned slits in a metal film to be detected using conventional optical microscopy with standard objective lenses. The crux of this method is an ultra-thin polymer layer on the metal surface, whose thickness can be varied over a nanoscale range to enable controllable tuning of the SPP momentum. At an optimal layer thickness for which the SPP momentum matches the momentum of light emerging from the slit, the SPP coupling efficiency is enhanced about six times relative to that without the layer. The enhanced efficiency results in distinctive and bright plasmonic signatures near the slit visible by naked eye under an optical microscope. We demonstrate how this capability can be used for parallel measurement through a simple experiment in which the SPP propagation distance is extracted from a single microscope image of an illuminated array of nano-patterned slits on a metal surface. We also use optical microscopy to image the focal region of a plasmonic lens and obtain results consistent with a previously-reported results using near-field optical microscopy. Measurement of SPPs near a nano-slit using conventional and widely-available optical...Continue Reading

References

Jul 11, 2001·Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, Image Science, and Vision·F I BaidaD W Pohl
Apr 14, 2005·Nano Letters·Christopher LooRebekah Drezek
May 4, 2005·Optics Letters·Andreas HohenauFranz R Aussenegg
Sep 24, 2005·Nano Letters·Leilei YinClyde W Kimball
Oct 4, 2005·Physical Review Letters·K G Lee, Q-Han Park
Feb 21, 2006·Physical Review Letters·P LalanneJ C Rodier

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