The emerging field of plasmonics, the science and engineering of surface plasmon polariton excitation on conductor-dielectric interfaces, has grown significantly over the last half century since the discovery of bulk plasmons, and surface plasmon polaritons on noble metal foils. Interest in surface plasmon polaritons, or simply surface plasmons, was renewed by two important discoveries: first, the attribution that the large average Raman scattering enhancement measured on electrochemically roughened silver surfaces was due to large electromagnetic field enhancements generated by localized surface plasmon resonance excited with focused laser radiation, and later the development and commercialization of surface plasmon resonance biosensors on planar metal surfaces.

Over this period of time several key technological advancements have aided the continued growth of the field, such as fast three-dimensional simulation and analysis tools, ultra-precise nanofabrication and materials synthesis techniques, and high quality lasers and optical components, which provide scientists and engineers with the tools necessary for designing, fabricating, and analyzing the optical behavior of metal nanostructures. More recently, the unique properties of surface plasmons and plasmonic-based devices are being applied to label-free biosensing, nanoscale optical components, optical interconnects for electronic integrated circuits, energy conversion, optical lenses, quantum cascade lasers, and cloaking. My research group is passionate about plasmonics and we are currently putting surface plasmons to work with metal nanogap biosensors for the chemical identification of surface adsorbed molecules using surface enhanced Raman scattering/spectroscopy (SERS), a sensitive vibrational surface spectroscopy technique, and the detection of biological moieties using high-sensitivity dark-field optical scattering spectroscopy.