Compensation of loss by optical gain in propagating surface plasmons

In this work, we report the substantial compensation of loss of propagating SPPs at the interface between silver film and optically pumped polymer with dye. The large magnitude of the effect, nearly threefold change of the reflectivity, enables a variety of applications of "active" nanoplasmonics. In order to quantify the observed phenomenon, we have extended the theoretical formalism relating the reflectivity in ATR experiment and the SPP propagation length to the case of active dielectric media.

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