title: Electron-beam-driven collective-mode metamaterial light source.
abstract: We demonstrate experimentally that the energy from a highly localized free-electron-beam excitation can be converted via a planar plasmonic metamaterial to a low-divergence free-space light beam. This emission, which emanates from a collectively oscillating coupled metamolecule nanoantenna ensemble much larger in size than the initial excitation, is distinctly different from cathodoluminescence and bears some similarity with laser light. It offers a novel, flexible paradigm for the development of scalable, threshold-free light sources.
authors.affiliation: Optoelectronics Research Centre and Centre for Photonic Metamaterials, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Adamo
authors.forename: J Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Ou
authors.forename: J K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: So
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Jenkins
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: De Angelis
authors.forename: K F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: MacDonald
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Di Fabrizio
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ruostekoski
authors.forename: N I
authors.initials: NI
authors.lastname: Zheludev
mesh_terms: D055590:Electromagnetic Phenomena; D004583:Electrons; D008027:Light; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D055095:Optics and Photonics / Q000379:methods*; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance