Perfect imaging, epsilon-near zero phenomena and waveguiding in the scope of nonlocal effects.

7 pags, 4 figsPlasmons in metals can oscillate on a sub-wavelength length scale and this large-k response constitutes an inherent prerequisite for fascinating effects such as perfect imaging and intriguing wave phenomena associated with the epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) regime. While there is no upper cut-off within the local-response approximation (LRA) of the plasma polarization, nonlocal dynamics suppress response beyond ω/v F, where v F is the Fermi velocity of the electron gas. Nonlocal response has previously been found to pose limitations to field-enhancement phenomena. Accounting for nonlocal hydrodynamic response, we show that perfect imaging is surprisingly only marginally affected by nonlocal properties of a metal slab, even for a deep subwavelength case and an extremely thin film. Similarly, for the ENZ response we find no indications of nonlocal response jeopardizing the basic behaviors anticipated from the LRA. Finally, our study of waveguiding of gap plasmons even shows a positive nonlocal influence on the propagation length. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.C. D. acknowledges a FPU fellowship by the Spanish Ministerio de Educación. J. C. gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Danish Council for Independent Research and a Sapere Aude grant (12-134776). The Center for Nanostructured Graphene is sponsored by the Danish National Research Foundation, Project DNRF58