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Direct Observation of Surface Plasmon Polariton Propagation and Interference by Time-Resolved Imaging in Normal-Incidence Two Photon Photoemission Microscopy

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Abstract

Time-resolved imaging of the propagation and interference of isolated ultrashort surface plasmon polariton wave packets is demonstrated using two photon photoemission microscopy. The group- and phase velocity of individual wave packets are determined experimentally. Using two counter-propagating surface plasmon polariton pulses, the transient formation of a standing surface plasmon polariton wave is imaged in time and space. We demonstrate that using a normal incidence geometry in time-resolved photoemission microscopy provides great advantages for in-situ imaging of surface plasmon polaritons in arbitrary plasmonic structures. A simple 1D wave-simulation is used to confirm the experimental results.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Harald Giessen and Bettina Frank from the University of Stuttgart for providing us with the high-quality Au platelets. Financial support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft through programs SFB616 and SPP1391 and fruitful discussions within SFB1242 are gratefully acknowledged. DK acknowledges funding from the Irish Research Council and the Marie Curie Actions ELEVATE fellowship.

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Author notes

  1. Simon Sindermann

    Present address: Infineon Technologies AG, 59581, Warstein, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Physics and CENIDE, University of Duisburg-Essen, 47048, Duisburg, Germany

    Philip Kahl, Daniel Podbiel, Andreas Makris, Simon Sindermann, Christian Witt, Michael Horn-von Hoegen & Frank Meyer zu Heringdorf

  2. Department of Physics and Research Center OPTIMAS, University of Kaiserslautern, 67663, Kaiserslautern, Germany

    Christian Schneider, Deirdre Kilbane & Martin Aeschlimann

Authors
  1. Philip Kahl
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  2. Daniel Podbiel
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  3. Christian Schneider
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  4. Andreas Makris
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  5. Simon Sindermann
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  6. Christian Witt
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  7. Deirdre Kilbane
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  8. Michael Horn-von Hoegen
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  9. Martin Aeschlimann
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  10. Frank Meyer zu Heringdorf
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Daniel Podbiel or Frank Meyer zu Heringdorf.

Additional information

Philip Kahl and Daniel Podbiel contributed equally to this work.

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Kahl, P., Podbiel, D., Schneider, C. et al. Direct Observation of Surface Plasmon Polariton Propagation and Interference by Time-Resolved Imaging in Normal-Incidence Two Photon Photoemission Microscopy. Plasmonics 13, 239–246 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-017-0504-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-017-0504-6

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