title: Plasmonic nanofocusing with a metallic pyramid and an integrated C-shaped aperture.
abstract: We demonstrate the design, fabrication and characterization of a near-field plasmonic nanofocusing probe with a hybrid tip-plus-aperture design. By combining template stripping with focused ion beam lithography, a variety of aperture-based near-field probes can be fabricated with high optical performance. In particular, the combination of large transmission through a C-shaped aperture aligned to the sharp apex (<10 nm radius) of a template-stripped metallic pyramid allows the efficient delivery of light--via the C-shaped aperture--while providing a nanometric hotspot determined by the sharpness of the tip itself.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
authors.forename: Nathan C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Lindquist
authors.forename: Timothy W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Prashant
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nagpal
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Norris
authors.forename: Sang-Hyun
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Oh