Generation and near-field imaging of Airy surface plasmons

TL;DR

This paper experimentally demonstrates the generation and imaging of plasmonic Airy beams on a gold surface, showcasing their nondiffracting, beam-bending, and self-healing properties for potential applications in plasmonic devices.

Contribution

It introduces a nanoscale phase grating to generate and image Airy surface plasmons, revealing their unique propagation and self-healing characteristics.

Findings

Airy plasmons exhibit significant beam bending.

They demonstrate self-healing properties.

Potential applications in plasmonic circuitry.

Abstract

We demonstrate experimentally the generation and near-field imaging of nondiffracting surface waves - plasmonic Airy beams, propagating on the surface of a gold metal film. The Airy plasmons are excited by an engineered nanoscale phase grating, and demonstrate significant beam bending over their propagation. We show that the observed Airy plasmons exhibit self-healing properties, suggesting novel applications in plasmonic circuitry and surface optical manipulation.