Subwavelength Spot and Ultra-resolution Imaging

Plasmon-enhanced light-matter interaction is attracting increasingly interests both in fundamental research and in technological applications, e.g. surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy, heat-assisted magnetic recording, non-linear optics, molecular-level spectroscopy, photovoltaics, and single-photon detection. In many plasmonic structures, the electric field distribution is strongly dependent on the shape of the individual structure as well as the relative arrangements of the structures. Detailed knowledge of the field distribution is critical for many potential applications. However direct observation of such distribution in the optical region is extremely difficult as the spatial resolution required is much smaller than the diffraction limit.