Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 15, 2026

Design, Fabrication, and Experimental Characterization of Plasmonic Photoconductive Terahertz Emitters
Published on: July 8, 2013
Electron-spin-dependent terahertz light transport in spintronic-plasmonic media
K J Chau1, Mark Johnson, A Y Elezzabi
1Ultrafast Photonics and Nano-Optics Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Abstract:
In this Letter, we demonstrate that electron spin can influence near-field mediated light propagation through a dense ensemble of subwavelength bimetallic ferromagnetic/nonmagnetic microparticles. In particular, we show that ferromagnetic particles coated with nonmagnetic metal nanolayers exhibit an enhanced magnetic field controlled attenuation of the electromagnetic field propagated through the sample. The mechanism is related to dynamic, electromagnetically induced electron spin accumulation in the nonmagnet. The discovery of an electron spin phenomenon in the light interaction with metallic particles opens the door to the marriage of spintronic and plasmonic technologies and could pave the way for the development of light-based devices that exploit the electron spin state.
More Related Videos
07:39Determination of the Excitation and Coupling Rates Between Light Emitters and Surface Plasmon Polaritons
Published on: July 21, 2018
11:33All-electronic Nanosecond-resolved Scanning Tunneling Microscopy: Facilitating the Investigation of Single Dopant Charge Dynamics
Published on: January 19, 2018
Related Concept Videos
Colors and Magnetism
When atoms or molecules absorb light at the proper frequency, their electrons are excited to higher-energy orbitals. For many main group atoms and molecules, the absorbed photons are in the ultraviolet range of the electromagnetic spectrum, which cannot be detected by the human eye. For coordination compounds, the energy difference between the d orbitals often allows photons in the visible range to be absorbed and emitted, which is seen as colors by the human eye.
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Spin State Overview
π Electron Effects on Chemical Shift: Overview
NMR Spectroscopy: Spin–Spin Coupling