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The scattering properties of metallic optical antennas are typically examined through the lens of their plasmonic resonances. However, non-plasmonic transition metals also sustain surface waves in the visible. We experimentally investigate in this work the far-field diffraction properties of apertured optical antennas milled on non-plasmonic W films and compare the results with plasmonic references in Ag and Au. The polarization-dependent diffraction patterns and the leakage signal emerging from apertured antennas in both kinds of metals are recorded and analyzed. This thorough comparison with surface plasmon waves reveals that surface waves are launched on W and that they have the common abilities to confine the visible light at metal-dielectric interfaces offering the possibility to tailor the far-field emission. The results have been analyzed through theoretical models accounting for the propagation of a long range surface mode launched by subwavelength apertures, that is scattered in free space by the antenna. This surface mode on W can be qualitatively described as an analogy in the visible of the Zenneck wave in the radio regime. The nature of the new surface waves have been elucidated from a careful analysis of the asymptotic expansion of the electromagnetic propagators, which provides a convenient representation for explaining the Zenneck-like character of the excited waves and opens new ways to fundamental studies of surface waves at the nanoscale beyond plasmonics.

Fluorescence spectroscopy is widely used to probe the electromagnetic intensity amplification on optical antennas, yet measuring the excitation intensity amplification is a challenge, as the detected fluorescence signal is an intricate combination of excitation and emission. Here, we describe a novel approach to quantify the electromagnetic amplification in aperture antennas by taking advantage of the intrinsic non linear properties of the fluorescence process. Experimental measurements of the fundamental f and second harmonic 2f amplitudes of the fluorescence signal upon excitation modulation are used to quantify the electromagnetic intensity amplification with plasmonic aperture antennas.

We investigate directional couplers (DCs) formed by channel plasmon-polariton (CPP) waveguides (CPPWs). DCs comprising 5-µm-offset S-bends and 40-µm-long parallel CPPWs with different separations (0.08, 0.25, 0.5 and 2 µm) between V-groove channels are fabricated by using a focused ion-beam (FIB) technique in a 2-μm-thick gold film and characterized at telecom wavelengths (1425-1630 nm) with near-field optical microscopy. Experimental results reveal strong coupling, resulting in approximately equal power splitting between DC-CPPWs, for small CPPW separations (0.08 and 0.25 µm). The coupling gradually deteriorates with the increase of separation between V-grooves and practically vanishes for the separation of 2 µm. The DC-CPPW characteristics observed are found in good agreement with finite-element method (implemented in COMSOL) simulations.

We investigate the influence of circular corrugations surrounding a central nanoaperture to further enhance the fluorescence count rate per emitter and control its emission directionality. Adding a single corrugation already allows to significantly increase the fluorescence signal as compared to a bare nanoaperture. A complete fluorescence characterization quantifies the excitation and emission gains contributing to the fluorescence enhancement process as the number of corrugations is increased.

We demonstrate the ability of single-subwavelength-size nanoapertures fabricated in a gold metal thin film to enhance second-harmonic generation (SHG) as compared to a bare metal film. Nonlinear microscopy imaging with polarization resolution is used to quantify the SHG enhancement in circular and triangular nanoaperture shapes. The dependence of the measured SHG enhancement on circular aperture diameters is seen to originate from both phase retardation effects and field enhancements at the nanoaperture edge. Triangular nanoapertures exhibit superior SHG enhancement compared with circular ones, as expected from their noncentrosymmetric shape.

Controlling the propagation of surface plasmons along a metal-dielectric interface is a key feature for the development of surface plasmon based circuits. We have designed various two-dimensional refractive dielectric optical elements for surface plasmons (SP) and characterized their capacity to route SP, using near- or far-field techniques. We first present basic devices analogous to usual optical components and the associated challenges for SP optics. We then use a metamaterial approach to locally vary the refractive index and fabricate gradient index structures for SP circuitry.

Optical transmission spectroscopy on metal films with slit-groove pairs is conducted. Spectra of the light transmitted through the slit exhibit Fabry-Perot-type interference fringes due to surface plasmons propagating between the slit and the groove. The spectral dependence of the period of interference fringes is used to determine the group velocity of surface plasmons on flat gold and silver surfaces.

The launching of surface plasmons by micro-gratings of subwavelength apertures milled in a thick metal film is important for the development of surface plasmon based circuits. By comparing the near-field optical images of such surface plasmon sources with the results of a Huygens-Fresnel principle based scattering model, we show that the properties of the locally launched SP beams such as divergence or uniformity can be tuned by adjusting the shape of the micro-gratings. This allows us to propose an optimized source array well adapted for providing a narrow, collimated and uniform beam.

We report the design, fabrication and characterization of compact gradual bends for channel plasmon polaritons (CPPs) being excited at telecom wavelengths. We obtain high-quality near-field optical images of CPP modes propagating along a bent V-groove in gold, which indicate good CPP mode confinement in the groove and efficient guiding around the compact S-bend connecting two 5-mum-offset grooves over a distance of 5 mum. Using averaged cross sections of the CPP intensity distributions before and after the S-bend, the total bend loss is evaluated and found to be close to 2.3 dB for the wavelengths in the range of 1430-1640 nm.