Plasmon switching: Observation of dynamic surface plasmon steering by selective mode excitation in a sub-wavelength slit

We report a plasmon steering method that enables us to dynamically control the direction of surface plasmons generated by a two-mode slit in a thin metal film. By varying the phase between different coherent beams that are incident on the slit, individual waveguide modes are excited. Different linear combinations of the two modes lead to...

Experimental demonstration of an intensity minimum at the focus of a laser beam created by spatial coherence: Application to the optical trapping of dielectric particles

In trying to manipulate the intensity distribution of a focused field, one typically uses amplitude or phase masks. Here we explore an approach, namely, varying the state of spatial coherence of the incident field. We experimentally demonstrate that the focusing of a Bessel-correlated beam produces an intensity minimum at the geometric focus...