`Deterministic' quantum plasmonics

We demonstrate `deterministic' launching of propagative quantum surface-plasmon polaritons at freely chosen positions on gold plasmonic receptacles. This is achieved by using as plasmon launcher a near-field scanning optical source made of a diamond nanocrystal with two Nitrogen-Vacancy color-center occupancy. Our demonstration relies on leakage-radiation microscopy of a thin homogeneous gold film and on near-field optical microscopy of a nanostructured thick gold film. Our work paves the way to future fundamental studies and applications in quantum plasmonics that require an accurate positioning of single-plasmon sources and may open a new branch in plasmonics and nanophotonics, namely scanning quantum plasmonics.
Comment: Published in nanoletters: Nano Lett., 2010, 10 (11), pp 4566-4570 Publication Date (Web): October 21, 2010 Copyright \c{opyright} 2010 American Chemical Society