Propagating anti-symmetrically coupled plasmons generation by electron beams

Propagating anti-symmetrically coupled plasmons that usually cannot be excited with incident light and radiate to far field can be efficiently generated by electron beams. An electron beam is proposed as a practical propagating anti-symmetrically coupled plasmon source due to that it couples differently to the surface plasmons than free radiation. Specifically, whispering-gallery anti-symmetrically coupled plasmons with the character of symmetrical coupled dipoles are excited by an electron beam in a nested ringlike waveguide, which is consistent with the dispersion of electron excited plasmons in an infinite-long nanowire pair.