Search

Detection of molecules is a key issue for many applications. Surface enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) uses arrays of resonant nanoantennas with good quality factors which can be used to locally enhance the illumination of molecules. The technique has proved to be an effective tool to detect small amount of material. However the use of nanoresonators only enables the detection of a few absorption lines, hampering the identification of the spectral fingerprint of a molecule. Here, we introduce a new paradigm and use low quality factor resonators with large radiative losses (over-coupled resonators). The bandwidth enables to detect all absorption lines between 5 and 10 μm. Counterintuitively, despite a lower quality factor, the system sensitivity is improved and we report a reflectivity variation as large as one percent per nanometer of molecular layer of PMMA. This paves the way to specific identification of molecules. We illustrate the potential of the technique with the detection of the explosive precursor dinitrotoluene (DNT). We compare the data with numerical simulations and introduce an analytic model of the results.

Compact sources in the mid-wave infrared (MWIR) are needed for applications ranging from spectroscopy to free-space communication. Ultrathin incandescent metasurfaces are promising candidates, offering the possibility to tune the emission spectrum, directivity, and modulation speed. However, control over polarization remains a challenge, especially when it comes to the emission of circularly polarized light. Here, we report the emission of polarized MWIR radiation from a 700 nm thick incandescent chiral metasurface. The degree of polarization is above 0.5 with degree of circular polarization of 0.38 at 5 µm. The metasurface is heated by the Joule effect, and the emission can be modulated beyond 10 MHz. This could enable detection techniques that use polarization as an additional degree of freedom.

We report an experimental and theoretical study of light emission by a patterned ensemble of colloidal quantum dots (cQDs). This system modifies drastically the emission spectrum and polarization as compared to a planar layer of cQDs. It exhibits bright, directional and polarized emission including a degree of circular polarization in some directions. We introduce a model of light emission based on a local Kirchhoff law which reproduces accurately all the features of the experiment. The model provides a figure of merit to assess quantitatively the emitted power. This work paves the way to the systematic design of efficient ultrathin light emitting metasurfaces with controlled polarization, spectrum and directivity.

The authors propose a general absorption-coherence relation to show that spatial coherence emission by molecules on a metallic film is due to the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons and is reduced in the presence of strong coupling.

While spatially coherent emission has been experimentally observed for several photoluminescent devices composed of metallic nanostructures, no model is currently able to compute the spatial coherence function of the emitted fields, and thus to explain its origin. We introduce a model of light emission by thermalized ensembles of emitters which connects the coherence of the fields at two positions to the power absorbed by the system when illuminated by two sources. We can apply it to the study of the spatial coherence properties of the light emitted by a layer of molecular dyes deposited on top of a silver layer.

The ultraconfined light of plasmonic modes put their effective wavelength close to the mean free path of electrons inside the metal electron gas. The Drude model, which can not take the repulsive interactions of electrons into account, then clearly begins to show its limits. In an intermediate length scale where a full quantum treatment is computationally prohibitive, the semiclassical hydrodynamic model, instrinsically non-local, has proven successful. Here we generalize the expression for the absorption volume density and the reciprocity theorem in the framework of this hydrodynamic model. We validate numerically these generalized theorems and show that using classical expressions instead leads to large discrepancies., 10 pages, 8 figures

Surface plasmons polaritons are mixed electronic and electromagnetic waves. They have become a workhorse of nanophotonics because plasmonic modes can be confined in space at the nanometer scale and in time at the 10 fs scale. However, in practice, plasmonic modes are often excited using diffraction-limited beams. In order to take full advantage of their potential for sensing and information technology, it is necessary to develop a microscale ultrafast electrical source of surface plasmons. Here, we report the design, fabrication and characterization of nanoantennas to emit surface plasmons by inelastic electron tunneling. The antenna controls the emission spectrum, the emission polarization, and enhances the emission efficiency by more than three orders of magnitude. We introduce a theoretical model of the antenna in good agreement with the results., Developing a microscale ultrafast electrical source of surface plasmons is crucial for nanophotonic applications. Here, the authors report the design, fabrication and characterization of nanoantennas for emission and control of surface plasmons by inelastic electron tunneling.

International audience; We theoretically study the emission of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) in cylindrical nanopatch antennas with sub-10 nm dielectric gaps. The eigenmodes of a nanopatch antenna can be classified as gap modes or antenna modes. We showthat these two families of modes possess very different intrinsic properties regarding the emission of SPPs. Gap modes have an extremely large Purcell factor, which allows overcoming quenching, but a weak efficiency to radiate SPPs. On the other hand, antenna modes have a weaker Purcell factor but a larger efficiency to radiate SPPs. The coupling between gap modes and antenna modes results in the formation of hybrid modes. We evidence that these hybrid modes have the advantage to provide both a large Purcell factor and a large SPP efficiency. Working with such hybrid modes allows enhancing the SPP emission. We show that the mode hybridization results in an enhancement of 2 orders of magnitude of the power radiated into propagating SPPs at λ = 800 nm and an overall SPP efficiency of 15% for a gap thickness of 1 nm. Moreover, increasing the refractive index of the host medium surrounding the nanopatch further improves the SPP emission.

Acoustic-graphene-plasmons (AGPs) are highly confined electromagnetic modes, which carry extreme momentum and low loss in the Mid-infrared (MIR) to Terahertz (THz) spectra. They are therefore enablers of extremely strong light-matter interactions at these long wavelengths. However, owing to their large momentum they are also challenging to excite and detect. Here, we demonstrate a new way to excite AGPs that are confined to nanometric-scale cavities directly from the far-field, via localized graphene-plasmon-magnetic-resonators (GPMRs). This approach enables the efficient excitation of single AGP cavities, which are able to confine MIR light to record-breaking ultra-small mode-volumes, which are over a billion times smaller than their free-space volume.

Acoustic-graphene-plasmons (AGPs) are highly confined electromagnetic modes, which carry extreme momentum and low loss in the Mid-infrared (MIR) to Terahertz (THz) spectra. In this work [1], we demonstrate a new way to excite AGPs from the far-field, which are confined to nanometric-scale cavities, via localized graphene-plasmon-magnetic-resonators (GPMRs). This approach enables the efficient excitation of single AGP cavities, which are able to confine MIR light to record-breaking ultra-small mode-volumes that are ∼5·1010 times smaller than their free-space volume.

Surface enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) spectroscopy and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) make possible, thanks to plasmonics nanoantennas, the detection of low quantities of biological and chemical materials. Here, we investigate the infrared response of 2,4-dinitrotoluene deposited on various arrays of closely arranged metal-insulator-metal (MIM) resonators and experimentally show how the natural dispersion of the complex refractive index leads to an intertwined combination of SEIRA and SPR effect that can be leveraged to identify molecules. They are shown to be efficient for SEIRA spectroscopy and allows detecting of the dispersive explosive material, 2,4-dinitrotoluene. By changing the in-plane parameters, a whole spectral range of absorptions of 2,4-DNT is scanned. These results open the way to the design of sensors based on SEIRA and SPR combined effects, without including a spectrometer.

Optical antennas have become ubiquitous tools to enhance the spontaneous emission of atoms, molecules and quantum dots. In this presentation, we report a series of experimental results investigating the emission of light by ensembles of interacting emitters coupled to resonators. First, we report the observation of a strong plasmon−exciton coupling regime in a system consisting of a layer of nanoplatelets on top of a gold planar surface. Reflectometry measurements and mode analysis lead to the non-ambiguous derivation of a Rabi splitting between two polaritonic branches. Secondly, we investigate the polarized and directional emission of light by a patterned layer of nanoplatelets optically pumped. Models based on the paradigm of the Purcell effect mediated radiation fail to fully explain spectral and spatial features observed in such experiments, such as the emergence of spatial coherence or the suppression of quenching. We discuss and highlight the differences between emission by a single emitter and by a thermalized assembly of quantum emitters to show that a statistical framework is required to understand their interactions with optical antennas. Based on these considerations, we introduce a model of light emission by thermalized ensembles of emitters, and find good agreement between our model and experimental data.

Currently, there are no cheap and compact sources in the mid-infrared range that can be modulated at high frequencies. Incandescent sources such as hot membranes and globars are widely used for mid-infrared spectroscopic applications, but for detection or communication applications where fast temperature modulation are desirable, thermal inertia quickly becomes a limiting factor. Besides, such incandescent sources are typically unpolarized, isotropic, broadband and have a low efficiency. However, these properties are not imposed by fundamental limitations stemming from physics laws, except for the low brightness dictated by Bose-Einstein distribution. Here, we introduce a metasurface that combines nanoscale heaters to ensure fast thermal response and nanophotonic resonances to provide large spectrally selective and polarized emissivity. We report a peak emissivity of 0.8 and an operation up to 20 MHz, six orders of magnitude faster than commercially available hot membranes.

The general concern of this investigation is the extraction of the effective electromagnetic properties of agglomerates of randomly located particles, which are small compared to the wavelength. The focus is on the spectral window ranging from the transverse phonon to the longitudinal phonon frequencies, in which resonances may be excited. In this frequency domain, it is shown that limiting the problem to bare dipole-dipole interactions leads to inaccurate calculations of the electromagnetic fields, resulting in a doubtful extraction of the effective properties. We perform the complete electromagnetic calculation by taking into account the higher multipole orders that are activated when the agglomerates are illuminated. Several results, which are not usually observed outside the frequency range highlighted here, are revealed by means of extensive numerical simulations. In particular, we evidence large deviations compared to the predictions provided by the effective medium theories, while we find that the volume of the microstructures (each one with a different internal geometry) that are used to average the fields must be unusually large to avoid a bias in the determination of the effective properties. Furthermore, the evolution of the incoherent component of the fields between the two optical phonon modes is investigated.

International audience; In the last decades, designs of most incandescent sources have been realized by heating the whole device. Here we propose a novel approach consisting in taking advantage of hot nanoemitters that can be cooled in a few tens of nanoseconds. It offers a new opportunity for high speed modulation and for enhanced agility in the active control of polarization, direction and wavelength of emission. To compensate the weak thermal emission of isolated nanoemitters, we propose to insert them in some complex environments, such as e.g. the gap of cold nanoantenna, which allow a significant thermal emission enhancement of the hot nanovolume. In order to optimize this kind of device, a fully vectorial upper bound for the thermal emission of a hot nanoparticle in a cold environment is derived. This criterion is very general since it is equivalent to an absorption cross-section upper bound for the nanoparticle. Moreover, it is an intrinsic characteristic of the environment regardless of the nanoparticle, so it allows to decouple the design of the environment from the one of the hot nanovolume. It thus provides a good figure of merit to compare the ability of different systems to enhance thermal emission of hot nanoemitters.

Coupling nano-emitters to plasmonic antennas is a key milestone for the development of nanoscale quantum light sources. One challenge, however, is the precise nanoscale positioning of the emitter in the structure. Here, we present a laser etching protocol that deterministically positions a single colloidal CdSe/CdS core/shell quantum dot emitter inside a subwavelength plasmonic patch antenna with three-dimensional nanoscale control. By exploiting the properties of metal–insulator–metal structures at the nanoscale, the fabricated single-emitter antenna exhibits a very high-Purcell factor (>72) and a brightness enhancement of a factor of 70. Due to the unprecedented quenching of Auger processes and the strong acceleration of the multiexciton emission, more than 4 photons per pulse can be emitted by a single quantum dot, thus increasing the device yield. Our technology can be applied to a wide range of photonic nanostructures and emitters, paving the way for scalable and reliable fabrication of ultra-compact light sources., Plasmonic antennas: precise alignment for high brightness Finding practical ways to control and enhance the emission from single-photon sources is important for applications in quantum optics spanning from fundamental science to quantum information processing. While plasmonic antennas are a solution, the accurate alignment and coupling of such antennas to single-photon emitters like quantum dots, vacancy-centrenanodiamonds and fluorescent molecules is extremely challenging. Laser etching can help ease the task, allowing a CdSe/CdS core-shell quantum dot to be deterministically placed inside a subwavelength plasmonic patch antenna with 3 nm vertical and 50 m lateral precision. Amit Raj Dhawan and coworkers from Chengdu, China and Paris, France, show that the precise control over the location of the emitter results in an emitter-antenna system with a brightness enhancement of a factor of 70 and a large Purcell factor >72.

International audience; We introduce a numerical method that enables efficient modeling of light scattering by large, disordered ensembles of non-spherical particles incorporated in stratified media, including when the particles are in close vicinity to each other, to planar interfaces, and/or to localized light sources. The method consists of finding a small set of fictitious polarizable elements—or numerical dipoles—that quantitatively reproduces the field scattered by an individual particle for any excitation and at an arbitrary distance from the particle surface. The set of numerical dipoles is described by a global polarizability matrix that is determined numerically by solving an inverse problem relying on fullwave simulations. The latter are classical and may be performed with any Maxwell’s equations solver. Spatial non-locality is an important feature of the numerical dipoles set, providing additional degrees of freedom compared to classical coupled dipoles to reconstruct complex scattered fields. Once the polarizability matrix describing scattering by an individual particle is determined, the multiple scattering problem by ensembles of such particles in stratified media can be solved using a Green tensor formalism and only a few numerical dipoles, thereby with a low physical memory usage, even for dense systems in close vicinity to interfaces. The performance of the method is studied with the example of large high-aspect-ratio high-index dielectric cylinders. The method is easy to implement and may offer new possibilities for the study of complex nanostructured surfaces, which are becoming widespread in emerging photonic technologies.

Acoustic-graphene-plasmons (AGPs) are highly confined electromagnetic modes, which carry extreme momentum and low loss in the Mid-infrared (MIR) to Terahertz (THz) spectra. In this work [1], we demonstrate a new way to excite AGPs from the far-field, which are confined to nanometric-scale cavities, via localized graphene-plasmon-magnetic-resonators (GPMRs). This approach enables the efficient excitation of single AGP cavities, which are able to confine MIR light to record-breaking ultra-small mode-volumes that are ~5·1010 times smaller than their free-space volume.

International audience; Optimization methods are playing an increasingly important role in all facets of photonics engineering, from integrated photonics to free space diffractive optics. However, efforts in the photonics community to develop optimization algorithms remain uncoordinated, which has hindered proper benchmarking of design approaches and access to device designs based on optimization. We introduce MetaNet, an online database of photonic devices and design codes intended to promote coordination and collaboration within the photonics community. Using metagratings as a model system, we have uploaded over one hundred thousand device layouts to the database, as well as source code for implementations of local and global topology optimization methods. Further analyses of these large datasets allow the distribution of optimized devices to be visualized for a given optimization method. We expect that the coordinated research efforts enabled by MetaNet will expedite algorithm development for photonics design.

International audience; We study light absorption by a dipolar absorber in a given environment, which can be a nanoantenna or any complex inhomogeneous medium. From rst-principle calculations, we derive an upper bound for the absorption, which decouples the impact of the environment from the one of the absorber. Since it is an intrinsic characteristic of the environment regardless of the absorber, it provides a good figure of merit to compare the ability of different systems to enhance absorption. We show that, in the scalar approximation, the relevant parameter is not the field enhancement but the ratio between the field enhancement and the local density of states. Consequently, a plasmonic structure supporting hot spots is not necessarily the best choice to enhance absorption. We also show that our theoretical results can be applied beyond the scalar approximation and the plane-wave illumination.

To bunch or to antibunch Particles of matter can be classed as either as bosons or fermions. Their subsequent behavior in terms of their physical properties and interactions depends on which quantum statistics they obey. Photons, for instance, are bosons and tend to bunch. Electrons are fermions and tend to antibunch. Vest et al. show that surface plasmon polaritons, a hybrid excitation of light and electrons, can exhibit both kinds of behavior (see the Perspective by Faccio). By tuning the level of loss in their system, bunching and antibunching of interfering plasmons can be seen. Science , this issue p. 1373 ; see also p. 1336

International audience; This paper reports on progress in the analysis of time-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) applied to the dimensional metrology of through-silicon vias (TSVs), which are vertical interconnect accesses in silicon, enabling three-dimensional (3D) integration in microelectronics, and estimates the deviations from earlier, simpler models. The considered TSV structures are 1D trenches and circular holes etched into silicon with a large aspect ratio. As a prerequisite for a realistic modeling, we work with spectra obtained from reference interferograms measured at a planar substrate, which fully includes the dispersion of the OCT apparatus. Applying a rigorous modal approach, we estimate the differences to a pure ray tracing technique. Accelerating our computations, we focus on the relevant fundamental modes and apply a Fabry–Perot model as an efficient approximation. Exploiting our results, we construct and present an iterative procedure based on the minimization of a merit function, which concludes TSV heights reliably, accurately, and rapidly from measured interferograms.

Nanoplatelets are strongly anisotropic colloidal nanocrystals confined in only one direction. Perfect thickness control and large lateral dimensions enable a large exciton coherence area that exhib...

We develop a semianalytical model to describe bound states in the continuum (BICs) in photonic crystal slabs. We model leaky modes supported by photonic crystal slabs as a transverse Fabry-Perot resonance composed of a few propagative Bloch waves bouncing back and forth vertically inside the slab. This multimode Fabry-Perot model accurately predicts the existence of BICs and their positions in the parameter space. We show that, regardless of the slab thickness, BICs cannot exist below a cutoff frequency, which is related to the existence of the second-order Bloch wave in the photonic crystal. Thanks to the semianalyticity of the model, we investigate the dynamics of BICs with the slab thickness in symmetric and asymmetric photonic crystal slabs. We evidence that, as the horizontal mirror symmetry is broken, the symmetry-protected BICs that exist in symmetric structures at the $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}$ point of the dispersion diagram become resonance-trapped BICs, but only for specific values of the slab thickness.

International audience; In this paper, we present a numerical modal study of a simple slab, made of an uniaxial anisotropic material having an "epsilon-near-zero" (ENZ) dielectric function, surrounded by vacuum. We use two Drude models with a different plasma frequency for the direction parallel and perpendicular to the slab surface as toy models to study the effect of uniaxial anisotropy of type I (> 0, ⊥ < 0) and type II (< 0, ⊥ > 0) on the different electromagnetic modes of the system. In addition to the so-called ENZ mode, studied in detail by Campione et. al [Phys. Rev. B 91, 121408(R) (2015)], the slab can support quasi-confined (QC) mode in the type I and type II anisotropy frequency ranges. We show that those modes exhibit a strong electric field enhancement, caused by the ENZ character of the dielectric function. In strong contrast with the ENZ mode, QC modes can have a strong electric field enhancement for thick slabs, with a Fabry-Perot-like electromagnetic field distribution spanning over the whole slab thickness. This opens the way for large electric field enhancement in thick slabs with QC ENZ modes. Thick slabs also allow metamaterial designs, giving the possibility to engineer the anisotropy of the effective dielectric function, opening interesting perspectives for the control of field enhancement of the ENZ QC modes and their integration in operating devices, such as detectors, sources, or modulators.

Electrical excitation of surface plasmon polaritons by inelastic tunneling electrons has been put forward as a potential nanosource that can be used in a variety of on-chip optoelectronic applications. In this article, we report a source based on an array of gold cylindrical antennas deposited on an alumina tunnel junction. This configuration has several merits: the junction can be operated under a high bias (>3 V) so that surface plasmons can be emitted in the visible region at room temperature; the antenna controls the surface plasmon emission spectrum; the radiative power per unit area is enhanced by more than two orders of magnitude compared to a planar junction.

By ruling a grating on a polar material that supports surface phonon–polaritons such as silicon carbide (SiC), it is possible to create directional and monochromatic thermal sources. So far, most of the studies have considered only materials with room temperature properties as the ones tabulated in Palik׳s handbooks. Recently, measurements have provided experimental data of the SiC dielectric function at different temperatures. Here we study, numerically, the effect of the temperature dependence of the dielectric function on the thermal emission of SiC gratings (1D grating, in a first approach), heated at different temperatures. When materials are heated, the position of the grating emissivity peak shifts towards higher wavelength values. A second consequence of the temperature dependence of optical properties is that room temperature designed gratings are not optimal for higher temperatures. However, by modifying the grating parameters, it is possible to find an emission peak, with a maximum of emissivity near 1, for each temperature. We tried first to catch some patterns in the emissivity variation. Then, we obtained a grating, which leads to an optimum emissivity for all available temperature data for SiC.

Basic design rules are disclosed for broadband light-extraction colloidal films formed with disordered ensembles of plasmonic particles. They are derived through the numerical study of a test-bed geometry consisting of a low-refractive index slab in air. Albeit simple, the geometry encompasses many physically effects encountered in real light-emitting devices, including the pronounced absorption at the peak of the nanoparticles resonance spectrum, the anisotropy of the radiation diagram of nanoparticles in waveguides and unavoidable coherent multiple interferences that ruin the predictive strength of first-order scattering models. How we can simultaneously take advantage of (1) the shape or size of the individual nanoparticles, (2) their transverse position with respect to the guiding photonic structure, (3) their concentration, and (4) the structural topology of the disorder ensemble are illustrated. Following this approach, a threefold enhancement in the extraction efficiency can be reached as compared to a film without plasmonic particles. It is also predicted that the extraction rapidly saturates and then decreases as the nanoparticle density increases, suggesting that best performance is achieved at low concentrations. Spectrally broad and directionally random far-field radiation diagrams are additionally reported, which do not suffer from deterministic interferential behaviors observed at particular wavelengths and directionalities with periodic light-extraction structures.

The growing field of quantum plasmonics lies at the intersection between nanophotonics and quantum optics. QUantum plasmonics investigate the quantum properties of single surface plasmons, trying to reproduce fundamental and landmark quantum optics experiment that would benefit from the light-confinement properties of nanophotonic systems, thus paving the way towards the design of basic components dedicated to quantum experiments with sizes inferior to the diffraction limit. Several groups have recently reproduced fundamental quantum optics experiments with single surface plasmons polaritons (SPPs). We have investigated two situations of quantum interference of single SPPs on lossy beamsplitters : a plasmonic version of the Hong-Ou-Mandel experiment, and the observation of plasmonic N00N states interferences. We numerically designed and fabricated several beamsplitters that reveal new quantum interference scenarios, such as the coalescence and the anti-coalescence of SPPs, or quantum non-linear absorption. Our work show that losses can be seen as a new degree of freedom in the design of plasmonic devices.

National audience

In this Review, the theory and applications of optical micro and nanoresonators are presented from the underlying concept of their natural resonances, the so-called quasi-normal modes (QNMs). The latter are the basic constituents governing the response of resonators. Characterized by complex frequencies, QNMs are initially loaded by a driving field and then decay exponentially in time due to power leakage or absorption. Here, the use of QNM-expansion formalisms to model these basic effects is explored. Such modal expansions that operate at complex frequencies distinguish from the current user habits in electromagnetic modeling, which rely on classical Maxwell equation solvers operating at real frequencies or in the time domain; they also bring much deeper physical insight into the analysis. An extensive overview of the historical background on QNMs in electromagnetism and a detailed discussion of recent relevant theoretical and numerical advances are therefore presented. Additionally, a concise description of the role of QNMs on a number of examples involving electromagnetic resonant fields and matter, including the interaction between quantum emitters and resonators (Purcell effect, weak and strong coupling, superradiance...), Fano interferences, the perturbation of resonance modes, and light transport and localization in disordered media is provided., Comment: 38 pages, 18 figures, review article

International audience; We report on the low-energy, electrical generation of light beams in specific directions from planar elliptical microstructures. The emission direction of the beam is determined by the microstructure eccentricity. A very simple, broadband, optical antenna design is used, which consists of a single elliptical slit etched into a gold film. The light beam source is driven by an electrical nanosource of surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) that is located at one focus of the ellipse. In this study, SPPs are generated through inelastic electron tunneling between a gold surface and the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope.

International audience; In recent decades, researchers have demonstrated incandescent sources that exhibit monochromatic, directional, and even fast modulated infrared emission. Most of the researchers achieve this type of emission by heating the whole device. Here, we propose heating only nanovolumes that can be cooled in a few tens of nanoseconds. This approach could enable high-speed modulation. To compensate for the weak thermal emission of such isolated nanoemitters, we propose inserting the hot nanovolume in the gap of a cold nanoantenna. We calculate the resulting emission enhancement by using a generalized version of Kirchhoff's law, and demonstrate that careful design of the complete antenna– nanoemitter system can result in emission enhancements of more than four orders of magnitude.

International audience; Quantum entanglement is a stunning consequence of the superposition principle. This universal property of quantum systems has been intensively explored with photons, atoms, ions, and electrons. Collective excitations such as surface plasmons exhibit quantum behaviors. We report the remote preparation of a single plasmon state through the projective measurement of a photon entangled with the plasmon. We achieved photon-plasmon entanglement by converting one photon of an entangled photon pair into a surface plasmon. The plasmon is tested on a plasmonic platform in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. A projective measurement on the polarization of the photon allows the remote preparation of the interference state of the plasmon. Entanglement between particles of various nature paves the way to the design of hybrid systems in quantum information networks.