Letter abstract
Nature Physics 5, 470 - 474 (2009)
Published online: 17 May 2009 | doi:10.1038/nphys1278
Subject Categories: Quantum physics | Optical physics | Electronics, photonics and device physics
Wave–particle duality of single surface plasmon polaritons
Roman Kolesov1, Bernhard Grotz1, Gopalakrishnan Balasubramanian1, Rainer J. Stöhr1, Aurélien A. L. Nicolet1, Philip R. Hemmer2, Fedor Jelezko1 & Jörg Wrachtrup1
When light interacts with metal surfaces, it excites electrons, which can form propagating excitation waves called surface plasmon polaritons. These collective electronic excitations can produce strong electric fields localized to subwavelength distance scales1, which makes surface plasmon polaritons interesting for several applications. Many of these potential uses, and in particular those related to quantum networks2, require a deep understanding of the fundamental quantum properties of surface plasmon polaritons. Remarkably, these collective electron states preserve many key quantum mechanical properties of the photons used to excite them, including entanglement3, 4 and sub-Poissonian statistics5. Here, we show that a single-photon source coupled to a silver nanowire excites single surface plasmon polaritons that exhibit both wave and particle properties, similar to those of single photons. Furthermore, the detailed analysis of the spectral interference pattern provides a new method to characterize the dimensions of metallic waveguides with nanometre accuracy.
- 3. Physikalisches Institut, Universität Stuttgart, 70550 Stuttgart, Germany
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University, 77843 College Station, USA
Correspondence to: Fedor Jelezko1 e-mail: f.jelezko@physik.uni-stuttgart.de
Correspondence to: Jörg Wrachtrup1 e-mail: wrachtrup@physik.uni-stuttgart.de
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