Surface plasmon microscopy using an energy-filtered low energy electron microscope

We present low energy electron microscope (LEEM) spectromicroscopy studies of surface plasmons, localized on micro- and nanoscale epitaxial Ag islands. Excellent agreement is found in a direct comparison of wave vector dependent plasmon intensity with theory, demonstrating that high quality quantitative data can be obtained with a large improvement in both spatial and temporal resolution over traditional electron scattering experiments. The plasmon signal from Ag islands is successfully imaged with a spatial resolution of less than 35 nm. LEEM based plasmon spectromicroscopy promises to be a powerful tool for furthering our understanding of nanoplasmonics. © 2008 The American Physical Society.