Paolo Biagioni, January 31st, 2019

Surface plasmon polaritons:

applications
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 2
Review of surface plasmon polaritons (1)

kz = imaginary
in air: kx + kz =  /c
2 2 2 2
met() + air < 0
met() × air < 0 plasmon |kx| > /c
z
photon |kx| ≤ /c
E(z) E(x)
air x

Au

surface plasmons (SPP) cannot

kx conservation be excited by far field illumination

Paolo Biagioni
 NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 3
Review of surface plasmon polaritons (2)

Ohmic dissipation in metal

Im(kx)  0 propagation Plasmon scattering by imperfections
losses
Radiation leakage into the substrate
z

E(z) E(x)
air x

Au

propagating glass n > 1 |kx| < n /c

Leakage of plasmon waves with /c< |kx| < n /c

CAN BE COLLECTED WITH AN IMMERSION-OIL OBJECTIVE (numerical aperture>1)

Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 4
Excitation of surface plasmon polaritons (1)

3) Bragg grating k=k0+n2p/a

coupling

Diffraction-limited sources
1) Total internal reflection

metal 2) High-numerical aperture

air immersion-oil objective
air metal
metal
n>1 n>1

Otto Kretchschmann
Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 5
Excitation of surface plasmon polaritons (2)

“Small” sources

e-

4) tip 5) nanoparticle or 6) electrons

(SNOM) fluorescent molecule (also STM)

Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 6
Detection of surface plasmon polaritons (1)

1) Leakage microscopy
(e.g. SNOM on a
thin metal film)

2) Direct scattering of SPPs into propagating waves

(e.g. a Bragg grating)

Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 7
Detection of surface plasmon polaritons (2)

3) Collection SNOM
(PSTM, photon
air scanning tuneling
metal microscopy)

n>1

4) Fluorescence imaging air

molecule layer
metal

n>1

Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 8
Selected examples

1. Otto and Kretchschmann configurations

2. Plasmon sensing with thin metal films

3. Electron-based excitation

4. SNOM and leakage microscopy

5. Fluorescence imaging

6. Influence of material quality (roughness and crystallinity)

on SPP propagation

7. Towards plasmonic circuits: electrical excitation and

detection of SPPs
8. SPPs in graphene

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1 – Otto and Kretchschmann configurations
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

1) Excitation through field tunneling

2) Inherently leaky waves
(S. A. Maier, Plasmonics –
fundamentals and applications, ch. 3)
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1 – Otto and Kretchschmann configurations
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

Large gap – inefficient excitation

Small gap – broadening due

to radiation damping

Optimum thickness: destructive interference

between reflected beam
and leakage radiation

(L. Novotny and B. Hehct,

Principles of Nano-Optics, ch. 12)
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1 – Otto and Kretchschmann configurations
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

Thick metal – inefficient

excitation

Thin metal – strong

radiation damping

(L. Novotny and B. Hehct,

Principles of Nano-Optics, ch. 12)
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2 – Plasmon sensing with thin metal films
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

Ag

Ag Au

(L. Novotny and B. Hehct,

Principles of Nano-Optics, ch. 12)
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2 – Plasmon sensing with thin metal films
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

Biacore 3000 by Biacore International AB (Uppsala, Sweden)

www.biacore.com
Spreeta by Sensata Technologies (Attleboro, MA)

www.sensata.com
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2 – Plasmon sensing with thin metal films
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

Operating modes

Protein interaction Layer-by-layer assembly

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2 – Plasmon sensing with thin metal films
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

www.biacore.com
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2 – Plasmon sensing with thin metal films
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

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3 – Electron-based excitation
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

SPP wavevector

g = 2p/a

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3 – Electron-based excitation
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

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4 – SNOM and leakage microscopy
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

Principles of near-field microscopy Intensity

profile

min
Rayleigh criterium:
l
dmin ≈
2
intensity intensity << l
From electromagnetic theory light has:
Propagative Information on
Probe
component The Far-field
Information on
Evanescent The Near-field
component (all spatial freq. available
=> no resolution limit)
Limit: Decay distance <l from the source
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4 – SNOM and leakage microscopy
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

Tapered fiber probes

Probe: optical glass fiber tapered at one end

Typically coated with Al
SHEAR-FORCE
STABILIZATION

 Low throughput
 Low incident power allowed

(1 mW = thermal damaging)

 High dispersion bad for fs pulse

 Unknown polarization at its output

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4 – SNOM and leakage microscopy
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

Hollow-pyramid probes

Probe: Si-based hollow pyramid on cantilever

Coated with an Al thin layer (~100 nm)
< 100 nm
AFM STABILIZATION:
contact, tapping
Focussing
Lens
Tip Cantilever
Coating
Sample  Higher throughput
 Higher incident power allowed

 Negligible dispersion good for fs pulses

 Polarization preservation in the near-field

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4 – SNOM and leakage microscopy
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

Imaging of plasmon field

radial
average

plasmon propagation
length (Λ): Im(kx)
single-shot
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4 – SNOM and leakage microscopy
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

Interference of surface plasmon polaritons

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4 – SNOM and leakage microscopy
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

Distance dependence of excitation efficiency

(L. Novotny and B. Hehct,

Principles of Nano-Optics, ch. 12)
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4 – SNOM and leakage microscopy
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

Scanning photon tunneling microscopy

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5 – Fluorescence imaging
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

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5 – Fluorescence imaging
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

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6 – Influence of material quality
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

Examples: Au films of different quality

45 nm Au/glass 50 nm Au/MgO(001) 50 nm Au/Fe(10 nm)/MgO(001)

SEM

AFM 100 nm
STM LEED

roughness > 5 nm roughness ≈ 3 nm roughness < 1 nm

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6 – Influence of material quality
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

Ohmic dissipation in metal

Influence of dielectric constant
Propagation Plasmon scattering by imperfections
losses
Influence of surface roughness and defects

Radiation leakage into the substrate

Influence of film thickness

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6 – Influence of material quality
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

Influence of dielectric constant

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6 – Influence of material quality
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

Influence of dielectric constant

Three effects discussed:

1) Voids effective dielectric constant

(less polarizable material)
2) Grain boundaries scattering losses when grain
dimensions are comparable with the electron mean free path
3) Contamination dielectric overlayer

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6 – Influence of material quality
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

Influence of surface roughness

Two effects discussed:

1) Losses due to scattering into SPP propagating in other directions:

2) Losses due to scattering into radiation:

s = Correlation length of the surface corrugation

d = Root mean square height
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6 – Influence of material quality
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

Solid lines: expected propagation length

based on measured dielectric constant (by ellipsometry)

Effect of dielectric constant

Dots: measured propagation length

Effect of surface and grain quality

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7 – Electrical excitation of SPPs
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

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7 – Electrical detection of SPPs
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

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8 – SPPs in graphene
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

 Oph
EF EF
 EF

EF
EF
Oph

Interband Optical Intraband

(undoped) (doped) losses phonons losses
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8 – SPPs in graphene
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006

Paolo Biagioni