Surface plasmon hole burning via doppler broadening

Abstract

The hole burning phenomenon is investigated in a five-level atomic configuration at the interface of cesium and gold in the presence of Doppler broadening. The group index and refractive index of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) becomes equal in the hole burning region, which display that the phase and group velocities of SPPs are matched. The propagation length during absorption of SPPs decreases with the decrease of absorption, while there are increases with amplification of SPPs. This study could have significant applications in optical storage devices, telecommunication, imaging, and enhancement of plasmonster memory.