Femtosecond photoemission electron microscopy of surface plasmon polariton beam steering via nanohole arrays

摘要

Directional control over surface plasmon polariton (SPP) waves is a prerequisite for the development of miniaturized optical circuitry. Here, the efficacy of single and dual component SPP steering elements is explored through photoemission electron microscopy. Our imaging scheme relies on two-color photoemission and counter-propagating SPP generation, which collectively allow SPPs to be visualized in real space. Wave-vector difference mixing between the two-dimensional nanohole array and photon momenta enables SPP steering with directionality governed by the array lattice constant and input photon direction. In our dual component configuration, separate SPP generation and Bragg diffraction based steering optics are employed. We find that array Bragg planes principally influence the SPP angles through the array band structure, which allows us to visualize both positive and negative refractory waves.