789 research outputs found
On surface plasmon polariton wavepacket dynamics in metal-dielectric heterostructures
The WKB equations for dynamics of the surface plasmon polariton (SPP)
wavepacket are studied. The dispersion law for the SPP in the metal-dielectric
heterostructure with varying thickness of a perforated dielectric layer is
rigorously calculated and investigated using the scattering matrix method. Two
channels of the SPP wavepacket optical losses related to the absorption in a
metal and to the SPP leakage are analyzed. It is shown that change of the
dielectric layer thickness acts on the SPP as an external force leading to
evolution of its quasimomentum and to the wavepacket reversal or even to the
optical Bloch oscillations (BO). Properties of these phenomena are investigated
and discussed. Typical values of the BO amplitude are about tens of microns and
the period is around tens or hundreds of femtoseconds.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure
Plasmonic crystals for ultrafast nanophotonics: Optical switching of surface plasmon polaritons
We demonstrate that the dispersion of surface plasmon polaritons in a
periodically perforated gold film can be efficiently manipulated by femtosecond
laser pulses with the wavelengths far from the intrinsic resonances of gold.
Using a time- and frequency- resolved pump-probe technique we observe shifting
of the plasmon polariton resonances with response times from 200 to 800 fs
depending on the probe photon energy, through which we obtain comprehensive
insight into the electron dynamics in gold. We show that Wood anomalies in the
optical spectra provide pronounced resonances in differential transmission and
reflection with magnitudes up to 3% for moderate pump fluences of 0.5 mJ/cm^2.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Modulation of a surface plasmon-polariton resonance by sub-terahertz diffracted coherent phonons
Coherent sub-THz phonons incident on a gold grating that is deposited on a
dielectric substrate undergo diffraction and thereby induce an alteration of
the surface plasmon-polariton resonance. This results in efficient
high-frequency modulation (up to 110 GHz) of the structure's reflectivity for
visible light in the vicinity of the plasmon-polariton resonance. High
modulation efficiency is achieved by designing a periodic nanostructure which
provides both plasmon-polariton and phonon resonances. Our theoretical analysis
shows that the dynamical alteration of the plasmon-polariton resonance is
governed by modulation of the slit widths within the grating at the frequencies
of higher-order phonon resonances.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Near dispersion-less surface plasmon polariton resonances at a metal-dielectric interface
Omni-directional light coupling to surface plasmon polariton (SPP) modes to
make use of plasmon mediated near-field enhancement is challenging. We report
possibility of near dispersion-less modes in structures with unpatterned
metal-dielectric interfaces having 2-D dielectric patterns on top. We show that
the position and dispersion of the excited modes can be controlled by the
excitation geometry and the 2-D pattern. The anti-crossings resulting from the
in-plane coupling of different SPP modes are also shown.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure
Asymmetric Faraday Effect in a Magnetophotonic Crystal
It is widely known that the magneto-optical Faraday effect is linear in
magnetization and therefore the Faraday angles for the states with opposite
magnetizations are of opposite sign but equal in modulus. Here we
experimentally study propagation of light through a one-dimensional all-garnet
magnetophotonic crystal to demonstrate an asymmetric Faraday effect (AFE) for
which Faraday angles for opposite magnetic states differ not only in sign but
in the absolute value as well. AFE appears in the vicinity of the cavity
resonance for an oblique incidence of light which plane of polarization is
inclined to the incidence plane. Under proper incidence and polarization angles
the magnitude of AFE could be very large reaching 30% of the absolute value of
the Faraday effect. The effect originates from the difference in Q-factors for
p- and s- polarized cavity modes that breaks the symmetry between the two
opposite directions of polarization rotation. The discovered AFE is of prime
importance for nanoscale magnonics and optomagnetism.Comment: Supplementary information provided after the main tex
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