In this thesis, the tunneling between individual atomic layers in structures of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x based high-temperature superconductors are experimentally studied employing the intrinsic Josephson effect. A special attention is paid to the fabrication of small mesa structures using micro and nanofabrication techniques. In the first part of the thesis, the periodic Fraunhofer-like modulation of the critical current of the junctions as a function of in-plane magnetic field is investigated. A transition from a modulation with a half flux quantum to a flux quantum periodicity is demonstrated with increasing field and decreasing junction length. It is interpreted in terms of the transformation of the static fluxon lattice of stacked, strongly coupled intrinsic Josephson junctions and compared with theoretical predictions. A fluxon phase diagram is constructed.Numerical simulations have been carried out to complement the experimental data. In the second part of the thesis, different resonant phenomena are studied in the dynamic flux-flow state at high magnetic fields, including Eck-resonances and Fiske steps. Different resonant modes and their velocities, including superluminal modes, are identified. In the third part, different experiments attempting to detect radiation from small mesa structures using different setups based on hot-electron bolometer mixers and calorimeters are described. No distinct radiation with emission powers higher than about 500pW could be detected. Furthermore, the interaction with external GHz-radiation is studied. Resonances attributed to an induced flux-flow are observed, and the reflectivity of the sample can be tuned by switching mesas between the superconducting and quasiparticle state. In the last part, the resistive switching of mesas at high bias is studied. It is attributed to a persistent electrical doping of the crystal. Superconducting properties such as the critical current and temperature and the tunneling spectra are analyzed at different doping states of the same sample. The dynamics of the doping is studied, and attributed to two mechanisms; a charge-transfer effect and oxygen reordering

L'optimisation du couplage lumière-matière requiert la connaissance de l'orientation du dipôle émetteur associé à une source de photons, ainsi que de la distribution de champ électrique du mode excité. Afin de maximiser le couplage entre des émetteurs fluorescents et des nanostructures, nous avons établi une méthode qui permet de déterminer l'orientation d'un dipôle d'émission. Les calculs en champ électrique, associés à une analyse en polarisation, constituent une modélisation complète, pouvant être généralisée à diverses situations expérimentales. Nous appliquons ensuite la méthode proposée à des nanocristaux colloïdaux de CdSe/CdS et CdSe/ZnS sphériques, ainsi qu'à des nanobâtonnets de CdSe/CdS. Nous avons déterminé, par une analyse en polarisation, l'orientation complète d'un dipôle émetteur individuel. Nous avons ensuite étudié le couplage de la lumière à des plasmons grâce à des réseaux périodiques métalliques. Des mesures de réflectivité spéculaire ont mis en évidence un couplage efficace de la lumière incidente à des plasmons de surface sur une large gamme de longueurs d'onde. Des mesures de microscopie électronique par photoémission (PEEM), basées sur la collection d'électrons photoémis à la surface du métal, ont permis d'étudier le couplage de la lumière aux modes plasmons de surface, avec une haute résolution spatiale (25 nm). L'excitation de l'échantillon par un laser, dont on varie la longueur d'onde et la polarisation, fournit une cartographie de la distribution du champ à la surface. Les échantillons étudiés ont mis en évidence différentes signatures de couplage du faisceau incident aux modes plasmoniques (franges d'interférences, points chauds).

Some special features of polaritons, quasi-particles being normal modes of system of excitons interacting with photons in so called strong coupling regime, are theoretically and numerically analyze in low dimensional systems. In Chapter 1 is given a brief overview of 0D, 1D and 2D semiconductor structures with a general introduction to the polariton field. Chapter 2 is devoted to micro / nano wires. The so called whispering gallery modes are studied in the general case of an anisotropic systems as well as polariton formation in ZnO wires. Theoretical model is compared with an experiment. In the Chapter 3 Josephson type dynamics with Bose-Einstein condensates of polaritons is analyzed taking into account pseudospin degree of freedom. Chapter 4 start with an introduction to Aharonov-Bohm effect, as the best known represent of geometrical phases. An another geometrical phase - Berry phase, occurring for a wide class of systems performing adiabatic motion on a closed ring, is main subject of this section. We considered one proposition for an exciton polariton ring interferometer based on Berry phase effect. Chapter 5 concerns one 0D system : strongly coupled quantum dot exciton to cavity photon. We have discussed possibility of obtaining entangled states from a quantum dot embedded in a photonic crystal in polariton regime.

As visual display technologies move closer to producing true three dimensional displays, pixel technologies need to be ever smaller and more functional to keep pushing the boundaries. Plasmonic metasurfaces have been shown to control the phase, amplitude and/or polarisation of incoming electromagnetic radiation. Nano-fabrication advancements have resulted in the fabrication of the building blocks of such metasurfaces at nano-scale dimensions, allowing the surfaces to interact with visible light, opening up applications in visual displays. As pixel sizes shrink, smaller colour filters will be required. The excitation of plasmonic resonances in metallic nano-structure arrays have resulted in colour filters an order of magnitude smaller than what is currently commercially available. As colour filters, plasmonic metasurfaces offer numerous advantages over pigment-based colour filters used in modern commercial liquid crystal (LC) displays, including environmental, size and longevity factors. Furthermore, exploiting the wavelength and polarisation dependant scattering of nano-structures, optical components, including lenses, waveplates and holograms containing sub-wavelength pixels have been demonstrated in the visible wavelength spectrum. The metasurfaces are able to mould optical wavefronts into arbitrary shapes with sub-wavelength resolution by introducing spatial variations in the optical response of the light scatterers. The applications demonstrated so far are, on the whole, static devices, that is to say their optical properties may not be altered post fabrication. To realise the full potential of plasmonic metasurfaces to visual applications the devices must be made active. By activating structural colour surfaces, not only may pixel densities potentially be increased simply by removing the need for separate red, green and blue filters, but a new class of high definition ultra-thin display devices may be accessible, whilst the dynamic manipulation of the wavelength and polarisation properties of nano-scattering elements would open up the possibilities to create sub-wavelength holographic pixels. This thesis investigates ways to activate static metasurfaces for colour, flat optic, and holographic applications. First, methods of dynamic control of the structural colour of plasmonic nano-hole arrays are investigated. By combining nano-hole arrays with liquid crystals, transmissive electrically tunable LC-nanohole pixels operating across the visible spectrum with un-polarised input light are experimentally demonstrated. An output analyser in combination with a nematic LC layer enables pixel colour to be electronically controlled through an applied voltage across the device, where LC re-orientation leads to tunable mixing of the relative contributions from the plasmonic colour input. Furthermore, exploiting the strong surface anchoring effects between an aluminium surface and LC molecules a twisted nematic LC cell, using a metallic grating as a combined colour filter, electrode and alignment layer, was shown to act a variable amplitude colour filter. The colour of these pixels was improved greatly utilising a grating-insulator-grating structure unique to this work. Second, a new process for fabricating aluminium nano-rod structures embedded in an elastomeric medium, with high spatial accuracy, is presented. The process is used to create nano-rod plasmonic resonator arrays whose optical properties may be altered by mechanical deformation. The pattern transfer process is further utilised to create dynamic optical elements, including nano-rod arrays for colour filters, tunable focal length Fresnel zone plates and photon sieves, and stretchable holograms with dynamic replay fields.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-03T15:16:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 FabioFM.pdf: 1004422 bytes, checksum: 4a200083b0d18fa8ca10e38ed87cbbe3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-10-17 / The study of the elementary excitations such as photons, phonons, plasmons, polaritons, polarons, excitons and magnons, in crystalline solids and nanostructures systems are nowdays important active ?eld for research works in solid state physics as well as in statistical physics. With this aim in mind, this work has two distinct parts. In the ?rst one, we investigate the propagation of excitons polaritons in nanostructured periodic and quasiperiodic multilayers, from the description of the behavior for bulk and surface modes in their individual constituents. Through analytical, as well as computational numerical calculation, we obtain the spectra for both surface and bulk exciton-polaritons modes in the superstructures. Besides, we investigate also how the quasiperiodicity modi?es the band structure related to the periodic case, stressing their amazing self-similar behavior leaving to their fractal/multifractal aspects. Afterwards, we present our results related to the so-called photonic crystals, the eletromagnetic analogue of the electronic crystalline structure. We consider periodic and quasiperiodic structures, in which one of their component presents a negative refractive index. This unusual optic characteristic is obtained when the electric permissivity and the magnetic permeability ? are both negatives for the same range of angular frequency ? of the incident wave. The given curves show how the transmission of the photon waves is modi?ed, with a striking self-similar pro?le. Moreover, we analyze the modi?cation of the usual Planck?s thermal spectrum when we use a quasiperiodic fotonic superlattice as a ?lter. / O estudo das excita??es elementares (f?tons, f?nons, plasmons, polaritons, polarons, excitons e magnons) em s?lidos cristalinos e sistemas nanoestruturados, entre os quais destacamos os materiais isolantes, semicondutores e magn?ticos, constitui um importante campo ativo na pesquisa em f?sica do estado s?lido e em f?sica estat?stica. Dentro deste escopo, este trabalho possui duas vertentes distintas. Na primeira parte, estudamos a propagac?o dos polaritons de excitons em sistemas nanoestruturados formados por multicamadas peri?dicas e quasiperi?dicas, a partir da descri??o do comportamento dos seus modos de volume e de superf?cie em seus constituintes individuais. Atrav?s de c?lculo anal?tico e num?rico computacional, obtemos inicialmente os espectros de frequ?ncia dos polaritons de excitons nestas superestruturas. Posteriormente, investigamos como a quasiperiodicidade modifica a sua estrutura de bandas em rela??o ao caso peri?dico, induzindo os seus espectros a uma forma auto-similar, caracterizando a sua fractalidade/multifractalidade. Na segunda parte, apresentamos nossos resultados relacionados com os chamados cristais fot?nicos, o an?logo eletromagn?tico aos sistemas cristalinos eletr?nicos. Vamos considerar os cristais fot?nicos peri?dicos e quasiperi?dicos, onde um dos seus componentes possui ?ndice de refra??o negativo. Esta caracter?stica ?ptica inusitada ? obtida quando a permissividade el?trica e a permeabilidade magn?tica ? s?o ambas negativas para a mesma faixa de frequ?ncia angular ? da onda incidente. As curvas obtidas mostram como a transmiss?o da onda eletromagn?tica se modifica neste caso, com interessantes aspectos auto-similares. Al?m disso, analisamos as modifica??es do espectro t?rmico de Planck usual, utilizando uma super-rede fot?nica quasiperi?dica como filtro

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:14:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 MarioAAM.pdf: 4836888 bytes, checksum: 433efaa92f7e444a6422049d8ebf9384 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-12-05 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico / We have developed a theoretical study of magnetic bilayers composed by a ferromagnetic film grown in direct contact on an antiferromagnetic one. We have investigated the interface effects in this systems due to the interfilms coupling. We describe the interface effects by a Heisenberg like coupling with an additional unidirectional anisotropy. In the first approach we assume that the magnetic layers are thick enough to be described by the bulk parameters and they are coupled through the interaction between the magnetic moments located at the interface. We use this approach to calculate the modified dynamical response of each material. We use the magnetic permeability of the layers (with corrections introduced by interface interactions) to obtain a correlation between the interface characteristics and the physical behavior of the magnetic excitations propagating in the system. In the second model, we calculated an effective susceptibility of the system considering a nearly microscopical approach. The dynamic response obtained by this approach was used to study the modifications in the spectrum of the polaritons and its consequences on the attenuated total reflection (ATR). In addition, we have calculated the oblique reflectivity. We compare our result with those obtained for the dispersion relation of the magnetostatic modes in these systems / Realizamos um estudo te?rico de bicamadas acopladas, constitu?das de um filme ferromagn?tico (F) crescido em contato direto sobre um antiferromagn?tico (AF). Investigamos os efeitos de interface nestes sistemas decorrentes do acoplamento inter-filmes. Modelamos o acoplamento atrav?s de uma intera??o tipo Heisenberg acrescida de uma anisotropia unidirecional. Em nosso estudo consideramos duas abordagens distintas: Na primeira, desenvolvemos um modelo fenomenol?gico, o qual considera que os filmes s?o espessos o bastante para serem descritos pelos seus par?metros de volume, e que est?o acoplados atrav?s da intera??o entre os momentos magn?ticos vizinhos da interface. Este modelo permitiu o c?lculo das permeabilidades magn?ticas dos filmes, modificadas pela intera??o entre estes objetos. Usamos estes resultados para estudar os modos magnetost?ticos que se propagam no sistema. O comportamento da frequ?ncia destes modos com a dire??o de propaga??o da componente do vetor de onda paralela na superf?cie, foi utilizado para investigar as modifica??es geradas pelos efeitos de interface; Na segunda abordagem, desenvolvemos o c?lculo anal?tico da suscetibilidade m?dia do sistema, utilizando um modelo quase microsc?pico. Analisamos o resultado da resposta din?mica atrav?s do c?lculo dos pol?ritons e da reflex?o total atenuada (ATR). Adicionalmente, calculamos a refletividade direta do sistema para o caso de uma radia??o incidente com dire??o arbitr?ria, a qual est? relacionada com os modos magnetost?ticos do sistema

The diploma thesis is aimed to excitation and detection of surface plasmon polaritons by visible light. First of all, we will briefly remind some basic principles like waves, electromagnetic wave, light on the interface and optical properties of metals. By using these principles we show presence of surface plasmon polaritons states. After the explanation of their properties there will be clearly visible reasons for aplications of the special excitationand detection methods. We will describe especially the prism coupling, periodic grating coupling and SNOM. Two last sections deal with computer simulations and experiments related to these methods. This means we can exemplify some knowledge presented in previous chapters. Results of simulations are compared with the experiment where we study the excitations of surface plasmon polaritons by periodic grating on aluminium surface.

Starke Kopplung von Molekülen mit einem räumlich begrenzten Lichtfeld führt zur Bildung neuer polaritonischer Eigenzustände des Systems, die sowohl molekulare als auch photonische Eigenschaften erhalten und somit ein großes Potenzial für Anwendungen in der Chemie und Optoelektronik besitzen. In dieser Arbeit wird die Kopplung zwischen Oberflächenplasmonen Polaritonen (SPPs), die als das räumlich begrenzte Lichtfeld agieren, und molekularen Anregungen wie Schwingungen und polaronischen Resonanzen untersucht. Das starke Kopplungsregime zwischen einer Molekülschwingung und einem SPP wird zum ersten Mal im mittleren Infrarot unter Verwendung der Carbonylschwingung von Poly(vinylmethylketon) Polymer und Silber als Ausbreitungsmedium von SPPs demonstriert. Die neu gebildeten Hybridmoden werden durch Experimente und numerische Modellierung untersucht, wobei Messungen der abgeschwächten Totalreflexion und der thermischen Emission sowie Berechnungen mittels der Transfermatrix und der linearen Dispersionstheorie verwendet werden. Ein Anticrossing in der Dispersion der Polariton-Zweige mit einer Energieaufspaltung bis zu 15 meV, was die Hauptsignatur des starken Kopplungsregimes ist, wird beobachtet. Die starke Kopplung mit Zinkgalliumoxid, einem hochdotierten Halbleiter als Alternative zu Edelmetallen, wird auch untersucht. Experimentelle und simulierte Reflektometrie-Spektren sowie Dispersionsrelationen werden diskutiert, um Rückschlüsse auf die Eigenschaften des Systems zu ziehen. Außerdem wird ein Ansatz zur Verbesserung der Leitfähigkeit organischer Halbleiterpolymere durch starke Kopplung ihrer polaronischen Zustände an SPPs vorgestellt und Leitfähigkeitsmessungen durchgeführt. Ziel ist es, die Delokalisierung der Hybridzustände auszunutzen, um die Leitfähigkeit zu verändern. Die präsentierten Ergebnisse bieten neue Einblicke in den Nutzen der Eigenschaften der Licht-Materie-Hybridisierung, um ihr volles Potenzial für verschiedene Bereiche und Anwendungen zu erforschen. / Strong coupling of molecules with a confined light field results in the formation of new polaritonic eigenstates of the system called polaritons that inherit both molecular and photonic characteristics and thus holds strong potential for applications in chemistry and optoelectronics. In this work, coupling between propagating surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), as confined light field, and molecular excitations, such as vibrational resonances and polaronic features, is investigated. The strong coupling regime between a molecular vibration and a propagating SPP is demonstrated for the first time in the mid-infrared spectral range using the carbonyl stretch vibration of Poly(vinyl methyl ketone) polymer and silver as metallic medium for SPPs propagation. The newly formed hybrid modes are investigated through experiments and numerical modelling, employing attenuated-total-reflection and thermal emission measurements as well as transfer-matrix and linear dispersion theory calculations. An anticrossing behavior in the dispersion of the polariton branches with an energy splitting up to 15meV, which is a key signature of the strong coupling regime, is observed. Strong coupling involving zinc gallium oxide, which is a highly doped semiconductor, as an alternative to noble metals is also investigated. Experimental and simulated reflectometry spectra as well as the dispersion relations are discussed so as to draw conclusions about the properties of the system. Furthermore, an approach to enhance the conductivity of organic semiconductor polymers by strongly coupling their polaronic states to SPPs is presented and four-point probe measurements are conducted. The goal is to exploit the delocalization of the hybrid states to alter the conductivity of the organic semiconductor. The results presented in this thesis provide new insights into the profit from the properties of light-matter hybridization in order to explore its full potential for several areas and applications.

The subject of this thesis is the investigation of organic microcavities with implemented unstructured and laterally structured metal layers. The optical properties are studied by means of various spectroscopic techniques and are compared to conventional metal-free devices. It is shown that the large expected absorption caused by the embedded metal is reduced compared to the case of a free-standing metal layer of the same thickness. As a consequence of the interaction of the photonic cavity mode with the metallic structures, two new coupled modes emerge which are called Tamm plasmons. The strength of this coupling and the resulting spectral difference of these modes are defined by the thickness of both the metal layer and the adjacent dielectric layers. These control parameters enable the optimization of the structural design. Accordingly, coherent emission from Tamm plasmons is realized at room temperature. An analytical approach is developed accounting for the experimentally observed polarization splitting of detuned resonances. Next, laterally structured metal layers embedded into organic microcavities are considered. The structuring leads to a confinement of the photonic density of states evident from a clear discretization in energy of the corresponding modes. Applying a photolithographic technique to structure the metal layer into a pattern of regularly placed stripes leads to additional effects due to the resulting periodicity. By exciting this hybrid structure above a certain threshold, periodic arrays of localized cavity modes and metal-based Tamm plasmons are generated. These Bloch-like excited states are capable of phase coupling across the grating. Additionally, surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) are excited propagating at the interface of the silver and the adjacent dielectric layers. Thanks to the periodicity of the metallic stripes, SPPs are subject to efficient Bragg scattering into the light cone in air. Modes up to order number 30 are detectable as quasi-linear periodic lines in the dispersion pattern. A Fourier analysis reveals an in- or out-of-phase coupling of the modes and a spread of the coherence over macroscopic distances of more than 40 µm. This strategy of embedding metal patterns into an organic microcavity yields a viable route towards electrically contacted organic solid-state lasers. / In dieser Arbeit werden erstmals dünne, unstrukturierte sowie lateral strukturierte metallische Schichten in organische Mikroresonatoren eingebettet und anschließend die optischen Eigenschaften mittels spektroskopischer Verfahren untersucht. Es zeigt sich, dass die erwarteten hohen optischen Verluste durch die Absorption des elektrischen Feldes im Metall deutlich reduziert sind, verglichen mit dem Fall einer freistehenden, nicht eingebetteten Metallschicht gleicher Dicke. Als Folge der Wechselwirkung der photonischen Kavitätsmode mit dem Metall spaltet diese in zwei miteinander gekoppelte Moden auf. Diese neuartigen Moden werden als Tamm-Plasmonen bezeichnet. Die Kopplung sowie die spektrale Differenz beider Moden ist zum einen durch die optischen Eigenschaften und die Dicke der eingebetteten Metallschicht definiert, zum anderen durch die optische Dicke der angrenzenden dielektrischen Schichten. Dadurch ist eine Optimierung des Systems im Hinblick auf Absorption und Emissionswellenlänge der Bauteile möglich, so dass selbst bei Raumtemperatur kohärente Emission eines Tamm-Zustands erzielt werden kann. Eine erarbeitete analytische Rechnung bestätigt und erklärt die experimentell gemessene, polarisationsabhängige Aufspaltung der auftretenden resonanten Moden. Im zweiten Teil der Arbeit sind organische Mikroresonatoren, deren eingebettete Metallschicht in lateraler Richtung auf verschiedene Weisen strukturiert sind, Gegenstand der Untersuchungen. Als Folge dieser Strukturierung kommt es zur lateralen Beschränkung der photonischen Zustandsdichte, was durch eine Diskretisierung der Energiespektren der resultierenden optischen Moden experimentell nachweisbar ist. Werden periodische Metallstreifen mittels Photolithographie erzeugt, so kommt es neben einer weiteren Beeinflussung der Zustandsdichte auch zu Effekten, die durch diese Periodizität bedingt sind. Entsprechend reproduziert sich die Kavitätsmode mehrfach im Impulsraum. Oberflächenplasmonen, die auf der Grenzfläche zwischen dem Metall und den dielektrischen Schichten propagieren, werden auf Grund der Periodizität bis in den experimentell zugänglichen Lichtkegel gestreut. Dabei werden Plasmonenresonanzen bis hin zur 30. Ordnung gemessen. Im letzten Experiment werden derart periodisch strukturierte Metall-Organik-Mikroresonatoren auf ihre Lasertätigkeit hin untersucht. Eine lokal begrenzte optische Anregung mittels eines gepulsten Lasers führt zur Ausbildung verschiedener Bloch-ähnlicher Moden, deren Kohärenz sich lateral bis zu 40 µm ausbreitet. Eine Fourieranalyse zeigt eindeutige und feste Phasenbeziehungen zwischen angrenzenden Maxima der Moden. Zusammenfassend ergeben sich interessante metall-organische Systeme, die minimale Absorption und niedrige Laserschwellen aufweisen und die prinzipielle Eignung zur elektrischen Kontaktierung besitzen.

Light interaction with matter has long been an area of interest throughout history, spanning many fields of study. In recent decades, the investigation of light-matter interactions with nanostructures has become an intense area of research in the field of photonics. Metallic nanostructures, in particular, are of interest due to the interesting properties that arise when interacting with light. The properties are a result of the excitation of surface plasmons which are the collective oscillation of the conduction electrons in the metal. Since the conduction electrons can be thought of as harmonic oscillators, they are quantized in a similar fashion. Just as a photon is a quantum of oscillations of an electromagnetic field, the plasmon is a quantum of electron oscillations of a metal. There are three types of plasmons: 1. Bulk plasmons, also called volume plasmons, are longitudinal density fluctuations which propagate through a bulk metal with an eigenfrequency of �� called the plasma frequency. 2. Localized surface plasmons are non-propagating excitations of the conduction electrons of a metallic nanoparticle coupled to an electromagnetic field. 3. Surface plasmon polaritons are evanescent, dispersive propagating electromagnetic waves formed by a coupled state between a photon and the excitation of the surface plasmons. They propagate along the surface of a metal-dielectric interface with a broad spectrum of eigenfrequencies from � = 0 to � = ��⁄√2. iv Plasmonics is a subfield of photonics which focuses on the study of surface plasmons and the optical properties that result from light interacting with metal films and nanostructures on the deep subwavelength scale. In this thesis, plasmonic nanostructures are investigated for optical waveguides and other nanophotonic applications through computational simulations primarily base on electrodynamic theory. The theory was formulated by several key figures and established by James Clerk Maxwell after he published a set of relations which describe all classical electromagnetic phenomena, known as Maxwell’s equations. Using methods based on Maxwell’s equations, the optical properties of metallic nanostructures utilizing surface plasmons is explored. In Chapter 3, light propagation of bright and dark modes of a partially and fully illuminated silver nanorod is investigated for waveguide applications. Then, the origin of the Fano resonance line shape in the scattering spectra of a silver nanorod is investigated. Next, in Chapter 4, the reflection and transmission of a multilayer silver film is simulated to observe the effects of varying the dielectric media between the layers on light propagation. Building on the multilayer film work, metal-insulator-metal waveguides are explored by perforating holes in the bottom layer of a two layer a silver film to investigate the limits of subwavelength light trapping, confinement, and propagation. Lastly, in Chapter 5, the effect of surface plasmons on the propagation direction of electromagnetic wave around a spherical silver nanoparticle which shows an effective negative index of refraction is examined. In addition, light manipulation using a film of silver prisms with an effective negative index of refraction is also investigated. The silver prisms demonstrate v polarization selective propagation for waveguide and optical filter applications. These studies provide insight into plasmonic mechanisms utilized to overcome the diffraction limit of light. Through better understanding of how to manipulating light with plasmonic nanostructures, further advancements in nanophotonic technologies for applications such as extremely subwavelength waveguides, sensitive optical detection, optical filters, polarizers, beam splitters, optical data storage devices, high speed data transmission, and integrated subwavelength photonic circuits can be achieved.