This monograph provides an introductory discussion of evanescent waves and plasmons, describes their properties and uses, and shows how they are fundamental when operating with nanoscale optics. Far field optics is not suitable for the design, description, and operation of devices at this nanometre scale. Instead one must work with models based on near-field optics and surface evanescent waves. The new discipline of plasmonics has grown to encompass the generation and application of plasmons both as a travelling excitation in a nanostructure and as a stationary enhancement of the electrical field near metal nanosurfaces.

The book begins with a brief review of the basic concepts of electromagnetism, then introduces evanescent waves through reflection and refraction, and shows how they appear in diffraction problems, before discussing the role that they play in optical waveguides and sensors. The application of evanescent waves in super-resolution devices is briefly presented, before plasmons are introduced. The surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) are then treated, highlighting their potential applications also in ultra-compact circuitry. The book concludes with a discussion of the quantization of evanescent waves and quantum information processing.

The book is intended for students and researchers who wish to enter the field or to have some insight into the matter. It is not a textbook but simply an introduction to more complete and in-depth discussions. The field of plasmonics has exploded in the last ten years, and most of the material treated in this book is scattered in original or review papers. A short comprehensive treatment is missing; this book is intended to provide just that.

Autorentext

Mario Bertolotti is retired professor of Physics and Optics with the Engineering Faculty of the Roma La Sapienza University, Italy. For decades he has been interested in lasers and their applications, carrying out studies on coherence, propagation of light in the atmosphere, scattering, holography, laser annealing, etc. More recently he has been interested in integrated optics, nonlinear optics, nano-optics, and plasmonics. He is author of more than five hundred papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals and of several books, co-editor of a number of schools and conference proceedings, and editor or editorial board member of several journals.

Concita Sibilia received her doctoral degree from the University of Roma "La Sapienza". She is currently Head of the Nonlinear Optical Laboratory at the Dipartimento di Energetica of the University of Roma. She is full professor in Physics since 2000. Her main research interests are in the field of optics and nonlinear optics at nanoscales. She has chaired ESF-COST P11 action on "Physics of Photonics Crystals". She is author of more than three hundred papers in peer-reviewed journals. She is a member of the Optical Society of America, member of the European Physical Society, Board member of the European Optical Society and the Italian Optical Society.

Angela Guzman is Professor Emerita from the National University of Colombia. She obtained her Dr. Sc. degree from the Ludwig Maximilian University for research conducted at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics, Germany, and conducted post-doctoral research at the Optical Sciences Center of the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. She holds an Honorary Doctor degree from the Armenian State Pedagogical University after Khachatur Abobyan. She is author of more than a hundred papers in peer reviewed journals and co-editor of several conference proceedings. In 2007 she was made Fellow of the Optical Society (OSA) for her contributions to quantum and atom optics and for the promotion of optics in developing countries. Her main research areas have been quantum optics, nonlinear optics, and nonlinear effects in waveguides.

Inhalt

PRELIMINARY TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface

Chapter I Basic electromagnetics

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Maxwell's equations

1.3 Waves

1.4 Phase velocity

1.5 Dispersion

1.6 Pulses and Group velocity

1.7 Polarization

1.8 Jones matrices, Stokes parameters and the Poincarè sphere

1.9 Optically anisotropic media

1.9.1 Uniaxial crystals

1.9.2 Biaxial crystals

1.10 Chirality

1.11 Gaussian beams

Chapter II Evanescent Waves

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Reflection and refraction

2.2.1 The reflection and refraction Cartesio-Snell law

2.2.2 Extension to surfaces with a phase gradient

2.2.3 Fresnel coefficients

2.2.3.1 Reflection and refraction for n1n2

2.3 Evanescent waves

2.4 Energy transport of evanescent waves

2.5 Tunnelling effect

2.6 Reflection and refraction in the presence of absorption

2.7 Reflection and refraction with materials with negative refractive index

2.8 X-Ray Evanescent Waves

2.9 Reflection and refraction of plane waves at a boundary between an isotropic

and a birefringent medium

2.10 The plane wave decomposition of the field

2.11 The Classical Limit of Resolution Explained

2.12 Reflection and refraction of Gaussian beams

2.13 Evanescent waves in diffraction

Chapter III Evanescent Waves in Waveguides

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Plane waveguides

3.2.1 TE Modes

3.2.2 TM Modes

3.2.3 The radiation and substrate modes

3.3 Coupling of light to a plane waveguide

3.4 Coupling of two waveguides

3.5 Optical fibres

3.6 Multilayers and PBG

3.6.1 Infinite periodic structures

3.6.2 Finite 1D PBG

3.7 The role of evanescent waves in waveguide sensors

Chapter IV High resolution optical microscopes (in which evanescent waves play a role)

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Scanning Near-field Optical Microscope (SNOM)

4.3 Scanning Tunneling Optical Microscope (STOM)

4.4 Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence (TIRF)

Chapter V Plasmons

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Plasmon solutions

5.3 Bulk Plasmons

5.4 Surface Plasmon Polaritons (SPPs)

5.5 Properties of plasmons

5.6 Excitation and coupling of plasmons

5.7 Multilayer systems

5.8 Localised Surface Plasmons

5.9 Surface Phonon Polaritons in Dielectric and Semiconductors

5.10 The plasmons in optical nonlinear materials

5.11 Other surface waves

5.11.1 Dyakonov waves

5.11.2 Surface waves in negative index materials

5.11.3 Tamm plasmon polaritons

Chapter VI Applications of plasmons

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS)

6.3 Surface Plasmon sensors

6.4 Extraordinary optical transmission through arrays of sub-wavelength holes

6.5 Surface Plasmon circuitry

6.6 Plasmon lasers and SPASER

6.6.1 SPASER

6.7 Plasmons for solar cells

6.8 Plasmon microscopy

6.9 Blackbody spatial and temporal coherence

6.10 Controlled thermal emission using plasma resonances

Chapter VII Quantization of evanescent waves, surface plasmons and surface plasmon polaritons

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Quantization of evanescent waves

7.3 Amplification of evanescent waves by a negative index slab

7.4 Absorption and emission of evanescent photons

7.5 Evanescent field and surface plasmon excitation

7.6 Quantization of the surface plasmon field

7.7 Quantum-mechanical description of the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons on metal surfaces by single photons.

7.8 Quantization of surface plasmon polaritons: the Bogoliubov transformations

7.9 Single photon nonlinear optics with plasmons

7.10 Surface Plasmon Polaritons and Quantum Information