Surface plasmon polaritons in magnetic-dielectric hybrid nanostructures

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Ilya Akimov
• Subject Area: Experimental Condensed Matter Physics
• Term: from 2013 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 231781151

This project proposal is devoted to active plasmonics in which surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) are controlled by an external magnetic field and, vice versa, a medium's magnetization is controlled by plasmonic resonances. To enhance the interaction between an electromagnetic field and a magnetized medium we propose to use periodic hybrid nanostructures involving a noble metal layer and a dielectric ferromagnetic layer (in our case bismuth substituted rare-earth iron garnet). The investigated structures can be considered as plasmonic crystals because the metal film attached to the dielectric will be patterned with a period comparable to the SPP wavelength. The project goals are study of SPP interaction with the medium's magnetization and development of different approaches for active control of SPPs. In addition the SPP assisted electromagnetic energy localization in the magnetic material will be investigated. The main research directions are: (i) enhancement of magnetooptical effects in plasmonic crystals; (ii) investigation of new magnetooptical effects in plasmonic structures; (iii) SPP-assisted control of magnetization in ferromagnetic dielectrics; and (iv) sub-ps magnetooptical control of SPP pulse propagation in guided plasmonic crystals. The project results will be of importance for fundamental and applied physics. The plasmonic crystals envisioned here are promising for optoelectronic applications, such as ultrahigh sensitivity devices, optical data processing and all-optical magnetic data storage. The project will bring together efforts of the experimental team at TU Dortmund and the theoretical team at Lomonosov Moscow State University.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Russia
• Major Instrumentation: Two-color fs laser
• Instrumentation Group: 5700 Festkörper-Laser
• Participating Institution: Russian Foundation for Basic Research
• Participating Persons: Professor Dr. Manfred Bayer; Privatdozent Dr. Vladimir Belotelov; Professor Anatoly Sukhorukov