Grisha Spektor

Metafocusing by a Metaspiral Plasmonic Lens

We designed and realized a metasurface (manipulating the local geometry) spiral (manipulating the global geometry) plasmonic lens, which fundamentally overcomes the multiple efficiency and functionality challenges of conventional in-plane plasmonic lenses. The combination of spirality and metasurface achieves much more efficient and uniform linear-polarization-independent plasmonic focusing. As for functionality, under matched circularly polarized illumination the lens directs all of the power coupled to surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) into the focal spot, while the orthogonal polarization excites only diverging SPPs that do not penetrate the interior of the lens, achieving 2 orders of magnitude intensity contrast throughout the entire area of the lens. This optimal functional focusing is clearly demonstrated by near-field optical microscopy measurements that are in excellent agreement with simulations and are supported by a detailed theoretical interpretation of the underlying mechanisms. Our results advance the field of plasmonics toward functional detection and the employment of SPPs in smart pixels, near-field microscopy, lithography, and particle manipulation.

Sub-100 nm focusing of short wavelength plasmons in homogeneous 2D space.

We present a direct measurement of short-wavelength plasmons focused into a sub-100 nm spot in homogeneous (translation invariant) 2D space. The short-wavelength (SW) surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) are achieved in metal-insulator-insulator (MII) platform consisting of silver, silicon nitride, and air. This platform is homogeneous in two spatial directions and supports SPP at wavelength more than two times shorter than that in free space yet interacts with the outer world through the evanescent tail in air. We use an apertureless (scattering) near-field scanning optical microscope (NSOM) to map directly the amplitude and phase of these SW-SPP and show they can be focused to under 70 nm without structurally assisted confinement such as nanoantennas or nanofocusing. This, along with the use of visible light at 532 nm which is suitable for optical microscopy, can open new directions in direct biological and medical imaging at the sub-100 nm resolution regime.

Revealing the subfemtosecond dynamics of orbital angular momentum in nanoplasmonic vortices

Putting plasmons in a spin The ability of light to carry angular momentum provides an additional degree of freedom for applications such as optical tweezing and optical communication. Spektor et al. show that the optical angular momentum modes of light can be shrunk down to the nanometer scale through plasmonic transfer. They patterned spiral-like structures into an atomically smooth layer of gold, which allowed them to launch plasmons with controlled amounts of angular momentum. Science, this issue p. 1187 Rotating plasmonic excitations can be launched with controlled amounts of optical angular momentum. The ability of light to carry and deliver orbital angular momentum (OAM) in the form of optical vortices has attracted much interest. The physical properties of light with a helical wavefront can be confined onto two-dimensional surfaces with subwavelength dimensions in the form of plasmonic vortices, opening avenues for thus far unknown light-matter interactions. Because of their extreme rotational velocity, the ultrafast dynamics of such vortices remained unexplored. Here we show the detailed spatiotemporal evolution of nanovortices using time-resolved two-photon photoemission electron microscopy. We observe both long- and short-range plasmonic vortices confined to deep subwavelength dimensions on the scale of 100 nanometers with nanometer spatial resolution and subfemtosecond time-step resolution. Finally, by measuring the angular velocity of the vortex, we directly extract the OAM magnitude of light.

Asymmetric wave propagation in planar chiral fibers.

We demonstrate the realization of a two-dimensional chiral optical waveguide with an infinite translational symmetry that exhibits asymmetric wave propagation. The low-symmetry geometry of the cross-section that lacks any rotational and mirror symmetries shows in-principal directional asymmetric polarization rotation. We use general symmetry arguments to provide qualitative analysis of the waveguides eigenstates and numerically corroborate this using finite element simulation. We show that despite the only perturbative break of time-reversal symmetry via small modal losses, the structure supports a non-degenerate pair of co-rotating elliptical modes. We fabricated meters long fiber with a spiral structure and studied its optical properties.

Short-range surface plasmonics: Localized electron emission dynamics from a 60-nm spot on an atomically flat single-crystalline gold surface

We demonstrate nanofocusing down to 60 nm with 800-nm light in atomically flat single-crystalline 22-nm-thick gold flakes. We experimentally and theoretically visualize the propagation of short-range surface plasmon polaritons using atomically flat single-crystalline gold platelets on silicon substrates. We study their excitation and subfemtosecond dynamics via normal-incidence two-photon photoemission electron microscopy. By milling a plasmonic disk and grating structure into a single-crystalline gold platelet, we observe nanofocusing of the short-range surface plasmon polariton. Localized two-photon ultrafast electron emission from a spot with a smallest dimension of 60 nm is observed. Our novel approach opens the door toward reproducible plasmonic nanofocusing devices, which do not degrade upon high light intensity or heating due to the atomically flat surface without any tips, protrusions, or holes. Our nanofoci could also be used as local emitters for ultrafast electron bunches in time-resolved electron microscopes.

Spin-patterned plasmonics: towards optical access to topological-insulator surface states

Topological insulators (TI) are new phases of matter with topologically protected surface states (SS) possessing novel physical properties such as spin-momentum locking. Coupling optical angular momentum to the SS is of interest for both fundamental understanding and applications in future spintronic devices. However, due to the nanoscale thickness of the surface states, the light matter interaction is dominated by the bulk. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate a plasmonic cavity enabling both nanoscale light confinement and control of surface plasmon-polariton (SPP) spin angular momentum (AM)--towards coupling to topological-insulator SS. The resulting SPP field components within the cavity are arranged in a chess-board-like pattern. Each chess-board square exhibits approximately a uniform circular polarization (spin AM) of the local in-plane field interleaved by out-of-plane field vortices (orbital AM). As the first step, we demonstrate the predicted pattern experimentally by near-field measurements on a gold-air interface, with excellent agreement to our theory. Our results pave the way towards efficient optical access to topological-insulator surface states using plasmonics.

Linearly dichroic plasmonic lens and hetero-chiral structures.

We present an experimental study of Hetero-Chiral (HC) plasmonic lenses, comprised of constituents with opposite chirality, demonstrating linearly dichroic focusing. The lenses focus only light with a specific linear polarization and result in a dark focal spot for the orthogonal polarization state. We introduce the design concepts and quantitatively compare several members of the HC family, deriving necessary conditions for linear dichroism and several comparative engineering parameters. The HC lenses were experimentally investigated using aperture-less near field scanning microscope collecting the amplitude of the plasmonic near-field. Our results exhibit an excellent match to the simulation predictions. The demonstrated ability for linearly dichroic functional focusing could lead to novel sensing applications.

Metasurface engaged with a plasmonic spiral achieve super functional lensing

We realized metasurface spiral plasmonic lenses, mitigating efficiency and functionality issues of conventional plasmonic lenses. The lens enhances the efficiency of linear-polarization-invariant focusing and enhances even further the efficiency of high contrast, circular dichroic detection.