Efficient excitation and amplification of the surface plasmons

One dimensional (1D) grating has been fabricated (using focused ion beam) on 50 nm gold (Au) film deposited on higher refractive index Gallium phosphate (GaP) substrate. The sub-wavelength periodic metal nano structuring enable to couple photon to couple with the surface plasmons (SPs) excited by them. These grating devices provide the efficient control on the SPs which propagate on the interface of noble metal and dielectric whose frequency is dependent on the bulk electron plasma frequency of the metal. For a fixed periodicity (${\Lambda}=700 nm$) and slit width (w = 100 nm) in the grating device, the efficiency of SPP excitation is about 40% compared to the transmission in the near-field. Efficient coupling of SPs with photon in dielectric provide field localisation on sub-wavelength scale which is needed in Heat Assisted Magnetic recording (HAMR) systems. The GaP is also used to emulate Vertical Cavity Surface emitting laser (VCSEL) in order to provide cheaper alternative of light source being used in HAMR technology. In order to understand the underlying physics, far-and near-field results has been compared with the modelling results which are obtained using COMSOL RF module. Apart from this, grating devices of smaller periodicity (${\Lambda}=280nm$) and slit width (w = 22 nm) has been fabricated on GaP substrate which is photoluminescence material to observe amplified spontaneous emission of the SPs at wavelength of 805 nm when the grating device was excited with 532 nm laser light. This observation is unique and can have direct application in light emitting diodes (LEDs).