Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) are traditionally excited by plane
waves within the Rayleigh range of a focused transverse-magnetic (TM)
Gaussian beam. Here we investigate and confirm the coupling between
SPPs and two-dimensional Gaussian and Bessel–Gauss wave packets, as
well as one-dimensional light sheets and space-time wave packets. We
encode the incoming wavefronts with spatially varying states of
polarization; then we couple the respective TM components of radial
and azimuthal vector beam profiles to confirm polarization-correlation
and spatial-mode selectivity. Our results do not require material
optimization or multi-dimensional confinement via periodically
corrugated metal surfaces to achieve coupling at a greater extent,
hereby outlining a pivotal, yet commonly overlooked, path towards the
development of long-range biosensors and all-optical integrated
plasmonic circuits.
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