AVS 54th International Symposium
    Plasmonics Topical Conference Monday Sessions
       Session PL-MoM

Invited Paper PL-MoM3
Plasmonics: A Route to Optical Metamaterials and Nanoscale Optical Devices

Monday, October 15, 2007, 8:40 am, Room 619

Session: Plasmonic Nanostructures and Plasmon Manipulation
Presenter: H. Atwater, California Institute of Technology
Correspondent: Click to Email

The rapidly developing field of plasmonics has captured the imagination of physicists, chemists and engineers because of the unique ability to control optical dispersion and localize light in metallodielectric materials at nanoscale dimensions. Many ideas are currently being generated by researchers, which may ultimately enable plasmonic components to form new metamaterials designs and also building blocks of a chip-based optical device technology with potential imaging, spectroscopy and interconnection applications in ultramicroscopy, computing, communication and chemical/biological detection. In this talk I will describe recent opportunities presented by new plasmonic components including i)design of metal-insulator-metal metamaterials that facilitate dispersion control to enable very high positive as well as negative effective refractive index in the visible and near infrared ii) Si CMOS compatible light near-infrared light sources for coupling into plasmonic networks iii) plasmon-enhanced emission from quantum dots, and iv) active plasmonic devices based on electro-optic and all-optical modulation of plasmon propagation. Finally, amid the exuberance currently felt by plasmonics researchers, it is worthwhile to ponder the potential technological and scientific limitations that we currently face, and how we might take the next steps toward integrated plasmonic circuit and system technologies with compelling applications.