Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 3, 2026

Determination of the Excitation and Coupling Rates Between Light Emitters and Surface Plasmon Polaritons
Published on: July 21, 2018
The dual annihilation of a surface plasmon and a photon by virtue of a three-wave mixing interaction
Abstract:
The enhanced nonlinear interactions that are driven by surface-plasmon resonances have readily been exploited for the purpose of optical frequency conversion in metallic structures. As of yet, however, little attention has been payed to the exact particulate nature of the conversion process. We show evidence that a surface plasmon and photon can annihilate simultaneously to generate a photon having the sum frequency. The signature for this nonlinear interaction is revealed by probing the condition for momentum conservation using a two-beam k-space spectroscopic method that is applied to a gold film in the Kretschmann geometry. The inverse of the observed nonlinear interaction-an exotic form of parametric down-conversion-would act as a source of surface plasmons in the near-field that are quantum correlated with photons in the far-field.
Related Concept Videos
Deactivation Processes: Jablonski Diagram
Interference and Superposition of Waves
Interference occurs in mechanical waves, such as sound waves, waves on a string, and surface water waves. Mechanical waves correspond to the physical displacement of particles. Hence,...
Interference and Diffraction
Standing Waves in a Cavity
Dual Nature of Electromagnetic (EM) Radiation
Wavelength is the distance between two consecutive peaks (the highest point) or troughs (the lowest point) in the wave. Frequency is the...
Carrier Generation and Recombination
This process is given by the generation rate G and is efficient due to the conservation of momentum between the valence band maximum and conduction band minimum.
Indirect generation involves an...

