2007/12/31 by M. Marklund, Gert Brodin, G. Brodin +2 · 150 citations
Computer Science · Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Condensed matter physics #Dielectric #Electron #Gold and Silver Nanoparticles Synthesis and Applications #Microelectronics #Optoelectronics #Physics #Plasmon #Plasmonic and Surface Plasmon Research #Quantum #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum limit #Quantum mechanics #Quantum optics #Surface plasmon #Surface plasmon polariton #cond-mat.other #physics.optics
paper · pdf · doi:10.1209/0295-5075/84/17006
published in Europhysics Letters (EPL) 84(1), 17006 (Institute of Physics) · 5 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Europhysics Letters
arxiv created 2008/09/14 · openalex publication_date 2008/09/22 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) have recently been recognized as an important future technique for microelectronics. Such SPPs have been studied using classical theory. However, current state-of-the-art experiments are rapidly approaching nanoscales, and quantum effects can then become important. Here we study the properties of quantum SPPs at the interface between an electron quantum plasma and a dielectric material. It is shown that the effect of quantum broadening of the transition layer is most important. In particular, the damping of SPPs does not vanish even in the absence of collisional dissipation, thus posing a fundamental size limit for plasmonic devices. Consequences and applications of our results are pointed out.