Optoplasmonics: basic principles and applications

Plasmonic and photonic elements often have complementary optical properties, motivating the development of ?optoplasmonic? hybrid systems in which the photonic and plasmonic elements can synergistically interact. The overall goal in the design of optoplasmonic structures is to overcome the limitations of the individual building blocks or to generate entirely new properties that reach beyond what is possible with conventional photonic or plasmonic structures. After providing a brief introduction into the relevant optical properties of plasmonic and photonic building blocks, this manuscript reviews optoplasmonic architectures that contain plasmonic nanoantennas embedded in a defined photonic environment generated by discrete dielectric nanoparticles (NPs), microcavities, waveguides, or photonic crystals, as well as all-metal NP or metal/dielectric NP hybrid arrays in which diffracted modes interact with the plasmons of metal NPs. The fundamental working principles of these optoplasmonic systems are analyzed and selected applications and fabrication strategies are discussed.