Broadband Light Slowed via Nanoplasmonics
BETHLEHEM, Pa., March 22, 2011 — Plasmonic structures can slow light waves over a broad range of wavelengths, verifying the “rainbow” trapping effect, which had been predicted only recently in the theoretical studies of metamaterials.
An experiment conducted by chemists at Lehigh University used focused ion beams to mill a series of increasingly deeper, nanosize grooves into a thin sheet of silver. By focusing light along this plasmonic structure, the series of grooves, or nanogratings, slowed each wavelength...