Polarization-dependent study on propagating surface plasmons in silver nanowires launched by a near-field scanning optical fiber tip.

A study on propagating surface plasmons (SPs) in a silver nanowire excited through near-field coupling is reported. The raster scan capability enables us to investigate the coupling efficiency of near-field radiation into propagating SPs with nanometer precision. This study is of critical importance to the design of interconnects between nanowires in integrated plasmonic or hybrid photonic-plasmonic nanocircuits.