Plasmonics has been revolutionized by techniques that effectively couple light to plasmonic modes in nanomaterials. Although plasmonics was originally discovered using particle beams, ease of access to lasers and advances in coupling techniques such as nano-focusing have boosted optical plasmonics. In this work, we introduce plasmonic nano-focusing of particle beams as a means of accessing unprecedented PetaVolts per meter EM fields. PV/m fields are supported by electron bunches compressed to densities approaching that of the free electron Fermi gas in conducting materials. Strong focusing forces are sustained by a novel strongly electrostatic surface crunch-in plasmonic mode driven in a tube by charged particle bunches. Nano-focusing is made possible by this crunch-in mode when excited in tubes with tapered radius. Surface plasmons not only allow controlled focusing of the bunch but also efficient coupling by avoiding collisional disruption and losses. Plasmonic nano-focusing can bring forth ultra-solid particle beams of nanometric dimensions which stand to open unforeseen possibilities.
Plasmonics has opened unforeseen applications due to its sub-wavelength scale control over modes of collective oscillations of free electron gas in solids. This control is only possible due to nano-structuring of the underlying media. I introduce my TeraVolts per meter (TVm−1) plasmonics initiative which promises many tens of TVm−1 fields by relying on nanostructured materials to access a novel class of relativistic plasmonic modes excited as “trailing wake” of intense ultrashort particle bunches. Nanomaterial tubes with a hollow core are critical to mitigate the disruptive effects of collision of the particle beam with the ionic-lattice. Specifically, I present underlying concepts and theoretical model of highly nonlinear surface plasmonic waves. These surface waves are sustained by a train of “crunch-in” surface plasmons with large-scale electron-ion charge-separation which leads to tens of TVm−1 fields. The crunch-in surface plasmons are thus strongly electrostatic unlike other plasmonic modes. Access to unprecedented plasmonic fields opens far-reaching possibilities for transformative impact.
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