In this paper we propose a structure to compensate the propagation loss of surface plasmons by using multiple quantum wells as a gain medium. We analyze the required gain for lossless surface plasmon propagation for different thicknesses and widths of the metallic guiding layer. We study the effects of the gain layers and a finite height superstrate on the surface plasmon mode and its propagati...

Surface plasmon (SP) coupling has been successfully applied to nonradiative energy transfer via exciton-plasmon-exciton coupling in conventionally sandwiched donor-metal film-acceptor configurations. However, these structures lack the desired efficiency and suffer poor photoemission due to the high energy loss. Here, we show that the cascaded exciton-plasmon-plasmon-exciton coupling in stratifi...

On the basis of transformation optics, we propose the design of a surface plasmon wave adapter which confines surface plasmon waves on non-uniform metal surfaces and enables adiabatic mode transformation of surface plasmon polaritons with very short tapers. This adapter can be simply achieved with homogeneous anisotropic naturally occurring materials or subwavelength grating-structured dielectr...

Measurements of low-energy electrons emitted by 1 to 4.5 keV Ne ion impact on an Al surface are discussed. Spectral structures found near 11 eV are attributed to the decay of plasmons in Al. A method is given to determine absolute values for the experimental electron yield from the plasmon decay. Plasmon yields are studied as a function of the incidence angle of the projectile. Strong variation...

We propose and demonstrate the controlled modification and selective enhancement of surface-state emission in white-luminophor CdS nanocrystals (NCs) by plasmon-coupling them with proximal metal nanostructures. By carefully designing nano-Ag films to match their localized plasmon resonance spectrally with the surface-state emission peak of CdS NCs, we experimentally show that the surface-state ...

Surface plasmon and its potential application in nanotechnology have attracted a remarkable amount of attention recently due to their novel properties. In this work we present an angularly resolved surface plasmon scattering study on a primitive metal surface. Using a reversed attenuated total reflection (RATR) setup in the experiment, we obtained a double-crescent shaped and enhanced scatterin...

We performed numerical investigations of surface plasmon excitation and propagation in structures made of a photochromic polymer layer deposited over a metal surface using the finite-difference time-domain method. We investigated the process of light coupling into surface plasmon polariton excitation using surface relief gratings formed on the top of a polymer layer and compared it with the cou...

Plasmonic sensing has been an important multidisciplinary research field and has been extensively used in detection of trace molecules in chemistry and biology. The sensing techniques are typically based on surface-enhanced spectroscopies and surface plasmon resonances (SPRs). This review article deals with some recent advances in surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensors and SPR sensors...

The use of surface plasmons on planar surfaces for the characterisation of those surfaces is analysed. In particular, analytic expressions are derived for the sensitivity of such characterisation to the variation of bulk refractive indices, and to the addition of thin dielectric layers on the plasmon supporting surface. Comparison between surface plasmon and dielectric waveguide techniques is m...

In this work we report on the observation of surface plasmon properties of periodic arrays of gold nanoring trimers fabricated by electron beam lithography. It is shown that the localized surface plasmon resonances of such gold ring trimers occur in the infrared spectral region and are strongly influenced by the nanoring geometry and their relative positions. Based on numerical simulations of t...