Focusing of intense femtosecond surface plasmon-polaritons

Nonlinear propagation and focusing within a metallic ring of intense (near or higher than metal ablation threshold) surface plasmon-polaritons excited by a femtosecond laser pulse was experimentally and theoretically studied. Fundamental possibility of local fluence increasing at focus of such plasmonic lens (the ring) by two orders of magnitude was shown. Formation of surface nanostructures as a result of the surface plasmon-polaritons focusing was experimentally observed.