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Determination of the Excitation and Coupling Rates Between Light Emitters and Surface Plasmon Polaritons
Published on: July 21, 2018
Resonant plasmon nanofocusing by closed tapered gaps.
Thomas Søndergaard1, Sergey I Bozhevolnyi, Jonas Beermann
1Department of Physics and Nanotechnology, Aalborg University, Skjernvej 4A, Aalborg Øst, Denmark.
Nano Letters
|December 24, 2009
Summary
We demonstrate resonant enhancement of light intensity within metal V-grooves. This nanofocusing effect, driven by plasmon interference, achieves over 100-fold experimental intensity gains.
Area of Science:
- Plasmonics
- Nanophotonics
- Optics
Background:
- Tapered plasmonic structures offer potential for light manipulation.
- Understanding field enhancement in nanogaps is crucial for nanoscale applications.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate radiation nanofocusing in closed tapered gaps (metal V-grooves).
- To explore resonant field enhancement mechanisms within these structures.
Main Methods:
- Theoretical analysis of V-grooves under normal illumination.
- Derivation of an analytic expression for resonance conditions.
- Experimental validation using two-photon photoluminescence microscopy.
Main Results:
- Discovered resonant enhancement of local fields inside V-grooves.
- Identified interference of counter-propagating gap plasmons as the enhancement mechanism.
- Predicted over 550-fold intensity enhancement theoretically.
- Experimentally observed over 100-fold intensity enhancement.
Conclusions:
- Closed tapered gaps (V-grooves) enable efficient radiation nanofocusing.
- Plasmon interference is key to achieving significant field enhancements.
- This work validates theoretical predictions with experimental observations.
