We study the application of two-photon absorption of near infrared femtosecond laser pulses and nonlinear maskless femtosecond laser lithography for the fabrication of dielectric and metallic SPP-structures, being used for localization, guiding, and manipulation of SPPs on a subwavelength scale. Resolutions down to 100 nm are already achievable. Characterization of these structures is performed by detection of the plasmon leakage radiation. Nonlinear lithography allows the fabrication of dielectric waveguides, splitters, and couplers directly on metal surfaces, e. g. by two-photon polymerization. The dielectric structures on metal films are demonstrated to be very efficient for the excitation of SPPs. Using these structures, excitation and focusing of the resulting plasmon field can be achieved. Results on the fabrication and characterization of metallic SPP-structures and components on dielectric substrates fabricated by nonlinear femtosecond laser lithography will be presented and discussed.
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