Quantum nanoplasmonics: surface plasmon amplification by stimulated emission of radiation (SPASER)

We make a step towards quantum nanoplasmonics: surface plasmon fields of a nanosystem are quantized and their stimulated emission is considered. We introduce SPASER, a quantum generator for surface plasmon quanta. Spaser is predicted to generate ultrafast (10 to 100 fs duration), temporally coherent, near-atomic intensity fields of surface plasmon modes that are strongly localized on the nanoscale. Those include dark modes that may constitute a basis for background-free enhanced nano-optical spectroscopy. Applications and related phenomena are discussed.