https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2012-30273-3
Colloquium
Plasmas meet plasmonics
Everything old is new again
1
Plasma Nanoscience Centre Australia (PNCA), CSIRO Materials
Science and Engineering, P.O. Box 218, Lindfield, 2070
New South Wales,
Australia
2
Plasma Nanoscience @ Complex Systems, School of Physics, The
University of Sydney, 2006
New South Wales,
Australia
a
e-mail: kostya.ostrikov@csiro.au
Received:
26
April
2012
Received in final form:
29
June
2012
Published online:
4
September
2012
The term ‘plasmon’ was first coined in 1956 to describe collective electronic oscillations in solids which were very similar to electronic oscillations/surface waves in a plasma discharge (effectively the same formulae can be used to describe the frequencies of these physical phenomena). Surface waves originating in a plasma were initially considered to be just a tool for basic research, until they were successfully used for the generation of large-area plasmas for nanoscale materials synthesis and processing. To demonstrate the synergies between ‘plasmons’ and ‘plasmas’, these large-area plasmas can be used to make plasmonic nanostructures which functionally enhance a range of emerging devices. The incorporation of plasma-fabricated metal-based nanostructures into plasmonic devices is the missing link needed to bridge not only surface waves from traditional plasma physics and surface plasmons from optics, but also, more topically, macroscopic gaseous and nanoscale metal plasmas. This article first presents a brief review of surface waves and surface plasmons, then describe how these areas of research may be linked through Plasma Nanoscience showing, by closely looking at the essential physics as well as current and future applications, how everything old, is new, once again.
Key words: Colloquium: Colloquium
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag 2012