Plasmonic Metamaterials: Unusual Optics and Applications

Surface plasmon-polaritons (or plasmons) are collective excitations of the conduction electrons and the electromagnetic field on the surface of such good metals as gold and silver. Near the frequency of surface plasmon resonance plasmons may perceive regular dielectrics as negative index metamaterials. As a result, unusual microscopy, lithography, and waveguiding devices may be realized. Nonlinear optics of these metamaterials is also extremely interesting. I will de- scribe recent experiments on plasmon-induced inverse Faraday effect in plasmonic metamateri- als. The plasmonic control of the spins opens new interesting avenues for all-optical ultrafast control of the magnetization at a nanometer length scale.