Abstract
Scattering of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) propagating along a metal film surface with random roughness is considered with the emphasis on the elastic (in-plane) SPP scattering driven by the resonantly excited SPP. The usage of scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) for near-field imaging of SPP fields is discussed in detail, establishing a firm basis for the interpretation of experimentally obtained SNOM images. The near-field images, which exhibit spatially localized SPP intensity enhancement (bright spots) at rough metal surfaces, are presented and attributed to the phenomenon of strong (Anderson) localization of SPPs that occurs due to interference effects in multiple scattering caused by surface roughness. Several specific features of this phenomenon, viz., wavelength and angular dependence of the spatial location of bright spots, self-similarity of the surface topography, and statistical properties of SPP intensity distributions, are illustrated by the near-field optical images obtained experimentally.
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