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Plasmonic Focusing in Nanostructures

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Abstract

In this review, we show that by designing the metallic nanostructures, the surface plasmon (SP) focusing has been achieved, with the focusing spot at a subwavelength scale. The central idea is based on the principle of optical interference that the constructive superposition of SPs with phase matching can result in a considerable electric-field enhancement of SPs in the near field, exhibiting a pronounced focusing spot. We first reviewed several new designs for surface plasmon focusing by controlling the metallic geometry or incident light polarization: We made an in-plane plasmonic Fresnel zone plates, a counterpart in optics, which produces an obvious SP focusing effect; We also fabricated the symmetry broken nanocorrals which can provide the spatial phase difference for SPs, and then we propose another plasmon focusing approach by using semicircular nanoslits, which gives rise to the phase difference through changing refractive index of the medium in the nanoslits. Further, we showed that the spiral metallic nanostructure can be severed as plasmonic lens to control the plasmon focusing under a linearly polarized light with different angles.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Prof. Zheyu Fang, Peking University, for his valuable discussion. The work is supported by the National Science Foundation of China (Grant nos. 61176120, 61378059, 11374023) and National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) Grant no. 2012CB933004. The National Undergraduate Innovational Experimentation Program and NFFTBS Grant no. J1030310, J1103205.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physics, State Key Laboratory for Mesoscopic Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Jie Li, Chaojie Yang, Jiaming Li, Ziwei Li, Shuai Zu, Siyu Song, Huabo Zhao, Feng Lin & Xing Zhu

  2. National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing, 100190, China

    Xing Zhu

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  1. Jie Li
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  2. Chaojie Yang
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  3. Jiaming Li
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  4. Ziwei Li
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  6. Siyu Song
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  7. Huabo Zhao
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  8. Feng Lin
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  9. Xing Zhu
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Correspondence to Xing Zhu.

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Li, J., Yang, C., Li, J. et al. Plasmonic Focusing in Nanostructures. Plasmonics 9, 879–886 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-014-9692-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-014-9692-5

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