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Concept
Surface plasmon
Summary
Surface plasmons (SPs) are coherent delocalized electron oscillations that exist at the interface between any two materials where the real part of the dielectric function changes sign across the interface (e.g. a metal-dielectric interface, such as a metal sheet in air). SPs have lower energy than bulk (or volume) plasmons which quantise the longitudinal electron oscillations about positive ion cores within the bulk of an electron gas (or plasma).
The charge motion in a surface plasmon always creates electromagnetic fields outside (as well as inside) the metal. The total excitation, including both the charge motion and associated electromagnetic field, is called either a surface plasmon polariton at a planar interface, or a localized surface plasmon for the closed surface of a small particle.
The existence of surface plasmons was first predicted in 1957 by Rufus Ritchie. In the following two decades, surface plasmons were extensively studied by many scientists, the foremost of whom were T. Turbadar in the 1950s and 1960s, and E. N. Economou, Heinz Raether, E. Kretschmann, and A. Otto in the 1960s and 1970s. Information transfer in nanoscale structures, similar to photonics, by means of surface plasmons, is referred to as plasmonics.
Surface plasmon polariton
Surface plasmon polariton#Excitation
Surface plasmon polaritons can be excited by electrons or photons. In the case of photons, it cannot be done directly, but requires a prism, or a grating, or a defect on the metal surface.
Surface plasmon polariton#Fields and dispersion relation
At low frequency, an SPP approaches a Sommerfeld-Zenneck wave, where the dispersion relation (relation between frequency and wavevector) is the same as in free space. At a higher frequency, the dispersion relation bends over and reaches an asymptotic limit called the "plasma frequency" (see figure at right). For more details see surface plasmon polariton.
Surface plasmon polariton#Propagation length and skin depth
As an SPP propagates along the surface, it loses energy to the metal due to absorption.
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Related concepts (8)
Surface plasmon
Surface plasmons (SPs) are coherent delocalized electron oscillations that exist at the interface between any two materials where the real part of the dielectric function changes sign across the interface (e.g. a metal-dielectric interface, such as a metal sheet in air). SPs have lower energy than bulk (or volume) plasmons which quantise the longitudinal electron oscillations about positive ion cores within the bulk of an electron gas (or plasma). The charge motion in a surface plasmon always creates electromagnetic fields outside (as well as inside) the metal.
Surface plasmon resonance
Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is a phenomenon that occurs where electrons in a thin metal sheet become excited by light that is directed to the sheet with a particular angle of incidence, and then travel parallel to the sheet. Assuming a constant light source wavelength and that the metal sheet is thin, the angle of incidence that triggers SPR is related to the refractive index of the material and even a small change in the refractive index will cause SPR to not be observed.
Surface plasmon polariton
Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) are electromagnetic waves that travel along a metal–dielectric or metal–air interface, practically in the infrared or visible-frequency. The term "surface plasmon polariton" explains that the wave involves both charge motion in the metal ("surface plasmon") and electromagnetic waves in the air or dielectric ("polariton"). They are a type of surface wave, guided along the interface in much the same way that light can be guided by an optical fiber.
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