Near-field excitation and near-field detection of propagating surface plasmon polaritons on Au waveguide structures

Dallapiccola, R.Dubois, C.Gopinath, A.Stellacci, FrancescoDal Negro, L.2011-06-062011-06-062011-06-06200910.1063/1.3152291https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/68435The propagation of surface plasmon polaritons guided along Au metal waveguides fabricated by electron-beam lithography is experimentally investigated using simultaneous near-field excitation and detection of plasmon-polariton modes localized at the air/Au interface. The directly measured propagation characteristics of surface plasmon-polaritons agree well with simulation results obtained using full-vector calculations and the analytic dispersion of asymmetric plasmonic waveguides for thin Au films. Our results demonstrate that near-field excitation/detection schemes are well suited for direct imaging and characterization of propagating surface plasmon-fields bound to thin-film metal layers, and can be used for fast and reliable characterization of plasmonic waveguide elements and nanodevices.electron beam lithographygoldmetallic thin filmsoptical waveguidespolaritonssurface plasmonsNear-field excitation and near-field detection of propagating surface plasmon polaritons on Au waveguide structurestext::journal::journal article::research article