Polarization-sensitive printing of surface plasmon interferences

Surface plasmon assisted lithography is currently a matter of growing interest since it allows nanopatterning in photosensitive films without being restricted by the diffraction limit. Using specially designed metallic nanostructures coated with a photosensitive azobenzene-dye polymer, we have generated a plasmon interference field in the polymer layer. The atomic force microscopy observation of the azo-dye polymer surface after exposure exhibits complex topographies which are found to be well explained by an analytically computed surface plasmon interference model that highlights the polarization influence on the pattern shape. The results presented here are believed to be a first step towards a new approach of high resolution plasmonic nanolithography based on the use of longitudinal field components. (c) 2007 Optical Society of America.