title: Ultrafast polarization shaping with Fano plasmonic crystals.
abstract: Femtosecond-scale polarization state shaping is experimentally found in optical response of a plasmonic nanograting by means of time-resolved Stokes polarimetry. Simultaneous measurements of the Stokes parameters as a function of time reveal a remarkable alteration of the polarization state inside a single femtosecond pulse reflected from a plasmonic crystal due to the excitation of time-delayed polarization-sensitive surface plasmons with a highly birefringent Fano-type spectral profile. Time-dependent depolarization, indicating the sub-130-femtosecond polarization change inside the pulse, is experimentally found and described within an analytical model which predicts the fivefold enhancement of the polarization conversion effect with the use of a narrower time gate.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Physics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow 119991, Russia.
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Shcherbakov
authors.forename: P P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Vabishchevich
authors.forename: V V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Komarova
authors.forename: T V
authors.initials: TV
authors.lastname: Dolgova
authors.forename: V I
authors.initials: VI
authors.lastname: Panov
authors.forename: V V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Moshchalkov
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Fedyanin