Strategies for employing surface plasmons in a near field transmission optical readout system

摘要

Strategies to manipulate the surface plasmon-enhanced transmission in a near field optical readout system to achieve super-resolution are investigated. Our numerical simulations demonstrate that modulation and confinement of the plasmon-assisted effects in the readout system can be accomplished through appropriately placed "plasmon pits." It is found from the simulation results that using short metallic strips embedded in a thin dielectric film instead of a thin metal film for the data structure can aid in localizing the plasmonic effects, thereby improving the resolution of the readout system. In the simulated geometries considered, resolution up to ～λ/5 is achievable.