Detection of the optical magnetic field by circular symmetry plasmons

• Published in: Applied surface science 2000-09, Vol.164 (1), p.124-130
• Main Authors: Devaux, Eloı̈se, Dereux, Alain, Bourillot, Eric, Weeber, Jean-Claude, Lacroute, Yvon, Goudonnet, Jean-Pierre, Girard, Christian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Circular symmetry plasmon; Collective excitations (including excitons, polarons, plasmons and other charge-density excitations); Collective excitations (including plasmons and other charge-density excitations); Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Exact sciences and technology; Instruments, apparatus, components and techniques common to several branches of physics and astronomy; Near-field scanning optical microscopes; Optical magnetic field; Physics; Scanning probe microscopes, components and techniques; Surface and interface electron states
• ISSN: 0169-4332; 1873-5584
• DOI: 10.1016/S0169-4332(00)00349-4

We report on the influence of coating a sharpened optical fiber tip with Au when observing nanofabricated dielectric structures with a Photon Scanning Tunneling Microscope (PSTM) in constant-height mode. For well-defined incident wavelengths and coating thicknesses, we found that such tips detect the distribution of the magnetic field associated with the optical wave in the near-field zone. A simple tip model indicates that this phenomenon is related to the excitation of circular symmetry plasmons in Au coated tips.