Canada’s early contributions to plasmonics

Abstract

The field of plasmonics — the study of collective electron excitation in nanostructured metal and other conductors — is currently highly active with research foci in a number of related fields, including plasmon-enhanced spectroscopies and plasmon-mediated photochemical and photocatalytic processes through which the energy stored temporarily as plasmons can be used to enable and (or) accelerate photochemistry. This enhancement is accomplished either by the action of the large optical fields produced in the vicinity of plasmonic nanostructures or mediated by the energetic electrons and holes surviving transiently following the dephasing of the plasmon. This article traces the early contributions to the foundation of the current field of plasmonics by two scientists working in Canada in the early 1970s, J. P. Marton at McMaster University and Welwyn Corporation and the current author while he was at the University of Toronto.