title: Surface plasmon rainbow jets.
abstract: A new method for optically exciting and visualizing surface plasmons in thin metal films is described. The technique relies on the use of a high-numerical-aperture objective lens to locally launch a broad wavelength spectrum of surface waves and to detect the leaky radiative modes associated with them. We used this approach to obtain a direct visualization of the plasmon intensity distributions, e.g., rainbow jets, and to quantify their propagation lengths throughout the visible spectrum.
authors.affiliation: Chemistry Division and Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA. bouhelier@anl.gov
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bouhelier
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Wiederrecht