The field of plasmonics deals with near-field, evanescent, surface light waves that propagate at the boundary between a metal and a dielectric. The most exciting phenomenon in this field is the ability to significantly manipulate the properties of electromagnetic radiation using nanometric size metal structures, having high potential for fundamental discoveries and novel nanotechnology applications. In this work I study plasmons as a fundamental wave phenomena; on one hand, plasmons exhibit unique properties, which do not exist in conventional optical waves, such as the ability to confine light over dimensions much smaller than its wavelength. On the other hand, they are solutions of the wave equation, and therefore they are expected to obey all the fundamental rules governing wave phenomena. My research focuses on the interplay between these two approaches, combining the unique properties of plasmons with fundamental aspects of wave phenomena, and exhibiting unusual properties. Among these are the prediction and experimental demonstration of non-diffracting and self-accelerating plasmonic beams with the ability to compensate for losses, the derivation and observation of a plasmonic Bragg law of diffraction, spatial and spectral plasmonic holography in the near-field, and plasmonic nonlinear frequency conversion. These experimental demonstrations can pave the way to new and exciting applications in nano-photonics.


Seminar, September 18, 2015, 12:00. Seminar Room

Hosted by Prof. Frank Koppens