New plasmonic materials and fabrication tools for near- and midinfrared sensing and spectroscopy

With progress in nanofabrication, new strategies have become available that allow precise control of nanoscale optical fields using metallic nanostructures. Here we review recent progress in the control of optical resonances in metal nanostructures for applications in sensing and spectroscopy. We discuss the use of new techniques, such as helium-ion beam milling, which allow precise sculpting of nanometer-scale gaps; new materials such as metal oxides, which have a response somewhere inbetween that of conventional dielectrics and noble metals; and new designs such as L-shaped gap antennas which allow controlling the polarization state of light through near-field interactions between closely spaced antennas.