Page 222 - Principles and Applications of NanoMEMS Physics

5. NANOMEMS APPLICATIONS: PHOTONICS 211

paradigm of surface plasmons to enable such miniaturization. In particular,
the issues of converting light to surface plasmons, as well as a number of
approaches to SP propagation, i.e., in narrow metal stripes and in nanowires,
were discussed. Then, the behavior of SPs on nanoparticles was presented,
followed by the phenomena of coupling between SPs in adjacent
nanoparticles, and its subsequent application to create plasmonic
waveguides. An alternate proposal to realize nanophotonics, based on active
semiconducting nanowires was then presented. The chapter concluded with a
discussion of the near-field scanning optical microscopy technique to detect
surface plasmons.