Introduction

The purpose of this chapter is to highlight some of the applications of SP physics that have either already been demonstrated or that hold promise for the future. For example, chemical and biological sensing using SPs is a solid commercial success with demonstrable advantages in certain areas over competitive technologies. There are some applications that are just now being introduced to the market, such as medical diagnostics and treatments with gold nanoparticles. Other applications of SPs discussed in this chapter will never become commercially successful, but nevertheless were included because they illustrate the wide range of areas in which SP physics has been applied. A fourth category of applications has already received a certain degree of success in the laboratory and may have an enormous commercial potential, but only time will tell. This category would include most of the nanophotonics applications and heat-assisted magnetic recording. Finally, there is a fifth category of potential applications that would still have to be considered highly speculative, but may one day become the most marvelous of all, including such things as “invisibility cloaks” and “perfect lenses.” Although these applications are not considered in any particular order, among the first applications of SP physics was the study of the optical properties of metals.

Measuring the optical constants of metals

Standard techniques for measuring the optical properties of thin films include ellipsometry and reflection/transmission measurements.