Invited Paper PL-MoA6
Ultrafast Microscopy of Surface Plasmon Dynamics in Silver Films

Monday, October 15, 2007, 3:40 pm, Room 619

We study the dynamics of localized surface plasmons and propagating surface plasmon polaritons in nanostructured Ag films on femtosecond temporal and nanometer spatial scale by means of interferometric time-resolved two-photon photoelectron emission microscopy (ITR-PEEM). Identical, phase correlated pump-probe pulses excite two-photon photoemission mediated by surface plasmon excitation in silver films; the resulting electron emission is imaged with electron optics. The combination of laser excitation an electron imaging provides <10 fs temporal and 50 nm spatial resolution. We record movies of surface plasmon propagation, dispersion, dephasing, interference and focusing in nanolithographically patterned metal films. The ITR-PEEM method provides a revolutionary advance in ultrafast electron microscopy for visualizing and controlling electromagnetic fields and ultrafast processes on the nano-femto scale.^1,2.

¹A. Kubo, K. Onda, H. Petek, Z. Sun, Y.-S. Jung, and H.-K. Kim, Nano Letters 5, 1123 (2005).
²A. Kubo, N. Pontius, and H. Petek, Nano Lett. 7, 470 (2007).