Femtosecond pulse shaping using plasmonic snowflake nanoantennas

Abstract

We have theoretically demonstrated femtosecond pulse manipulation at the nanoscale using the plasmonic snowflake antenna's ability to localize light over a broad spectrum. To analyze the interaction of the incident femtosecond pulse with the plasmonic nanoantenna, we first decompose the diffraction limited incident femtosecond pulse into its spectral components. The interaction of each spectral component with the nanoantenna is analyzed using finite element technique. The time domain response of the plasmonic antenna is obtained using inverse Fourier transformation. It is shown that the rich spectral characteristics of the plasmonic snowflake nanoantenna allow manipulation of the femtosecond pulses over a wide spectrum. Light localization around the gap region of the nanoantenna is shown for femtosecond pulses. As the alignment of incident light polarization is varied, different antenna elements oscillate, which in turn creates a different spectrum and a distinct femtosecond response.