Study of the transverse and longitudinal electric field components of surface plasmon polaritons on flat metal film by polarization-resolved Fourier-space microscopy

We have employed a polarization-resolved Fourier-space surface plasmon resonance microscope to determine the electric field component ratio of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) propagating on a flat gold film. By using a metallic nanoparticle as a probe to capture the radiation damping of the SPP scattered waves, we find the angular far-field distribution is related to the transverse and longitudinal fields of SPPs. The experiment is supported by analytical and numerical calculations. Our results present a simple but useful approach to probe the behaviors of SPPs such as the transverse spin density as well as the energy density.