Subwavelength visualization of light in thin film waveguides with photoelectrons

Abstract

We report the visualization and quantitative analysis of electromagnetic surface fields at solid surfaces with the potential for \ensuremath{\lambda}/50 resolution. To illustrate this capability, we investigate patterns in two-photon photoemission images of light-diffracting structures in waveguiding, transparent thin films. The obtained micrographs show interference patterns between incident and guided light with a remarkable sensitivity to subwavelength features. We demonstrate that photoemission rates are directly related to the surface field strengths and develop a subwavelength method to calculate the surface fields from optical properties and surface topology based on the two-dimensional Kirchhoff diffraction integral. Calculated images based on this theoretical approach compare favorably to experimental electron micrographs.