《Ebbesen nature-vol424-pp824-y2k3 surface plasmon subwavelength optics.pdf》.pdf

insight review articles Surface plasmon subwavelength optics 1 2 3 William L. Barnes , Alain Dereux Thomas W. Ebbesen 1School of Physics, University of Exeter, EX4 4QL, UK (e-mail: w.l.barnes@ex.ac.uk) 2Laboratoire de Physique, Université de Bourgogne, BP 47870, F-21078 Dijon, France (adereux@u-bourgogne.fr) 3ISIS, Université Louis Pasteur, BP 70028, F-67083, Strasbourg Cedex, France (e-mail: ebbesen@) Surface plasmons are waves that propagate along the surface of a conductor. By altering the structure of a metal’s surface, the properties of surface plasmons—in particular their interaction with light—can be tailored, which offers the potential for developing new types of photonic device. This could lead to miniaturized photonic circuits with length scales that are much smaller than those currently achieved. Surface plasmons are being explored for their potential in subwavelength optics, data storage, light generation, microscopy and bio-photonics. urface plasmons (SPs) are of interest to a wide Concentrating light in this way leads to an electric field spectrum of scientists, ranging from physicists, enhancement that can be used to manipulate light–matter chemists and materials scientists to biologists. interactions and boost non-linear phenomena. For example, Renewed interest in SPs comes from recent metallic structures much smaller than the wavelength of light advances that allow metals to be structured are vital for the massive signal enhancement achieved in sur- S and characterized on the nanometre scale. This in turn has face-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)—a technique enabled us to control SP properties to reveal new aspects that can now detect a single molecule5,6. Furthermore, the of t