Plasmonics

Faizah Rafique
University of Bath, Bath, Avon, BA2 7AY
fr217@bath.ac.uk
Abstract. Plasmonics primarily concerns itself with the properties exhibited by and observed
affects of surface plasmons (SPs) and surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs). This phenomena of
coupled oscillations of incident light to the resonant oscillation of a plasma medium has ignited
furious study in the fields of optical devices at a nanoscale and even influenced the field of
metamaterials through negative refraction and quantum information processing. The field has
seen a true exponential growth in interest over the past decade. Biosensing and Surface
Plasmon Resonance techniques, amongst others have all branched off from this area of physics
because of the potential it has given to the advancement of technology and even enhancing the
engineering and manufacturing of already existing technology. The extraordinary properties of
have caused real excitement in the scientific community as it has paved the way into the
futuristic applications, such as invisibility cloaks in the metamaterials branch of this field.
However, it has also created excitement as experimentally it is not as demanding as particle
physics research which requires large particle accelerators and so discoveries are more likely
and cost considerably less to run.

1. Introduction
Plasmonics describes a promising field of physics which has become of fundamental research interest
since it concerns itself with the astonishing properties of surface plasmons (and their polariton form)
and looks to exploit these for the potential they present for numerous technological applications. [1] In
order to explore plasmonics we must first look at the fundamental physics that underlies this research
field. The basics of plasma physics and extraordinary properties of surface plasmons (SP), and how
they are formed will be explored in addition to their interactions with photons to form surface plasmon
polaritons (SPP).
1.1 Key ideas
A plasma describes a media containing a high density of freely mobile charges. The first man-made
plasma dates back to the 1897 when radiant matter was discovered in the Crookes tube [2].
However, it was not until the 1920s that the term plasma was invented and used by Langmuir, in a
paper that he released which describes the so-called Langmuir waves as charge density waves[3]. It
was H. Mott-Smith who then derived the correct formula for the characteristic plasma frequency [4]
which is given as:
=

(1)

where n represents the charge carrier density, e and m describe the charge and the mass of the charge
carrier respectively. If one uses the free electron model of an electron gas, i.e. the Drude model, the
dielectric function of the permittivity is given by [5]:

=1
(2)
provided that attenuation is ignored. Note that,
represent the plasma frequency and that represent
the frequency of the incident light. Here it is shown to have a dependence on the frequency. This
exemplifies that a material can exhibit different properties at different frequencies.
Metals, from and electromagnetic point of view, can be described as neutral plasmas. They are
comprised of fixed heavy ion cores and have mobile conduction electrons. [6] The plasma exhibits
ordered behavior such that the system can be regarded as a whole as opposed to treating each charged
particle individually. Recent interests in this exploit the collective oscillations of the conduction
electrons. [6] The charge ordering characteristics of a plasma result in a tendency to remain field free
and electrically neutral. [7] If an electric field is introduced due to external forces or by a lack of
charge neutrality of spatial distribution of carriers, the free charges will automatically act to oppose the
intruding field. A plasma can therefore be regarded as a medium which acts to remain field free and
possesses a neutral equilibrium state. [7]
For this to be applicable, both the dynamic and static properties of the medium should exhibit
organized properties[7]. The structured nature of particle motions is made possible by the electrostatic
forces and kinetic energies of the charged particles. If, for example, a particular volume of the plasma
has an excess of electrons, the electrons will experience a Coulomb repulsion force, and begin move
away. The point at which neutrality is established, the electrons will have gained kinetic energy. The
electron momentum will therefore carry them further away and instead produce a deficiency of
negative charge over the same region. The electrostatic potential of the electron is affected and now
experiences the Coulomb attractive force, pulling the electrons back in. Over time this is repeated and
thus a systematic oscillation of the charged region is set up; plasma oscillations. [7]
The plasmon describes a quantization of the above described plasma oscillation. Much like a
phonon describes a quantum of mechanical vibrations or a photon describes a quantization of
electromagnetic radiation. In a classical sense it describes the oscillation of free electron density with
respect to a fixed positive ion. Plasmons are important in themselves when one considers the optical
properties of a material. For instance the plasma frequency (as described by equations 1 and 2),
describes the frequency below which light is reflected because the electrons will act to shield the
material from the electric field of the incident light. Metals, for example, have plasma frequency in the
ultra violet range of the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum; hence they appear shiny in the visible region.
Metals such copper [8] and gold [9] suffer from interband absorption in the visible region of the EM
spectrum. Particular frequencies of light are absorbed by the material and result in interband
transitions [9]. Thus, giving these particular metals their distinct colours.
The plasma frequency is of fundamental importance when one reconsidering the screening effect of
the free charges of the plasma. EM waves with frequencies below this frequency cannot propagate
through the plasma [10].This is because the incoming wave incident on the plasma induces a
displacement of the free charges. These then produce two planes waves, which at frequencies below
the plasma frequency are out of phase, that interfere destructively. However, at frequencies above the
plasma frequency the induced oscillations of the plasma free charges are in phase with the field of the
incoming wave and therefore the wave is allowed to propagate through the plasma [4]. This is known
as the bulk transverse plasma.
Surface plasmons on the other hand can be excited either by the firing of electrons into the bulk of
the material. This in turn transfers energy to the bulk plasma as the free electrons scatter. The surface
plasmons are a result of the scattering vector component which is parallel to the surface of the material
which is being fired at. [11] The other way in which surface plasmon can be excited is by the
bombardment of photons. The existence of such a mode was first demonstrated in 1959 by Powell and
Swan [12]. By bombarding a thin film of aluminium with high-energy electron, as predicted by Rufus
Ritchie two years previously [13], they were able to observe the characteristic energy losses of the
incident electron beams. The spectral lines exhibited two peaks: the bulk plasmon and the newly
termed surface plasmon. The particulars of this experiment will be discussed in greater detail in
section 3. Subsequent research was then carried out into the determination of propagation properties of
surface plasmons and led to the discovery of the metal dielectric interface propagation properties.

The propagation of the EM waves at the metal and a dielectric boundary is heavily dependent on
the geometry of the interface between the two mediums [4].
[ ]. At particular frequencies, the light which
is radiated onto
o a metallic surface, couples
couple with the surface plasmons. This creates a self-sustaining
self
propagating EM wave, which is known as a surface plasmon polariton (SPP). A polariton is simply a
hybridization which describes the coupling of the oscillations of the incident photon to that of the
electric dipoles of the medium [14].
]. The resonant interaction between
One of the consequences of this interaction is that the momentum of the SPP mode is greater than
that of the free-space
space photon of the same energy [14]
[
and therefore when Maxwells equations are
solved with continuity boundary conditions,
conditions, yields the frequency dependent wave vector kSP [14]. I.e.
the SPP dispersion relation [15]:
()
where the frequency dependent permittivity of tthe metal and
nd the dielectric is given by m and d
respectively. These must have opposite signs if SPPs are to exist at the interface between the two
materials.
The second consequence of the coupling interaction of photons and surface oscillations relates to
the propagation, or lack thereof, of the field perpendicular to the surface. The field is found to decay
exponentially with the distance from the surface and is described as evanescent or near-field in
nature [14].
]. From this we can ascertai
ascertain that the SPPs are non-radiative
radiative and hence prevents power
from being propagated
pagated away from the surface [14].
[14
The field of optics has gained much from these discoveries as SPPs present very attractive
properties which are used to concentrate light using subwavelength scaled structures [14]. By direct
result, one could manufacture nanoscale photonic circuits. Such circuits would need to converts the
incident light into SPPs which would then be able to propagate over much smaller length scales than
have already been achieved[16]. This is one of the contributing factors to the exponential growth of
research that is carried out in this field.
1.2 Driving the expansion of the field
Plasmonics can be viewed as an interdisciplinary area of research bringing different
different back grounds of
scientists as they strive to discover new and exciting phenomena that stem from surface plasmons. The
already discovered properties have made an impact in a number of fields that include not only science
and technology, through photonics,
photonics nano-science
science and material sciences, but also computation,
medicine
ne and biology, among others. [1]
[1
It is clear that it is the extraordinary properties and phenomena observed by scientists and the
potential application of these properties have really driv
driven expansion of this field. Fig 1 illustrates how
the field has grown over half a century this have become even more pronounced over the past 7 years
which is exhibited by figure 2. Fig 1 also shows prominent discoveries over the 50 year period which
has really influenced the field and propelled further research into this subject, most of which have

Figure 1:: The growth of the field of metal

nanophotonics is illustrated by the number
of scientific articles published annually
containing the phrase surface plasmon in
either the title or abstract (this is based on
data provided on www.science
www.sciencedirect.
com)[17]] and has been taken from a
PowerPoint presentation by Mark Tame at
the university of Belfast. It also illustrates
which key papers were released in
particular years and how this drove the
expansion of the
he field of plasmonic

10000
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
2006

2007

2008

2009

2010
Year 2011

Number of publications

9000

Fig 2 : This particular figure leads

on from Fig 1 and shows the
expansion of the field over the past
6 years. It represents just how much
the field has excelled in such a
short space of time. In fig 1 we saw
that
in
2005
there
were
approximately
2000
papers
published, and in 2006 this number
has increased to ~5000. And this
has steadily increased until 2012
(the last year that has fully
elapsed).

2012

formed the key foundations upon which plasmonics has been built. Some of these key pieces of
scientific literatures have been delved into in greater detail in section 3 of this report.
One of the main areas of physics which has really benefitted from the boom of research of
plasmonics is the uses that it has for optical devices. Plasmonics has been extensively explored as a
means of merging photonics and electronics at nanoscale dimensions. Previously optical devices have
been heavily restricted. Optical inter-circuit connectors such a fibre optic cables carry digital
capacities that are vastly better than that of electronic interconnectors. The flip side, however, is that
these fibre optic cables are approximately 1000 times larger compared with their electronic
counterparts [18].
The most limiting factor in terms of the integration of the optical and electronic circuits is the
scales at which they operate. For instance, electronic circuits can be manufactured at dimensions that
are less than a hundred nanometers. The wavelength of light used in photonic circuits is of the order of
a thousand nanometers instead. This ultimately results in bulky configurations. Plasmonics provides
the ideal solution as they offer the potential to carry both electric current and optical signals along the
same thin metal circuitry in the form of SPs [18].The SPs give rise to unique properties and are able
to confine light to very small dimensions. Whereas when optical components are reduced to the order
of magnitude of the wavelength of the light, the propagation of this light is limited by the effects of
optical diffraction [19]. It is of very little wonder that the merging of these two field would seem
naturally unsuited to one another as due to the limits on length scales as a direct result of this
diffraction limit[6]. Plasmonics has really taken off because of the realisation that plasmons do not
suffer from the same limitations as optics alone and offer a route into sub wavelength optics.
The applications of plasmonics in the formation of new metamaterials have also contributed to the
massive boom in this area of research. Although the exciting properties associated with were first
described in the 1950s, the engineering and manufacturing capabilities at the time were restricted.
The past decade has, as a result, seen a real explosion of plasmonic research as exhibited in fig 2
which represent the number of papers published since 2006 that have featured the word plasmon* as
a topic. This expansion is due primarily to advancement of nanotechnologies.
This has had a prominent affect on the field of metamaterials. An external free space propagating
wave of light is employed to manipulate the free electrons along the metal dielectric interface.
Metamaterial sciences extend this idea by making nanoscale metal-dielectric composites to make
artificial materials with engineered properties that they can control. Despite the materials composition
of metal and dielectric materials when considered on a wavelength scale these can be regarded as a
homogeneous material.
Particular geometries of the metal-dielectric composites are used to control the propagation of the
SPPs and so the permeability and permittivity of the material can be engineered such that a particular

composition or arrangement leads to a magnetic or electrical response at optical frequencies that no

natural materials can exhibit. For example there have been attempts to engineer materials which
demonstrate a negative refractive index. This forms an entirely new hot topic in itself and the field
has seen an exponential boom over the past 5 years.
Another use of Plasmonics has been seen in the more biological and medicinal areas of physics. It
is important to mention this aspect of research such that one can really appreciate just how far
reaching the applications of plasmonics truly are. Medical applications have used quantification of the
excitations of plasmons in order to identify particular proteins. For instance, in 2006, a fully
operational device was fabricated which was able to detect casein in milk [20]. The prototype device
monitored absorption of light by SPs located on a thin gold layer [20]. This particular discovery is
discussed in greater detail in Section 3, but one should take away an awareness of the vast applications
of plasmonics and appreciation of just how vast this field is, not only in itself but also in how it has
strong influences on such an array of other fields of science.
2. Analyse the development of the topic in terms of the number of publications, geographical
distribution. What research groups are leading the fields?
In the late 40s and 50s there were really only two pioneers in the field of Plasmonics, D Pines and
Bohm. There are 8 collaborative papers and reviews from this time from which it seems the majority
of current research traces back to. Bohm was based at the University of Sao Paulo, a university which
today specialises in Spintronics and Quantum information processing which are areas of research
which is closely entwined with Plasmonics. Pines on the other hand was based at Princeton again
another university which even in the past 5 years have discovered new phenomena which has
contributed to the exponential growth of the field over the past decade.
Another key scientist as before mentioned is Rufus Ritchie, in the two decades that followed
his discovery in 1957, surface plasmons were studied extensively by the likes of Heinz Raether, E.
Raether fathered what can only be called an exquisite article entitled Surface-plasmon on smooth and
rough
surfaces
and
on
gratings
which
was
published in Springer Tracts in Modern Physics in 1988. It gives a detailed over view of all the
research that had been already achieved in the field of plasmonic. Whereas A.Otto and Kretschmann
identified two separate ways in which to make SPs propagate along the interface of a metal and
dielectric interface in the 1960s and 1970s.
Recently however there has been another boom in this research field. The past five
years have seen an exceptional rise in the research which is being carried out in this field as exhibited
by figure 2. Fig 4, shows the research organizations that are internationally leading the field of
plasmonics. It is interesting to note that although the USA had the most number of papers published
TAIWAN
CANADA
SPAIN
ENGLAND
SOUTH KOREA
FRANCE
GERMANY
JAPAN
PEOPLES R
USA

2000
4000
6000
8000 10000
Number of papers published since 2005

Fig 3: This particular distribution

illustrates the distribution of the
research
facilities
at
an
international level. It provides
information of the number of
papers that have been published in
the field of plasmonics by the top
10 countries. It is not entirely
surprising that the USA and
Peoples Republic of China are the
top two when one considers the
magnitude of their populations.

Fig 4: The top 10 research

facilities in the world are
exhibited here with the
number or research papers
that they have published
since
2005.
The
universities seen here are
mostly based in China of
the USA; this is not
surprising
when
one
considers
the
data
exhibited by fig 3.

RICE UNIVERSITY
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
CNRS
NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITY
MAX PLANCK SOCIETY
CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SYSTEM
CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Number of publication since 2005

300
600
900
Number of publications since 2005

1200

300
250
200
150
100
50
0

Fig 5: Web of Science was employed in order to determine which organisations have been leading the
field of plasmonics since 2005 in the UK. The top 20 research facilities have been compiled here. As can
be seen, the members of Active Plasmonics are listed here. One could ignore the first result as this
refers all London university that have contributed to the field of plasmonics. (ie all universities which are
part of the London deanery have been considered as one)
since 2005,(see Fig 3) when this is seen at a research facility level, the Chinese academy of Science
actually tops the table at approx 11,000 papers.
Within the UK, there is a research programme that focuses on nanoplasmonics called Active
Plasmonics. This is a multidisciplinary collaborative project between Imperial College London ,
Kings College London and Queens University Belfast and is funded by EPSRC (Engineering and
Physical Sciences Research Council). Today Imperial College London is a Centre for Plasmonics and
Metamaterials and Queens University Belfast is a Centre for Nanstructured media. The leading
research groups here in the UK can be seen in fig 5.

3. Pinnacle discoveries
In the history of any field there are always key research papers which are published at the time that
instigate a paradigm shift in the understanding of the field. It is those papers which allow fields such
as plasmonics to progress and are usually followed by periods were extensive research is inspired by
the theoretical description of new phenomena, or the discovery of novel unexpected properties.
3.1. Theoretical prediction of surface plasmons excitation
The quanta associated with the waves in the bulk of a plasma medium (i.e. a plasmon) was first
discussed by Bohm in early 1950s in two papers that he wrote for Physical review. However it was
not until 1957 that the field of surface science widely recognised Surface plasmon after the pioneering
work of Rufus Ritchie was published [14], which was rooted deeply in the work of Bohm. Ritchie
treated the free oscillation of the plasma medium as dielectric gas and by mathematical reasoning
predicted the propagation of surface plasmons.
3.2. First experimental demonstration of surface plasmon excitation
Powell and Swan demonstrated this experimentally through observation of the energy losses of the
fast electron as opposed to the bulk electrons [12] 2 years earlier, described by Ritchie, when they
bombarded a thin film of aluminium with high energy electrons. These energy losses were
characteristic of the plasmon that was being excited. Study of the spectral lines revealed that there
were two equally spaced peaks, in terms of energy [12].
These peak doublets are shown in fig 6. These peaks occur at the same energies regardless of
the initial beam energies. Identification of the peak to the corresponding type of plasmon is based on
the understanding that the electrons have large momenta and therefore if we recall the dispersion
relations discussed earlier, only those modes with large wavevectors (k) are excited [4].
Consequently, it can be determined that the upper peak in each doublet is illustrative of the
excitation of a bulk longitudinal plasmon. The energy of which can be calculated by calculating
from equation 1 and multiplying it by Plancks constant to give 15.3eV [4]. The lower peak, by the
same analysis, can be identified as the excitation of a surface plasmon at energy 10.3 eV. As can be
seen from the graph, the experimental data showed particularly excellent agreement with the
theoretical values that have been calculated. It is this paper instigated the research on excitation of
surface plasmons polaritons and shed light on the importance of the geometry of the metal dielectric
surface and the control one could gain of the direction of propagation of the surface plasmon wave.

Fig 6 : This figure was taken from [4]

and is the figure used in the paper
published by C.J Powell and J.B Swan,
Physical Review, 115, page 869, (1959)
[12]. Copyright (1959) by the American
Physical Society. It presents the evidence
for bulk and surface plasmons
respectively in the thin aluminium films.
Each peak is illustrative of an energy loss
experienced by the transmission through
the Al film. The initial beam energies are
given for each spectrum. There are clear
peak doublets which are a result of
multiple emissions of plasmons [4]

3.3. Plasmonics forming the basis of metamaterials with negative refraction

A description of a negative refractive medium is one in which the direction of propagation of a wave is
in the opposite direction to the direction of the wave vector. As a result it was predicted that the
electromagnetic wave propagation in such materials would have a negative dielectric permittivity and
a negative magnetic permeability ( ( ) < 0 ; ( ) < 0 respectively). Materials of this type would
exhibit very unusual properties, for instance they would have a negative group velocity since the
Poynting vector in the direction opposite to the wavevectors [21].
One of the main reasons that such materials have attracted such attention in recent years is
because of a potential of producing a material which would behave like a negative refractive medium
and hence have a photonic band gap at optical frequencies. This photonic band gap would be
analogous to the Bloch electron waves in the band structure of a crystal [21].
The most interesting aspect of this paper was the treatment of surface polariton in near
resonance with modes of surface transition layer [21]. By using knowledge of the effects of using a
thin film or substrate which can drastically alter the dispersion of surface polaritons when at
resonance, Angranovitch predicts that negative refraction could occur in connection with the
possibility of optical wave propagation over two dimensions. He theorises that the transition layer
(thin film) will give rise to a surface polariton dispersion curve that has negative slopes at sufficiently
large wavevector values and hence give rise to negative group velocities, if the materials are chosen
carefully.
3.4. Plasmonic application in biosensing
In 2006, Hiep et al published a paper entitled: A localized surface plasmon resonance based
immunosensor for the detection of casein in milk. This particular paper exemplifies how plasmonics
as a field has hugely impacted another. By exploiting the properties of localised surface plasmon
resonance (LSPR) in the form of a immunosensor, the team were able to produce a prototype device
that detected one of the most potent allergens in milk[20].
Immunosensors are able to detect various compounds of interest with a high degree of
sensitivity. The types of immunosensors themselves vary greatly in the manner in which they operate,
for instance there are optical, piezoelectric and electrochemical immunosensors[20]. However it is
immunosensor that are based on LSPR that have gained interest as they represent an opportunity to
miniaturize such detection devices.
LSPR describes the resonance of the free electron waves when the frequency of the incident
photon is the same as that of the oscillations of the conductive free electrons of metal nanoparticles. It
is these nanoparticles which exhibit the absorption optical properties in the UV to visible region of the
EM spectrum [22]. The absorption shows and exponential decay with decreasing photon energy, this is
otherwise known as Mie- scattering [4]. There are two things to be considered here; the frequency and
intensity of the absorptions by the surface plasmons. These are highly dependent on the type of
material, in this instance a gold-capped nanoparticles substrate [20] was used; the size and shape of the
nanostructures; and finally, the local environment.
In the past LSPR biosensors used instead triangular shaped silver nanoparticles. Hiep et al
chose not to follow suit as the construction of such nanoparticles was not only time consuming, but
because incredible difficulty lay in controlling the uniformity of the size of nanometals. Furthermore,
this rendered the possibility reproducibility problematic. The team improved upon this issue by
developing a gold capped nanoparticles substrate.
The final configuration of the immunosensor constructed of surface modified silica
nanoparticles layer [20] as the core. On either side of this a glass substrate was the thin film of gold
nanoparticles that coated the top and bottom, forming the shell. The optical frequency at which the
absorption peak for the noble metal substrate was seen at approximately 520nm. In doing so, they also
noted through atomic force microscopy that the nanoparticles formed a monolayer on the glass
substrate[20]. They were therefore able immobilize an anti-casein antibody on the surface. This could
be used as a detector for casein in raw milk samples. The advantages of the device that they fabricated

exploited the LSPR properties and resulted in the production of easy fabrication, simple handling, low
cost and high sensitivity LSPR based immunosensor [20].
References
[1] Sergey Bozhevolnyi and Francisco Garca-Vidal, Focus on Plasmonics, 2008 New J. Phys. 10
[2] W. Crookes, Lecture to the British association for the Advancement of Science, Sheffield, 1897.
[3] I. Langmuir, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 14 (1928) pg 628
[4] Y. Wang, E.W Plummer & K. Kempa (2011), Foundations of Plasmonics, Advances in Physics,
60:5, pg 79-898
[5] Kittel, C. (2005).Introduction to Solid State Physics (8th ed.). John Wiley & Sons.
[6] W. Andrew Murray and William L. Barnes, Plasmonic Materials, Advanced materials, 19 , 22,
page 3771-3782, (2007)
[7] Bohm and E.P. Gross, Theory of plasma oscillations. A. Origin of Medium-Like Behaviour,
Physical Review (June 1949) Volume 75. Issue 12,
[8] Energy Band Structure of Copper. Physical Review, 129: 138. 1963
[9] S. Zeng et al. (2011). A review on functionalized gold nanoparticles for biosensing
applications,Plasmonics 6(3): 491506
[10] D.G. Swanson, Plasma Waves, 2nd ed., IOP Publishing Ltd 2003
[11] S.Zeng et al (2012). Size dependence of Au NP-enhanced surface plasmon resonance based on
differential phase measurement. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical 176: 1128
[12] C.J Powell, J.B Swan, Phys. Rev. 115 (1959) 869
[13] R.H Ritchie, Plasma Losses by Fast Electrons in Thin Film, (1957) Phys. Rev., 106, 5 pg 874
[14] William L Barnes, Alain Dereux, Thomas W Ebbesen, Surface plasmon subwavelength optics,
Nature, 424, B24 B30 (2003)
[15] Sambles, et al, Optical-excitation of surface-plasmons an introduction. Contemp. Phys. 32,
173183 (1991).
[16] Hecht. B et al, Local excitation, scattering and interference of surface plasmons, Phys. Rev.
Lett. 77, 1889-1892
[17] M.Tame et al (April 2008), Quantum Information Processing with Surface Plasmons, PPT
presentation, QTeQ- Quantum technology at Queens, Queens University, Belfast
[18] Ekmel Ozbay, Plasmonics: Merging Photonics and Electronics at Nanoscale dimensions,
Science, 311, 5758, 189-193, (2006)
[19] M.Born, E. Wolf, Principles of optics, (Cambridge University Press, (1999)
[20] Minh Hiep, Ha et al (2007). A localized surface plasmon resonance based immunosensor for
the detection of casein in milk, Science and Technology of Advanced Materials 8, 331
[21] V.M Agranovich et al , Optical bulk and surface waves with negative refraction, Journal of
Luminescence, 110, 2004, pg 167-173
[22] E. Porden, P. Nordlander, N.J Halas, Nano. Lett. (2003) 1411
A. Appendix: Choosing primary review papers for Section 1.
The decision making process as to which review paper to cite was primarily based on three criteria:
the number of citations, ease of reading and relevance to the topic. Naturally, the higher the number of
citation usually lends itself to those article which have a simple and understandable writing style and
the so the first two criteria are in a sense combined. The third criteria however may not seem obvious
at first. Plasmonics is a vast field, and impacts different branches of physics. Different reviews were
utilized when the discussion branched off. For example, describing the integration of plasmonic in
optical and electronic devices the review article by Ozbay (Plasmonics: Merging Photonics and
Electronic devices at a Nanoscale) was best suited to topic of discussion and had 1, 339 citations.
Another review paper which I referenced heavily when discussing this branch of plasmonics was
Surface plasmon subwavelength optics. Another reason contributing to this article being chosen was
the journal within which it was published. Nature is a prestigious journal and the numbers of citations
were again comparatively extremely high at 3,524 citations.

When discussing the key ideas in section 1.1, the primary review paper which was used was called
Foundations in Plasmonics. This particular review was chosen since at just over one hundred pages in
length, it gave a more in-depth analysis of the theory behind Plasmonics and formed the basis for most
of my understanding of plasmonics.This particular review had only 303 citations but this is probably
owing to the length again. Theory of plasma oscillations. A. Origin of Medium-Like Behaviour, was
also used much for the same reason but also for the wonderful analogies that were used that really
aided my understanding of the basics of plasmonics. This has been more frequently cited as it is a
fundamental review that dates back 1949 and has 554 citations.
B. Appendix: Search strings used for analyse the number of publications.
Initially I just used the topic criteria and used a wildcard search of Plasmo*, this generated a 26,245
records on Web of Science. Further strings were used when looking at how plasmonics branches off.
For instance, when looking at the applications into optical devices the search string plasmo* AND
Optic* OR Photonic was employed. This was better suited to searches for the review papers used
in section one however as these could then be filtered using the Times cited highest to lowest to
determine which reviews papers were best suited.
C. Appendix: Search strings used for analyse geographical distribution of research groups.
The use of filter function in Web of Science allowed me to first identify which countries had the
highest number of research papers published on this topic since 2005. Naturally it was not surprising
the USA was at that top of this list when one considers the magnitude of its population.26, 245
records. The search string used was as follows: Topic=(Plasmon*) Analysis: Publication Years=(2012
OR 2011 OR 2010 OR 2009 OR 2008 OR 2007 OR 2006 OR 2005) AND
Countries/Territories=(USA OR PEOPLES R CHINA OR JAPAN OR GERMANY OR FRANCE OR
SOUTH KOREA OR ENGLAND OR SPAIN OR CANADA OR TAIWAN) AND Organizations Enhanced
D. Appendix: Selection of Primary papers for Section 3.
Rufus Ritchies paper was chosen because it a heavily cited paper in each of the reviews and even
research papers that I came across and to me personally is the pinnacle point from which the rest of
Plasmonics stems from in a sort of spreading cascade of research in different areas of science that
seem to be trace back to this. Much like above the second paper was chosen since first time that
surface plasmon was first demonstrated experimentally.
Metamaterials one of the reasons I chose to talk about the affects of Plasmonics in this area
was to demonstrate the diverging application of Plasmonics and just how broad and far reaching the
application really are in terms of the different areas of science that are utilising this new emerging
field to enhance and propel their own. This is also seen in the instance of the final primary research
paper as this looks at the biosensing aspect of plasmonic application.
Milk was chosen as it had x number of citation which was comparatively significant
compared to other papers that involved a biosensing functionality of the field of plasmonics

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