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Surface plasmon polariton analogue to Young's double-slit experiment

Nature Nanotechnology volume 2, pages 426–429 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

When a light wave strikes a metal film it can, under appropriate conditions, excite a surface plasmon polariton (SPP)—a surface electromagnetic wave that is coupled to the free electrons in the metal. Such SPPs are involved in a wide range of phenomena1, including nanoscale optical waveguiding2,3,4,5, perfect lensing6, extraordinary optical transmission7, subwavelength lithography8 and ultrahigh-sensitivity biosensing9. However, before the full potential of technology based on SPPs (termed ‘plasmonics’) can be realized, many fundamental questions regarding the interaction between light and matter at the nanoscale need to be answered. For over 200 years, Young's double-slit experiment has been a valuable pedagogical tool for demonstrating the wave nature of light10. Here, we perform a double-slit experiment with SPPs to reveal the strong analogy between SPP propagation along the surface of metallic structures and light propagation in conventional dielectric components (such as glass waveguides). This allows us to construct a general framework to describe the propagation, diffraction and interference of SPPs. It also suggests that there is an effective diffraction limit for the lateral confinement of SPPs on metal stripe waveguides, and justifies the use of well-developed concepts from conventional optics and photonics in the design of new plasmonic devices.

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Figure 1: Schematic of a double-slit experiment for surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs).
Figure 2: Electromagnetic simulation of the leaky surface plasmon polariton (SPP) mode supported by the two metal stripes used in the double-slit experiment.
Figure 3: Double-slit experiment and simulation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a DoD MURI sponsored by the AFOSR (F49550-04-10437) and an NSF Career Award (ECS-0348800). The authors thank Mark D. Selker, Jon A. Schuller and Anu Chandran for helpful discussions.

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  1. Rashid Zia

    Present address: Present address: Division of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Stanford University, Stanford, 94305, California, USA

    Rashid Zia & Mark L. Brongersma

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Contributions

R.Z. and M.L.B. conceived the experiments together. R.Z. conducted the experiments and simulations. R.Z. and M.L.B. co-wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Rashid Zia or Mark L. Brongersma.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Zia, R., Brongersma, M. Surface plasmon polariton analogue to Young's double-slit experiment. Nature Nanotech 2, 426–429 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2007.185

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