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Updated: Apr 15, 2026
Determination of the Excitation and Coupling Rates Between Light Emitters and Surface Plasmon Polaritons
Published on: July 21, 2018
Ultrafast imaging of surface plasmons propagating on a gold surface
Yu Gong1, Alan G Joly1, Dehong Hu1
1†Physical Sciences Division, ‡Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, P.O. Box 999, Richland, Washington 99352, United States.
Abstract:
We record time-resolved nonlinear photoemission electron microscopy (tr-PEEM) images of propagating surface plasmons (PSPs) launched from a lithographically patterned rectangular trench on a flat gold surface. Our tr-PEEM scheme involves a pair of identical, spatially separated, and interferometrically locked femtosecond laser pulses. Power-dependent PEEM images provide experimental evidence for a sequential coherent nonlinear photoemission process, in which one laser source launches a PSP through a linear interaction, and the second subsequently probes the PSP via two-photon photoemission. The recorded time-resolved movies of a PSP allow us to directly measure various properties of the surface-bound wave packet, including its carrier wavelength (783 nm) and group velocity (0.95c). In addition, tr-PEEM images reveal that the launched PSP may be detected at least 250 μm away from the coupling trench structure.
