Surface Plasmon Photonics
Prof. Dr. T. W. Ebbesen (Laboratoire des Nanostructures, University Louis Pasteur, Strassburg)

Surface plasmons have generated considerable renewed interest in the past decade due to wide potential they offer in everything from sensors to opto-electronics. Using modern fabrication techniques, it is possible to structure metals surface on nanometer scale and thereby to tailor the properties of surface plasmons for a given purpose. Since surface plasmons are essentially electromagnetic waves trapped at the metal surface, much effort is being oriented towards creating novel photonic devices and miniature circuits. The fundamental aspects of surface plasmon, their involvement enhanced transmission and diffraction control in aperture structures together with examples of practical devices will be presented. The different possibilities and challenges to create complete surface plasmon circuits will also be discussed [1-3].
Ref.: 1. Barnes, Dereux and Ebbesen, Nature 424, 824 (2003); 2. Bozhevolnyi et al, Nature 440, 508 (2006); 3. Genet and Ebbesen, Nature 445, 39 (2007).