Wuenschell, Jeff
(2007)
The Role of Surface Plasmon-Polaritons in the Propagation of Light in Sub-Wavelength Slits.
Master's Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
Over the past few decades optics has begun to take over some of the duties of electronics. The primary focus of recent study in electronics has been miniaturization; meanwhile, a similar trend has begun in optics research with the growth of the nano-optics field. One of the key interests of this field is surface plasmon-polaritons, propagating light which is bound to the interface between a metal and a dielectric.Electromagnetic waves in the form of surface plasmons break some of the rules of classical optics. Classical optics predicts that light cannot propagate through an aperture much smaller than about half its wavelength - the best it can do is "tunnel" through, which tends to result in weak transmission when the aperture is reasonably long. Experimentally, it has been shown that the wavelength dependence is significantly different than predicted by classical theory. Some structures have been shown to produce even more astonishing results; for example, a thick nano-slit array can exhibit near 100% normalized peak transmission.The purpose of this thesis will be to analytically and numerically study light propagation in sub-wavelength metallic slits. It will be shown that symmetric surface plasmon modes are the primary carriers of electromagnetic power in a sufficiently small slit. The dynamics of the power and polarization charge inherent in the propagation of these modes will be analyzed. Finally, these topics will be discussed with respect to possible applications, focusing on the utilization of sub-wavelength metallic slits for chemical sensing.
Share
| Citation/Export: |
|
| Social Networking: |
|
Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
|
| ETD Committee: |
|
| Date: |
25 September 2007 |
| Date Type: |
Completion |
| Defense Date: |
5 July 2007 |
| Approval Date: |
25 September 2007 |
| Submission Date: |
11 July 2007 |
| Access Restriction: |
5 year -- Restrict access to University of Pittsburgh for a period of 5 years. |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Swanson School of Engineering > Electrical Engineering |
| Degree: |
MSEE - Master of Science in Electrical Engineering |
| Thesis Type: |
Master's Thesis |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
chemical sensing; FDTD; plasmonics; nano-optics; surface plasmons |
| Other ID: |
http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-07112007-135905/, etd-07112007-135905 |
| Date Deposited: |
10 Nov 2011 19:50 |
| Last Modified: |
15 Nov 2016 13:45 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/8338 |
Metrics
Monthly Views for the past 3 years
Plum Analytics
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
![[feed]](/images/feed-icon-32x32.png){kind=icon}