Time-Reversal Coherent Control in Nanoplasmonics

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel time-reversal method for coherently controlling optical energy localization in plasmonic nanosystems, effective despite metal losses, with potential applications in nanoscale spectroscopy and information processing.

Contribution

It introduces a new approach using impulsive excitation and time reversal to control nanoscale optical fields in plasmonic systems, overcoming challenges of dephasing and dissipation.

Findings

Effective control of nanoscale optical fields demonstrated

Method remains efficient despite metal dephasing and dissipation

Potential for applications in nanoscale spectroscopy and data storage

Abstract

We introduce an approach to determining the required waveforms to coherently control the optical energy localization in plasmonic nanosystems. This approach is based on the impulsive localized excitation of the nanosystem and time reversal of the generated far-zone field at a single point with one polarization. Despite strong interaction and significant dephasing and dissipation in metal plasmonic systems, and incompleteness of this time reversal, the proposed approach proves to be very efficient in controlling the nanoscale optical fields. Possible applications include nanoscale spectroscopy and photomodification, ultradense memory, and information processing on the nanoscale.