Orientation-and polarization-dependent optical properties of the single Ag nanowire/glass substrate system excited by the evanescent wave

As an important plasmon one-dimensional material, orientation- and polarization-dependent properties of single Ag nanowires/glass substrate system are investigated by a powerful platform consisting of evanescent wave excitation, near-/far-field detection and a micromanipulator. In the case of the nanowire perpendicular or parallel to the incident plane and p - or s -polarized evanescent excitation respectively, optical properties of the nanowire is measured both in far-field and near-field. For the perpendicular situation, scattering light from the nanowire shows strong dependence on the polarization of incident light and period patterns along the nanowire are observed both in the near- and far-field. The chain of dipole model is used to explain the origin of this pattern. The discrepancy of the period patterns observed in the near- and far-field is due to the different resolution of the near- and far-field detection. For the parallel case, light intensity from the output end also depends on the incident polarization. Both experimental and calculation results show that the polarization dependence effect results from the surface plasmon excitation. These results on the orientation- and polarization-dependent properties of the Ag nanowires detected by the combination of near- and far-field methods would be helpful to understand interactions of one-dimensional plasmonic nanostructures with light.