EAGER: A new coupling scheme for surface plasmon polaritons using structured illumination

这项研究的目的是展示一种新的耦合技术，通过用结构光束照射非结构金属表面来激发传播的表面等离子激元。实验方法是用柱面透镜将来自钛蓝宝石激光器的光聚焦到金膜上的一条狭窄的有限衍射条纹上，并用先进的近场扫描光学显微镜技术对表面等离子体子成像。理论上的方法是使用诸如时域有限差分模拟等技术来可视化传播的表面等离子体。这一提议的理论优点是，如果所提出的效应被证明是正确的，那么它将对等离子体激元产生重大影响。两个成一定角度的平面状等离子体波的成像将证实这一现象与切伦科夫辐射之间惊人的相似之处。它将导致对光与金属表面耦合的根本新理解，并将引入一种全新的方法来激发它们，而不需要像光栅或棱镜这样的耦合器。这项研究的更广泛的影响源于它在技术、社会和教育方面的重要性。这很重要，因为对这种效应的观察可以通过引入更简单、更容易/更便宜的方法来在芯片上产生新的光学互连。因此，这一发现将对片上光通信产生积极影响，导致重大的社会影响。这一项目的发现有助于对表面等离子体及其应用的新的基本理解，肯定也将影响纳米光子学的教学，包括教科书。

The objective of this research is to demonstrate a new coupling technique to excite propagating surface plasmons on an unstructured metallic surface by illuminating it with structured light beams. The experimental approach is to focus light from a Titanium Sapphire laser with a cylindrical lens into a narrow diffraction limited stripe on a gold film and to image the surface plasmons by advanced near field scanning optical microscopy techniques. The theoretical approach is to use techniques such as Finite Difference Time Domain simulations for visualizing the propagating surface plasmons.The intellectual merit of this proposal is that if the proposed effect is demonstrated it will have a major impact on plasmonics. The imaging of two plane-like plasmon waves at an angle would confirm the striking resemblance between this phenomenon and Cherenkov radiation. It will lead to fundamental new understanding on the coupling of light to metallic surfaces and would introduce a completely new approach to excite them, without needing couplers such as gratings or prisms.The broader impacts of this research stem from its technological, societal and educational importance. It is important because observation of this effect could lead to new optical interconnects on a chip by introducing a simpler and easier/cheaper method. This discovery will thus positively influence on-chip optical communications, leading to significant societal impacts. The findings coming out of this project, by contributing to new basic understanding of surface plasmons and their applications, will definitely also influence the teaching of nanophotonics, including textbooks.