Plasmonic laser antenna

The authors have demonstrated a surface plasmon device composed of a resonant optical antenna integrated on the facet of a commercial diode laser, termed a plasmonic laser antenna. This device generates enhanced and spatially confined optical near fields. Spot sizes of a few tens of nanometers have been measured at a wavelength similar to 0.8 mu m. This device can be implemented in a wide variety of semiconductor lasers emitting in spectral regions ranging from the visible to the far infrared, including quantum cascade lasers. It is potentially useful in many applications including near-field optical microscopes, optical data storage, and heat-assisted magnetic recording. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.