Abstract
Surface plasmon–polaritons are electromagnetic waves that propagate along metal–dielectric interfaces and exist over a wide range of frequencies. They have become popular research tools owing to their subwavelength confinement and potential ability to perform ultrasensitive optical measurements. Driven by tremendous progress in nanofabrication techniques and ultrafast laser technologies, the applications of surface plasmon–polariton nano-optics extend beyond nanoplasmonics. In this Review, we discuss how the use of hybrid multilayer structures combining different functionalities allows the development of active plasmonic devices and new metrologies. Magneto-plasmonics, acousto-plasmonics and the generation of high-energy photoelectrons using ultrashort surface plasmon–polariton pulses are all examples of how the combination of ideas developed in these individual fields can be used to generate new knowledge, leading to a range of exciting applications in nanophotonics.
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Change history
16 November 2012
In this Review Article the "-1.0" label in the vertical axis of Fig. 4a should not have been included and the vertical axis should have indicated a scale of "10-6". These revisions have now been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the Review Article.
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Acknowledgements
The author thanks U. Woggon, G. Armelles, A. Cebollada, A. Garcia-Martin, M. U. Gonzalez, T. Thomay, R. Bratschitsch, A. Leitenstorfer, D. Makarov, K. Nelson, A. Maznev, T. Pezeril, S. Andrieu, P. Ruello and O. Kovalenko for stimulating discussions, and the Region Pays de La Loire for funding.
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Temnov, V. Ultrafast acousto-magneto-plasmonics. Nature Photon 6, 728–736 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2012.220
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2012.220
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