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We have observed directional spontaneous emission of rhodamine 6G dye deposited on top of a silver grating and found that its angular distribution patterns were very different in TE and TM polarizations. The latter was related to the dispersion curves determined based on the polarized reflection spectra measured at multiple incidence angles. The most intriguing finding of this Letter was a resonance, which was coupled with TE-polarized light and determined the characteristic double-crescent patterns in the TE-polarized spontaneous emission. This observation, as well as nearly similar resonance observed in TM polarization, was tentatively explained in terms of leaky waveguide modes supported by a film of dye-doped polymer.

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Metamaterials with hyperbolic dispersion based on metallic nanorod arrays provide a flexible platform for the design of bio- and chemical sensors and nonlinear devices, allowing the incorporation of functional materials into and onto the plasmonic metamaterial. Here, we have investigated, both analytically and numerically, the dependence of the optical response of these metamaterials on refractive index variations in commonly used experimental sensing configurations, including transmission, reflection, and total internal reflection. The strategy for maximising refractive index sensitivity for different configurations has been considered, taking into account contributions from the superstrate, embedding matrix, and the metal itself. It is shown that the sensitivity to the refractive index variations of the host medium is at least 2 orders of magnitude higher than to the ones originating from the superstrate. It is also shown that the refractive index sensitivity increases for higher-order unbound and leaky modes of the metamaterial sensor. The impact of the transducer's thickness was also analysed showing significant increase of the sensitivity for the thinner metamaterial layers (down to few 0.01 fraction of wavelength and, thus, requiring less analyte) as long as modes are supported by the structure. In certain configurations, both TE and TM-modes of the metamaterial transducer have comparable sensitivities. The results provide the basis for the design of new ultrasensitive chemical and biosensors outperforming both surface plasmon polaritons and localised surface plasmons based transducers.

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Having in mind parametric amplification of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) as the final goal, we took the first step and studied in the Kretschmann geometry a simpler nonlinear optical process - second harmonic generation (SHG) enhanced by SPPs propagating at the interface between gold film and 2-methyl-4-nitroaniline (MNA). The experimentally demonstrated SHG efficiency was nearly 10(6) times larger than the one reported previously in the SPP system with different nonlinear optical material. The experimentally measured nonlinear conversion efficiency is estimated to be sufficient for parametric amplification of surface plasmon polaritons at ultra-short laser pumping.

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The hyperbolic and plasmonic properties of silicon nanowire/Ag arrays have been investigated. The aligned nanowire arrays were formed and coated by atomic layer deposition of Ag, which itself is a metamaterial due to its unique mosaic film structure. The theoretical and numerical studies suggest that the fabricated arrays have hyperbolic dispersion in the visible and IR ranges of the spectrum. The theoretical predictions have been indirectly confirmed by polarized reflection spectra, showing reduction of the reflection in p polarization in comparison to that in s polarization. Studies of dye emission on top of Si/Ag nanowire arrays show strong emission quenching and shortening of dye emission kinetics. This behavior is also consistent with the predictions for hyperbolic media. The measured SERS signals were enhanced by almost an order of magnitude for closely packed and aligned nanowires, compared to random nanowire composites. These results agree with electric field simulations of these array structures.

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We present a comprehensive study of enhanced light funneling through a subwavelength aperture with realistic (lossy) epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) materials. We realize experimentally an inclusion-free ENZ material layer operating at optical frequencies and characterize its performance. An analytical expression describing light funneling through several structures involving ENZ coupling layers is developed, validated with numerical solutions of Maxwell equations, and utilized to relate the performance of the ENZ coupling systems to their main limiting factor, material losses.

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We analyze, theoretically and experimentally, the dynamics of the wavepackets in plasmonic beaming devices, and show that the beam evolution in this class of structures is a multiscale phenomenon, which initiates in the near-field proximity of the device, develops continuously over a new length scale many times the wavelength of the light, and is completed well into the far-field of the system. We develop a quantitative description of the light evolution in the beaming structures and verify our theoretical predictions with experiments. Our analytical results are utilized to develop plasmonic geometries for shaping the mid-field beam evolution, and experimental results from these structures are demonstrated.

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We have observed stimulated emission of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) in dye-doped polymeric microcylinder cavities deposited onto gold and silver wires. The stimulated emission spectra featured a characteristic series of laser modes, with modal spacing corresponding to SPPs propagating at the interface between the metal and dielectric. A plasmonic microlaser adds to the toolbox of plasmonic devices and plasmonic metamaterials and enables on-chip plasmonic generation and loss compensation.

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All-optical signal processing enables modulation and transmission speeds not achievable using electronics alone. However, its practical applications are limited by the inherently weak nonlinear effects that govern photon-photon interactions in conventional materials, particularly at high switching rates. Here, we show that the recently discovered nonlocal optical behaviour of plasmonic nanorod metamaterials enables an enhanced, ultrafast, nonlinear optical response. We observe a large (80%) change of transmission through a subwavelength thick slab of metamaterial subjected to a low control light fluence of 7 mJ cm(-2), with switching frequencies in the terahertz range. We show that both the response time and the nonlinearity can be engineered by appropriate design of the metamaterial nanostructure. The use of nonlocality to enhance the nonlinear optical response of metamaterials, demonstrated here in plasmonic nanorod composites, could lead to ultrafast, low-power all-optical information processing in subwavelength-scale devices.

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Label-free plasmonic biosensors rely either on surface plasmon polaritons or on localized surface plasmons on continuous or nanostructured noble-metal surfaces to detect molecular-binding events. Despite undisputed advantages, including spectral tunability, strong enhancement of the local electric field and much better adaptability to modern nanobiotechnology architectures, localized plasmons demonstrate orders of magnitude lower sensitivity compared with their guided counterparts. Here, we demonstrate an improvement in biosensing technology using a plasmonic metamaterial that is capable of supporting a guided mode in a porous nanorod layer. Benefiting from a substantial overlap between the probing field and the active biological substance incorporated between the nanorods and a strong plasmon-mediated energy confinement inside the layer, this metamaterial provides an enhanced sensitivity to refractive-index variations of the medium between the rods (more than 30,000 nm per refractive-index unit). We demonstrate the feasibility of our approach using a standard streptavidin-biotin affinity model and record considerable improvement in the detection limit of small analytes compared with conventional label-free plasmonic devices.

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We have observed laserlike emission of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) decoupled to the glass prism in an attenuated total reflection setup. SPPs were excited by optically pumped molecules in a polymeric film deposited on the top of a silver film. Stimulated emission was characterized by a distinct threshold in the input-output dependence and narrowing of the emission spectrum. The observed stimulated emission and corresponding compensation of the metallic absorption loss by gain enables many applications of metamaterials and nanoplasmonic devices.

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We report the suppression of loss of surface plasmon polariton propagating at the interface between silver film and optically pumped polymer with dye. The large magnitude of the effect enables a variety of applications of 'active' nanoplasmonics. The experimental study is accompanied by the analytical description of the phenomenon. In particular, we resolve the controversy regarding the direction of the wavevector of a wave with a strong evanescent component in an active medium.

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We report the design and fabrication of nanostructured metal-dielectric mirrors with high reflectance asymmetries in the visible spectral range. Applying dispersion engineering principles to model a broadband and large reflectance asymmetry, we obtain a dielectric function for this metamaterial, closely resembling the effective permittivity of disordered metal-dielectric nanocomposites. Coatings realized by using disordered nanocrystalline silver films on glass substrates confirm the theoretical predictions, exhibiting symmetric transmittance, accompanied by large broadband reflectance asymmetries.