Light confinement at interfaces and Talbot effect using optical surface modes

Light confinement to surfaces is at the heart of many recent advances in nanophotonics, for instance in the field of plasmonics, which relies upon plasmon polaritons at metallic surfaces. Various ways of confining light to an interface will be reviewed and new ones demonstrated in this talk. A common description of such modes will be offered, which leads to a global understanding of their interference at interface features. In particular, the interference of surface plasmons emanating from a row of holes in a metal film will be shown to lead to complex plasmonic structures that present self-reconstruction of the hole array at distances up to tens of wavelengths away from the holes. This is the plasmonic version of the optical Talbot effect. Interestingly, subwavelength hot plasmonic spots are observed at those distances, suggesting the possibility of using them for far-field patterning and for long-distance plasmon-based interconnects in plasmonic circuits. Some examples of such applications will be also presented.