title: Directional light emission from propagating surface plasmons of silver nanowires.
abstract: Thin metallic nanowires are highly promising candidates for plasmonic waveguides in photonic and electronic devices. We have observed that light from the end of a silver nanowire, following excitation of plasmons at the other end of the wire, is emitted in a cone of angles peaking at nominally 45-60 degrees from the nanowire axis, with virtually no light emitted along the direction of the nanowire. This surprising characteristic can be explained in a simple picture invoking Fabry-Perot resonances of the forward- and back-propagating plasmons on the nanowire. This strongly angular-dependent emission is a critical property that must be considered when designing coupled nanowire-based photonic devices and systems.
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Box 603-146, 100190 Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Zhipeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hao
authors.forename: Yingzhou
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Yurui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nordlander
authors.forename: Hongxing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D008027:Light; D008422:Materials Testing; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D010316:Particle Size; D012031:Refractometry / Q000379:methods*; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D012834:Silver / Q000737:chemistry*; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance / Q000379:methods*; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D012834:Silver