title: Ultrafast control of grating-assisted light coupling to surface plasmons.
abstract: We demonstrate subpicosecond control over the coupling of free-space radiation to surface-plasmon polaritons using 830 and 500 nm period gold gratings. Thermal changes to the electron distribution following irradiation by 100 fs, 810 nm pulses produce a shift of the 570 nm plasmon resonance by approximately 0.75 nm with reflectivity change up to 6% and decay time of approximately 1 ps.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Institute for Optical Sciences, University of Toronto, 60 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. nrotenbe@physics.utoronto.ca
authors.forename: Nir
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rotenberg
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Betz
authors.forename: Henry M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: van Driel