title: Visualization of surface plasmon interference by imprinting intensity patterns on a photosensitive polymer.
abstract: We report on sub-wavelength structuring of photosensitive azo-containing polymer films induced by a surface plasmon interference intensity pattern. The two surface plasmon waves generated at neighboring nano-slits in the metal layer during irradiation interfere constructively, resulting in an intensity pattern with a periodicity three times smaller than the wavelength of the incoming light. The near field pattern interacts with the photosensitive polymer film placed above it, leading to a topography change which follows the intensity pattern exactly, resulting in the formation of surface relief gratings of a size below the diffraction limit. We analyze numerically and experimentally how the depth of the nano-slit alters the interference pattern of surface plasmons and find that the sub-wavelength patterning of the polymer surface could be optimized by modifying the geometry and the size of the nano-slit.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Physics, Institute for Physics and Astronomy, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: König
authors.forename: Svetlana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Santer