With progress in nanofabrication, new strategies have become available that allow precise control of nanoscale optical fields using metallic nanostructures. Here we review recent progress in the control of optical resonances in metal nanostructures for applications in sensing and spectroscopy. We discuss the use of new techniques, such as helium-ion beam milling, which allow precise sculpting of nanometer-scale gaps; new materials such as metal oxides, which have a response somewhere inbetween that of conventional dielectrics and noble metals; and new designs such as L-shaped gap antennas which allow controlling the polarization state of light through near-field interactions between closely spaced antennas.

Date Published: 22 May 2015
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 9455, Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives (CBRNE) Sensing XVI, 94550K (22 May 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2181668

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9455:
Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives (CBRNE) Sensing XVI
Augustus Way Fountain III, Editor(s)