Invited Paper
Confining Light to Atomic Length Scales

Using antenna-like plasmonic nano structures [1] photons can be controlled at the length scales far beyond the wavelength of light. We create atomically-precise plasmonic nanostructures from single-crystalline gold [2] by top-down and bottom-up nano fabrication. Using such structures we investigate (i) electrically connected plasmonic nanoantennas for antenna-enhanced optoelectronics [3] and (ii) strong coupling between a single quantum dot and a plasmonic resonator at ambient conditions.

[1] Science 308, 1607 (2005)
[2] Nature Commun. 1, 150 (2010)
[3] Nano Letters 12(8), 3915 (2012)

hecht@physik.uni-wuerzburg.de